With hearing in homestretch, colliding views on Wright’s competency crystallize
February 5, 2013
Agnes Rodrigue
February 6, 2013
6/22/1981 – Jeremiah Wright is born.
1994 – Wright is assigned to a foster care home.
2/10/1995 – A therapist who treated 13-year-old Wright reports that he was strange, slow to respond, depressed and exhibited a dull affect, a mostly emotionless disposition. Wright tells the therapist that he was joking around about visual hallucinations after he was seen talking to a wall.
2/22/2011 – 3/1/2011 – Wright is admitted to Ochsner St. Anne General Behavioral Health Center in Raceland after showing up at a friend’s urging. Wright had confided to the friend that he was hearing voices. Wright is discharged with a diagnosis of psychotic disorder not otherwise specified, and the diagnosis rules out substance-induced psychosis.
8/14/2011 – Wright is arrested outside his Thibodaux home. He confesses to police that he decapitated and dismembered his 7-year-old son Jori Lirette, whom he refers to as a CPR “dummy.”
8/19/2011 – Forensic psychiatrist Sarah Deland examines Wright at the Lafourche Parish Detention Center on behalf of the Capital Defense Project of Southeastern Louisiana. She notes his flat affect, poor eye contact, apparent hallucinations, delusions and reports a “diagnostic impression” of schizoaffective disorder and depression. Deland, who testified that Wright is not competent for trial, would examine the suspect on two other occasions.
10/18/2011 – Judge John LeBlanc declares Wright mentally unfit to stand trial.
10/28/2011 – Wright is transferred to the East Louisiana Mental Health System’s forensic division in Jackson, La.
11/14/2011 – An ELMHS security guard also trained in mental illness issues a statement regarding a conversation with Wright. The suspect allegedly told the guard he was not worried about the first-degree murder charge and that he was on “Easy Street” with a good family and a good lawyer.
11/17/2011 – ELMHS conducts its initial assessment of Wright, an examination overseen by clinical psychologist Robert Storer, who worked in the system’s civil division. The initial assessment settled on psychosis not otherwise specified, unable to expand or rule out St. Anne’s diagnosis.
– A security guard makes a note that Wright admitted to wanting to get rid of Jori and hopefully receive a social security check once he’s out of custody.
12/19/2011 – 12/20/2011 – Storer and ELMHS examine Wright for a second time. Storer notes Wright’s lack of concern for his situation, an emotional range restricted to irritation and superficial cooperation. Wright scores well on a factual competency test but explains his predicament as having arisen from a government-sponsored social experiment. Wright thus proved competent on all questions related to his case except expressing an appreciation of the seriousness of his legal situation. Storer also administers a Personality Assessment Inventory exam, which he rules invalid because Wright was “faking good,” meaning the suspect went out of his way to hide any mental illness. The PAI was later rescored and validated by Glenn Ahava, a psychologist who replaced Storer.
January, 2012 – Storer leaves ELMHS.
1/6/2012 – Mark Wilson, the chief psychiatrist working Wright’s case at ELMHS, reports that the PAI Storer administered in December – which at this point was invalid – showed “no obvious evidence of psychosis.” Wilson does not note that the test was invalid, nor that it produced no evidence that Wright was not psychotic.
2/2/2012 through 4/16/2012 – Each progress note filed by Wilson references the invalid PAI test showing “no obvious evidence of psychosis.”
2/23/2012 – Wright is administered an Evaluation of Competency To Stand Trial – Revised (ECST-R) examination, which Wright fails primarily because of his delusions, according to testimony. The failed test is not mentioned in a July 16, 2012 ELMHS report that declares Wright competent to stand trial.
March, 2012 – Glenn Ahava begins to work at ELMHS. Ahava assumes Storer’s role in Wright’s evaluation.
5/31/12 – Ahava rescores the invalid PAI test that Wilson had mentioned in several progress notes regarding Wright. The test, administered nearly six months prior, is validated.
6/20/2012 – ELMHS administers the Personality Assessment Inventory test. The examination evaluates psychological functioning.
7/5/2012 – In Ahava’s third examination of Wright, Wright tells Ahava that Jori “was my son right up to the end,” breaking from his delusion, according to Ahava.
7/16/2012 – ELMHS releases a report, authored by Ahava and Wilson, that says Wright is competent to stand trial and meets all of the Bennett criteria regarding knowledge about charges facing him and courtroom procedure.
7/18/2012 – ELMHS files a discharge sheet as it pertains to Wright. The discharge notice primarily diagnoses Wright with psychosis versus malingering with a history of marijuana dependency.
8/10/2012 – In a speech given to criminal defense lawyers during a seminar, Ahava says that he is working on a “high-profile case” that “turned” on the observation of an attorney and client interacting.
8/16/2012 – Deland examines Wright for a second time. She reports the same demeanor, noting that he is “more disheveled” and exhibits little improvement when talking factually about courtroom procedures. He tells Deland Jori died of a heart attack and said his best defense would be to use Jesslyn Lirette, Jori’s mother, as a character witness.
8/26/2012 – ELMHS issues a second discharge sheet on Wright. The primary diagnosis has changed to history of marijuana use, and a secondary diagnosis of narcissistic traits is also listed.
10/4/2012 – Neuropsychologist Joseph Cesta examines Wright for two hours. Cesta claims Wright is not fit to stand trial.
11/30/12 – Clinical neuropsychologist and forensic psychologist Manfred Greiffenstein meets with Wright for four hours at the Lafourche Parish jail. Greiffenstein, retained by the prosecution, testified that Wright passed the Bennett criteria and is competent to stand trial. “His disengagement masks a quick and active mind,” the doctor said.
1/24/2013 – Deland examines Wright for a third time. She said he appeared “better,” and her diagnostic impression altered slightly to “more of a psychosis.” She said she believes he suffers from schizophrenia, and that Wright was adamant he did not suffer from a mental illness.
