GUILTY DC - Joshua Prince for attempted murder, Washington DC, 2010

Mr. Prince was charged with attempted murder and other charges, tried before a jury in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, and convicted. On appeal, he challenges the circuit court's decision to allow the State to introduce the testimony about the rifle's firing pattern and the bullet's trajectory through the roof and interior of her car. He also contends that the trial court improperly denied his counsel's request for a continuance to allow him to develop expert testimony regarding his mental state. We affirm...

The State charged Mr. Prince with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to injure, and failing to comply with a peace order. He underwent a mental health evaluation at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center by psychologist Inna Toller. In January 2011, Dr. Toller rendered a report in which she found him competent to stand trial and criminally responsible. Although she acknowledged that Mr. Prince suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD&#8221 from his military experience in Iraq as a medic, Dr. Toller concluded that it played no role in his conduct: “[T]here is no evidence that [his PTSD] symptoms caused him to have significant impairment in every day function.” She opined, based on how Mr. Prince acted on the morning of the incident, that “the PTSD and the adjustment disorder did not cause him to lack substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.”...

The court noted that Dr. Toller believed Mr. Prince “had a clear secondary gain to avoid incarceration and be found not criminally responsible,” and, as a result, had diagnosed him with malingering...

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