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BISBEE — The final witness for the defense of murder suspect Theodore Ramos testified on Wednesday that there is little doubt Ramos was suffering from a “manic, psychotic episode” when he stabbed an elderly man to death and sexually assaulted the victim’s wife in Sierra Vista in July 2011.
Dr. Richard Lanyon, a forensic psychologist and professor of psychology at Arizona State University, testified that, based on his testing and discussions with Ramos at the request of defense attorney Perry Hicks, the psychotic episode was triggered by the defendant’s feelings of depression and hopelessness that he had regarding his perceived inability to live up to what his girlfriend expected of him.
Nearly all of the 10th day of the trial consisted of Lanyon’s testimony.
In addition to his own findings, it was Lanyon’s recommendation to the defense to have Dr. Joseph Wu, acting director of the Brain Imaging Clinic at the University of California at Irvine, conduct further tests of Ramos’ brain. The results of Lanyon’s first interview with Ramos in June 2012 were then used by Wu in conjunction with Lanyon’s own findings to come to the conclusion that the defendant suffered from acute psychotic bipolar disorder at the time of the attacks.
Dr. Wu’s determination, Lanyon testified, was “certainly consistent” with his own conclusion.
Lanyon also testified on Wednesday that during his second interview with Ramos in December 2013 he learned from the defendant that he had a strong fear of the dark, and that when Ramos would sneak outside to smoke cigarettes at night, he would often take a sword or knife with him and hear or see unspecified persons in the bushes.
In brief testimony at the end of the day, the female victim was recalled to the stand and said that when Ramos came to the front door of her home that morning he did not have any cigarettes.
The psychologist also said he disagreed with the conclusion of the state’s witness, rehabilitation psychologist Sloan King, that Ramos met many criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder, or sociopathy.
Looking at the totality of events leading up to and including the actions taken the morning of July 24, 2011, such a diagnosis “simply doesn’t fit,” Lanyon said.
While under cross-examination by Doyle Johnstun, the chief criminal deputy attorney for Cochise County, Lanyon testified that while some actions taken or comments made by Ramos during or after the crime may seem consistent with him knowing that what he had done was wrong, those are only brief, momentary instances embedded in the whole of a psychotic episode.
“People in psychotic episodes do and say things that appear to be logical and rational in the smaller context, but if you look at the larger context, you get a better picture,” he said.
He went on to testify that it was incorrect to try and characterize a psychotic episode as having a clear and obvious beginning and ending.
“People go in and out. It’s not a clean thing,” he said.
Defense attorney Perry Hicks indicated he was resting his case following Lanyon’s testimony. While Johnstun said he had at least one final witness to call on Thursday.
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