Cyber-stalking, data mining, Spoof Cards .. oh my!
January 29, 2013
Alcide Joseph Foret
January 30, 2013
Whether or not the man accused of decapitating his 7-year-old special needs son in 2011 is competent to stand trial and help in his defense is being debated in a Thibodaux courtroom this week.
Jeremiah Wright, 31, allegedly confessed to police that he killed his son Jori Lirette, who had cerebral palsy, at their Thibodaux home Aug. 14, 2011.
District Judge John LeBlanc ruled two months later based on a sanity commission’s findings that Wright was mentally unfit to stand trial. Wright was transferred to the forensics division of Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System in Jackson, La., where he spent nine months as doctors worked to rehabilitate him.
In August 2012, doctors at the hospital filed a report in the court’s record saying Wright is competent to stand trial and accused him of “malingering.” LeBlanc will make a decision on whether the stalled legal proceedings can resume at the conclusion of the multi-day hearing, which will strictly decide Wright’s present-day mindset – not determine his sanity at the time of the crime.
Testimony began on Tuesday. The defense, led by the Capital Defense Project of Louisiana, called two expert witnesses, a psychiatrist and psychologist. New, chilling details emerged about Wright’s past and the way he perceived his son.
Sarah Deland, a board-certified forensic psychiatrist, has met with Wright on three occasions. She said Wright appears to understand the facts about his case and the legal system but not how it applies to himself.
“He just believes he’s going to go to court and then go home,” Deland said.
She based the comment on statements Wright made to her that indicate he believes Jori was “not a real person,” “his skull was made of plastic,” and that the alleged murder was the culmination of a government-sponsored social experiment being conducted upon him.
Deland said Wright had once told her that the charges against him would be dropped when the autopsy report revealed Jori died of a heart attack. Police found the boy’s detached head near the street in front of the 414 W. Seventh St. home, and Wright was overlooking the scene from the home’s porch when law enforcement arrived, according to the arrest report.
Wright also told the psychiatrist that he felt his best defense would be to use the boy’s mother and his former live-in girlfriend Jesslyn Lirette as a character witness. Lirette sobbed and briefly left the courtroom as some of Wright’s alleged statements were recounted.
Deland said Wright exhibited a “flat affect,” showed little-to-no emotion, was monosyllabic, made poor eye contact and appeared to respond to hallucinations during her examinations. She said he couldn’t assist counsel because of his delusions and that she believes he may suffer from schizophrenia.
During cross examination, District Attorney Cam Morvant II pointed out that doctors at ELMHS examined Wright for nine months while she had only three interactive visits with him. Morvant also noted that Deland was being paid for her testimony as a witness retained by the defense.
The district attorney also drew the a distinction between capacity – the issue at hand – and motivation, insinuating the defendant lacked initiative to exhibit rational thought because he could face the death penalty should he be rehabilitated.
Robert Storer a clinical psychologist formerly of ELMHS, said he cumulatively spent three hours observing or interacting with Wright. Storer, because he was not in the system’s forensic division, was not tasked with rehabilitating Wright.
Storer reported that Wright said he trusts his counsel because lead defense attorney Kerry Cuccia bought him a Sprite and drove to the Jackson facility “from Lafourche Parish.” But the psychologist added that Wright expressed distrust with his attorney when Cuccia referred to Jori as a human being.
Storer also said he believes Wright is genuinely mentally ill and that Wright has tried to hide the illness rather than amplify it for personal gain during tests.
Throughout the day, testimony also revealed that Wright was admitted to Ochsner St. Anne General Behavioral Health Center from Feb. 22 to March 1, 2011. Wright had been urged to go to the hospital by friends and family, Deland said, and was discharged with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder not otherwise specified and polysubstance abuse.
The alleged killer was placed in foster care in 1994, and was examined by a psychiatrist in 1995. The report labeled then 13-year-old Wright as strange, slow to respond, depressed and with a “dull affect.”
Morvant seized on the report and said the mental blemishes found by Deland were similar. The district attorney said the so-called indicators of incompetence may be instead a reflection of the alleged killer’s personality.
The hearing was initially scheduled for three days, though it may stretch longer, as only two of the more than 10 witnesses have been called.
Jeremiah Lee Wright, center, 30, father of seven-year-old Jori Lirette, who was disabled and wheelchair-bound from cerebral palsy, and was found decapitated and dumped outside his home with his father sitting nearby, is transported into District Court to face murder charges in the boy’s death, in Thibodaux, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011. Wright confessed to killing Jori Lirette within 30 minutes of being brought to the police station Sunday, Thibodaux Police Chief Scott Silverii said Monday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
