‘The more I cut with a hacksaw, the more I saw it was real,’

Jeremiah Wright deviated from his delusion that his murdered 7-year-old special needs son was an inanimate object while Wright was under examination at the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System, one of the doctors tasked with rehabilitating him for trial said Thursday.

Glenn Ahava, a forensic psychologist at ELMHS and one of the authors of a report that says Wright is mentally fit for trial, said that Wright referred to Jori Lirette as his “son” in July 2012 during an examination.

“The more I cut with a hacksaw, the more I saw it was real,” Wright said, according to Ahava’s reading of the interview transcript. Wright allegedly told Ahava that Jori’s “blood and guts” indicated his son was real.

Wright also told the doctor that he allowed Jori to watch him play video games and to watch television with nudity, Ahava testified.

Wright is accused of first-degree murder after he allegedly confessed to beheading and dismembering his son, who had cerebral palsy, had heart complications, could not talk much and used a wheelchair.

The criminal proceedings were stalled and Wright spent nine month at ELMHS after District Judge John LeBlanc declared him mentally unfit to stand trial based on the findings of a sanity commission.

ELMHS was tasked with restoring Wright’s competency. The system’s chief of staff testified Wednesday that the restoration rate is about 70 percent.

LeBlanc will make a determination based on testimony and evidence whether Wright is competent to stand trial and aid in his defense. The competency hearing does not extend to Wright’s sanity at the time of the crime.

Ahava is the prosecution’s second witness to testify after four witnesses for the defense took the stand Tuesday and Wednesday.

A psychiatrist and psychologist said earlier this week they believe Wright suffers from a psychotic disorder and both mentioned the possibility of schizophrenia. They also said his delusions prevent him from maintaining a consistent defense and while Wright understands basic facts, he is not competent to make rational strategic decisions to aid in his defense.

Ahava agreed with those experts in that Wright is often withdrawn and shows little emotion, though he said he found no credible support for a diagnosis of major mental illness and no evidence that Wright was responding to hallucinations during examinations.

Ahava, who began his work at ELMHS five months after Wright was brought in, went on to testify that he personally conducted six or seven tests, sometimes multiple times, on Wright. “We went above and beyond in this case,” Ahava said.

The doctor suggested that Wright was not entirely truthful in his responses during examinations. In addition to scoring Wright on tests geared toward rooting out feigned responses, Ahava said Wright scored poorly on easy questions while correctly answering more difficult questions.

In addition to personal examinations, Ahava culled data and progress notes submitted by other hospital staff for his report.

Ahava also said he examined Wright in the cafeteria and during recreation – times that Wright may not be aware he’s being watched – to gauge whether the suspect acted differently when around doctors.

While Wright’s social interactions with others were “not great,” he was “markedly more put-together” than when he was with doctors.

Included in the ELMHS report, according to testimony, are two discharge forms. The first diagnosed Wright with psychosis versus malingering, which the defense’s experts have targeted as not being a true diagnosis. The second discharge form merely listed a diagnosis of history of marijuana use, according to testimony.

The defense will cross-examine Ahava Thursday afternoon.

Jeremiah Wright is escorted to his competency hearing by Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Deputies. Wright is accused of the first-degree murder of Jori Lirette, his 7-year-old disabled son.

CLAUDETTE OLIVIER TRI-PARISH TIMES