Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
National

Psychiatrist Biased At Trial Of Damien Taylor Accused Of Killing Pregnant Girlfriend CJ Fowler: Crow

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Oct, 2015 04:35 PM
    KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The Crown has suggested that a forensic psychiatrist for the defence was biased in her assessment of a man accused of killing his teenaged girlfriend.
     
    Dr. Sunette Lessing testified that she spent eight hours interviewing and testing Damien Taylor, who is on trial for the murder of 16-year-old CJ Fowler on Dec. 5, 2012.
     
    Taylor, 24, has told B.C. Supreme Court he and Fowler were walking toward the Greyhound depot in Kamloops early that morning and that he saw his pregnant girlfriend on the ground, where she was dead.
     
    Taylor said he was so paranoid and high on crystal meth and heroin that he ran from a red car, changing his clothes en route so he could run faster.
     
    Lessing said Taylor may have been in and out of psychosis, including experiencing paranoia and hallucinations at times.
     
    However, Crown lawyer Iain Currie accused Lessing of showing confirmation bias — ignoring information contrary to her opinion that Taylor may have been psychotic that night.
     
    “You remember the details in a way that’s favourable to the opinion you’re expressing,” Currie said.
     
    He also told Lessing she ignored other evidence that showed Taylor was not psychotic, including video from Royal Inland Hospital, where the couple had been hours earlier.
     
     
    Video from the bus depot, details from hospital staff who dealt with the pair and from Mounties in Prince George who interviewed Taylor hours after his girlfriend was found dead all suggest that he wasn't psychotic, Currie said.
     
    Currie also noted Taylor hid blood on his socks by covering it with a bandana, changed clothes before getting to the bus depot and lied to police about his whereabouts.
     
    Taylor's actions suggest his behaviour was rational, Currie said.
     
    “There’s no collateral information, other than what Mr. Taylor told you, that Mr. Taylor was on the psychotic continuum."
     
    He called Taylor's actions after Fowler’s death “markedly inconsistent with psychosis.”
     
    However, Lessing said Taylor may have been psychotic from the drug use and lack of sleep that he described to her.
     
    Lessing also told the jury Taylor has normal intelligence, but his short-term memory is on par with a senior showing signs of dementia, perhaps from extensive crystal-meth use.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Ex-CBC Radio Host Jian Ghomeshi Headed To Trial After Motion Hearing Wraps Up

    Ghomeshi is set to return to court Feb. 1, 2016, when the trial is scheduled to begin in front of a judge only.

    Ex-CBC Radio Host Jian Ghomeshi Headed To Trial After Motion Hearing Wraps Up

    Independent B.C. MLA Vicki Huntington Blasts Government For Farmland Sales To Global Corp.

    Vicki Huntington, who represents the agriculture-rich Delta South riding, said Thursday that the latest purchase by British-based company Reckitt Benckiser included about 320 hectares of ranch land near Dawson Creek.

    Independent B.C. MLA Vicki Huntington Blasts Government For Farmland Sales To Global Corp.

    Nova Scotia Still Getting Drenched While New Brunswick Cleans Up From Downpour

    Nova Scotia Still Getting Drenched While New Brunswick Cleans Up From Downpour
    Environment Canada says Shelburne to Halifax County could see up to an additional 35 millimetres of rain.

    Nova Scotia Still Getting Drenched While New Brunswick Cleans Up From Downpour

    Hurricane Joaquin Hammers The Bahamas As Canadian Centre Tracks Its Path

    Hurricane Joaquin Hammers The Bahamas As Canadian Centre Tracks Its Path
    The Halifax-based Canadian Hurricane Centre says there's a high degree of uncertainty around the storm's track forecast

    Hurricane Joaquin Hammers The Bahamas As Canadian Centre Tracks Its Path

    Municipal Federation Creates Task Force To Respond To Syrian Refugee Crisis

    Municipal Federation Creates Task Force To Respond To Syrian Refugee Crisis
    The federation says cities are traditional hubs for immigrants and Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax will be represented on the task force.

    Municipal Federation Creates Task Force To Respond To Syrian Refugee Crisis

    New Brunswick Man Who Smuggled Narwhal Tusks Loses Appeal Of Extradition

    New Brunswick Man Who Smuggled Narwhal Tusks Loses Appeal Of Extradition
    Gregory Logan of Woodman's Point was convicted in a New Brunswick court in 2013, fined $385,000 and given an eight-month conditional sentence to be served in the community.

    New Brunswick Man Who Smuggled Narwhal Tusks Loses Appeal Of Extradition