Close X
Monday, November 11, 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

    Metro Vancouver Serial Child Rapist Ibata Hexamer Disputes Computer Evidence In Sentencing Hearing

    Metro Vancouver Serial Child Rapist Ibata Hexamer Disputes Computer Evidence In Sentencing Hearing
    B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams said the stakes are high for Ibata Hexamer and has called a hearing next week to determine the admissibility of the computer evidence in the sentencing process.

    Metro Vancouver Serial Child Rapist Ibata Hexamer Disputes Computer Evidence In Sentencing Hearing

    New Democrats Repeatedly Demand The Resignation Of B.C. Children's Minister

    The death of an 18-year-old male in government care is a part of a pattern of tragedies plaguing British Columbia's Ministry of Children and Families, say Opposition New Democrats who made repeated calls Monday for the minister to resign. 

    New Democrats Repeatedly Demand The Resignation Of B.C. Children's Minister

    Tractors, Cows On Ottawa Streets As Farmers Express Trade Talk Fears

    Tractors, Cows On Ottawa Streets As Farmers Express Trade Talk Fears
    Dozens of tractors are clogging Wellington Street in front of the Parliament Buildings.

    Tractors, Cows On Ottawa Streets As Farmers Express Trade Talk Fears

    Suspected Drunk Driver's Family 'deeply Saddened' By Crash That Left Grandfather And 3 Kids Dead

    Suspected Drunk Driver's Family 'deeply Saddened' By Crash That Left Grandfather And 3 Kids Dead
    Marco Muzzo's mother Dawn Muzzo expressed the family's condolences in a statement released today.

    Suspected Drunk Driver's Family 'deeply Saddened' By Crash That Left Grandfather And 3 Kids Dead

    New B.C. Rules Make Pensions More Secure, Offer Key For Locked-in Funds

    New B.C. Rules Make Pensions More Secure, Offer Key For Locked-in Funds
    The British Columbia government is announcing new standards for workplace pension plans, creating options that could be activated even before an employee retires.

    New B.C. Rules Make Pensions More Secure, Offer Key For Locked-in Funds

    Seniors Outnumber Children Under 14 For The First Time In Canada: Statistics Canada

    The agency said the number of Canadians aged 65 or older edge out the number of children under the age of 14, according to the most recent population figures.

    Seniors Outnumber Children Under 14 For The First Time In Canada: Statistics Canada