Doctor counters Haskell’s defense
A medical expert on Tuesday testified that Ronald Haskell had a narcissistic personality disorder, countering the defense’s claims that the accused mass murderer suffered from features of a more serious schizoaffective disorder when in 2014 he killed six members of his ex-wife’s family at their Spring home.
Psychologist Timothy Proctor was the first witness to testify for the prosecution in their rebuttal of Haskell’s insanity defense. While defense attorneys say that “voices” guided Haskell to kill the Stay family so he could reunite with his wife and children, Proctor said he didn’t believe the former Fed Ex driver had the psychotic symptoms he contended.
In order to prove insanity, medical experts have to show jurors that Haskell had a severe mental illness at the time of the slayings and didn’t know his conduct was wrong.
A hired forensic psychiatrist for the defense told jurors on Monday that the voices in Haskell’s head were so persistent that they drowned out his access to knowing right and wrong. Proctor on Tuesday rejected that opinion, saying that even if the voices existed, Haskell still would have been in control of his actions, he said.
“He’s hiding his behavior, wearing a disguise, being secretive,” Proctor said. “Even if you were to take this idea that this is somehow a delusion, the evidence doesn’t support that he doesn’t know this is wrong.”
Haskell is accused of opening fire on his ex-sister-in-law, her husband and their five children on July 9, 2014, killing all but the eldest
daughter. He had driven from California to Texas to commit the crime, accumulating items along the way that he would use in the killings, according to a series of receipts shown during the trial. He wore a Fed Ex uniform when he knocked on the Stays’ door, helping him gain access into the house.
The defendant has admitted to the crimes and told both expert doctors that he doesn’t feel much remorse.
After a personal interview with Haskell, Proctor diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder. He also had antisocial traits, major depressive disorder and was found to be malingering, or lying with a purpose of attaining an undeserved goal, the psychologist said.
Haskell did mention voices in the interview, but Proctor said the stories and names were too inconsistent to hold weight.
Proctor’s testimony mostly opposed the defense expert’s opinion presented on Monday to jurors. Forensic psychiatrist Stephen Raffle said that Haskell was bipolar with psychotic features, but was transitioning to the more severe schizoaffective disorder at the time of the shooting of the Stay family. Haskell’s attorneys rested their case Tuesday morning after completing Raffle’s testimony.
Another psychiatrist testified for the prosecution on Tuesday, describing his visits with Haskell in fall 2013, after his ex-wife and four children left him. Brian Merrill diagnosed Haskell as having depression, obsessive compulsive personality disorder and narcissistic personality traits.
Merrill said that Haskell appeared to be exploiting him, as well as minimizing the affect of his harmful actions toward other people. He projected his issues, making himself the victim, Merill said.
“I felt like he was trying to sell a version of himself to me,” he said.
Merrill and Proctor both rejected that Haskell fit the mold of someone with bipolar disorder, which is characterized by prolonged periods of alternating manic and depressive behavior. They also declined to diagnose him with schizoaffective disorder, which is classified by overlapping mood and thought disorders.
Haskell’s trial is in recess until 9 a.m. Friday because of tropical weather.