Judge to rule on competency
NORMAN — A defense expert testified Wednesday the Muslim convert responsible for a 2014 beheading “suffers from a psychological disorder, most likely schizophrenia.”
“To me, the pieces all fit together,” Texas psychologist Antoinette McGarrahan said.
The testimony came on the third day of the competency trial for Alton Alexander Nolen, 32, of Moore.
Nolen already has pleaded guilty to firstdegree murder for beheading a co-worker at a Moore food plant on Sept. 25, 2014. District Judge Lori Walkley is holding the trial to determine whether he is mentally competent to knowingly enter such a plea.
She will rule after hearing from two more psychologists Thursday. Both have
concluded Nolen is mentally competent.
Nolen stayed away from court again for a second full day.
Nolen caused a disturbance Monday, standing up abruptly during testimony from the first witness. Three sheriff’s deputies subdued him after he refused to sit back down. The judge had him removed when he refused to say whether he wanted to stay.
The judge sought both Tuesday and Wednesday to ask Nolen by video if he wanted to return to court. The judge said she was unable to speak to him Tuesday morning because he became antsy and would not stay in the jail’s video arraignment room.
Wednesday morning, he would not speak when the judge tried to question him by video.
Walkley has arranged for Special Judge Michael Tupper to question Nolen on Thursday morning about coming back to court. The judge turned to a fellow judge for help because Nolen has shown an unwillingness to even acknowledge women.
The case is unusual both because of the circumstances of the crime and because Nolen is asking to be executed. In legal circles, his request is known as volunteering for the death penalty. Nolen last year repeatedly said that the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment for him because of his religious beliefs.
If the judge agrees he is competent, Nolen will be asked if he wants to stand by his guilty plea. If he does, the judge then will have a separate one-day hearing on whether he is mentally retarded.
The judge ruled on that issue once before but must again because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found executing a mentally retarded criminal is prohibited because it is “cruel and unusual punishment.”
If the judge again rules he is not retarded, the sentencing will begin. The first sentencing witnesses could testify Tuesday.
The defense expert, McGarrahan, spent nine hours with Nolen last May. He refused to meet with her again at the jail in January, calling her ungodly and worthless, she said.
She said Nolen has shown numerous symptoms of mental illness through his recent aggressive behavior and bizarre statements. She said the symptoms include grandiosity, disorganized speech, paranoia and hyper-religiosity.
She said those symptoms make him mentally incompetent to participate in court proceedings. She pointed to his behavior Monday as an example. “He couldn’t take the situation on Monday and acted out,” she said.
McGarrahan said she rejects the idea that Nolen is simply uncooperative and being difficult.
“If this was just a difficult individual, you wouldn’t have all of these signs together,” she said.
She told the judge Nolen could obtain competency with daily medication.
Nolen pleaded guilty last May to first-degree murder for beheading Colleen Hufford inside Vaughan Foods, shortly after being suspended for racial remarks.
He also pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a deadly weapon for trying to behead another co-worker, Traci Johnson, and to assault with a dangerous weapon for confronting a plant official with a knife.
A sentencing will take days because the judge must hear from witnesses to establish there is a legal basis for imposing the death penalty. Johnson will be one of the key witnesses.
Prosecutors contend the death penalty is justified on four grounds including that Nolen is a continuing threat to society.