Nehemiah
Well-Known Member
I was just half listening to my local news, and a story aired about a physician, and an expert witness, Dr. Park Dietz. (You may also have heard recently about Dr. Dietz' expert witnessing in the Andrea Yates trial) At the end of the news segment (which btw was totally unrelated to the R case), they reported that Dr. Dietz was also an expert witness for the grand jury in the JBR case. I had never heard that. Here is some info on Dr. Dietz and a psychiatric expert witness such as himself:
http://www.namiscc.org/News/2002/PsychiatricExpertWitness.htm
"Psychiatric expert witnesses are fixtures of the criminal justice system these
days, and nowhere more so than in trials involving pleas of insanity to
explain and excuse a crime.
Q. What is forensic psychiatry and how is it used?
A. It's traditionally defined as the application of the principles and
practice of psychiatry to matters of law. In the criminal justice system,
forensic psychiatrists and psychologists evaluate whether the accused is
mentally competent to stand trial and, more controversially, to assess a
defendant's state of mind at the time the crime was committed to help the
jury determine whether he or she can be judged legally insane."......
My question: why was Dr. Dietz retained as a psychiatric expert witness in the JBR case?
http://www.namiscc.org/News/2002/PsychiatricExpertWitness.htm
"Psychiatric expert witnesses are fixtures of the criminal justice system these
days, and nowhere more so than in trials involving pleas of insanity to
explain and excuse a crime.
Q. What is forensic psychiatry and how is it used?
A. It's traditionally defined as the application of the principles and
practice of psychiatry to matters of law. In the criminal justice system,
forensic psychiatrists and psychologists evaluate whether the accused is
mentally competent to stand trial and, more controversially, to assess a
defendant's state of mind at the time the crime was committed to help the
jury determine whether he or she can be judged legally insane."......
My question: why was Dr. Dietz retained as a psychiatric expert witness in the JBR case?