Hudock (Simich Jr's cousin) said that Simich Jr. was beaten up and mugged about 20 years ago, while he was living in California and suffered brain injuries. He later "got involved with the wrong people and he got addicted to drugs," he said.
When his marriage ended in 1986, Simich Jr. moved back home with his parents. Hudock said he last saw Simich a few weeks ago but said Simich did not recognize him.
He had been going to therapy and was taking "lots of medication," Hudock said. Simich's parents told Hudock the doctor recently changed his dosage. "His dad (Simich Sr) thinks that's what caused [the shooting]."
Hudock said he believes the possible move from his boyhood home was too much for his cousin. "I think it actually hit Tommy that they were going to move."
"I honestly don't think he understands what he did and how bad it is," Hudock said.
This will be an interesting (and sad) case to watch. How will the Pennsylvania Judicial system work regarding a Deaf murderer who murdered his Deaf sister and Deaf brother-in-law and had a history of medication use along with past brain injury but never, supposedly so, showed any signs of aggression until last week. What will the legal concerns be over mental incompetency?
There was a legal case raised a few years ago involving the murder of six adults and seven children who were shot dead in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 1982. Psychiatrists agreed that there'd be a stay of execution due to George Banks' extreme mental unbalance and delusions:
After the shootings, police found George Banks barricaded in a friend’s house. Although apparently having only a limited recall of events, he told the police that he had killed his children to spare them from the racism he had experienced as a child. George Banks was born in 1942 to a white mother and African American father. Growing up, he was reportedly subjected to racial prejudice by both communities. He joined the army at 17, but left 19 months later, saying that he had been racially abused by a white officer. From 1976, he became convinced that a race war was looming and began stockpiling supplies in remote mountain locations and purchased a military assault rifle, the weapon later used in the shootings. In 1980, George Banks took a job as a prison guard. On 6 September 1982, he told fellow workers that he wanted to kill himself and was relieved of duty. He was assessed as depressed and suicidal and given medication. The shootings took place not long afterwards.
In the course of pre-trial proceedings, George Banks was examined by psychiatrists. They raised evidence that he was incompetent to stand trial, namely that he was unable to assist in his defence because of his fixed delusional beliefs. At the trial, psychiatrists for the defence and prosecution agreed that he suffered from mental illness, but disagreed whether, as a result of this psychotic disorder, he had been able to distinguish between right and wrong at the time of the shootings. George Banks consistently refused to cooperate with his trial lawyer in the preparation of an insanity defence because he insisted on presenting a claim of innocence or partial innocence. In court, he alleged that there was a conspiracy, which included the prosecutor, the judge, the coroner and police, to frame him for some of the murders. He claimed that some of the victims were killed by police, and he insisted on using gruesome autopsy photographs to prove his conspiracy theory. A state psychiatrist testified that George Banks was psychotic and delusional when he insisted on cross-examining witnesses, over the objection of his lawyer.
..
A psychiatrist, Dr Richard Dudley, who has reviewed his case, has reported that "Mr Banks has an extensive history of psychiatric hospitalizations, commitments and treatment during the course of his incarceration. The records of those hospitalizations provide insight into the chronic nature of his mental illness."
That was an extreme case of insanity and suicidal depression.
Now, those of you may remember the Joseph Mesa's case. Joseph Mesa's lawyer tried to use the insanity case where Joseph had "talking hands" tell him what to do which is pretty much in the same vein in a hearing person who hear voices telling him/her what to do:
The prosecution turned back efforts by Mesa's attorney to portray the Guam native as a mentally ill man who thought a pair of black hands were telling him to do bad things. "An insanity defense doesn't work if you're not insane," said Boasberg.
The insanity plea didn't work and Joseph Mesa received a life in prison sentence. But even with this sentencing the attorny for Mesa tried to question the interpreter's skill and whether Mesa properly waived his rights when interviewed of the murders.
Defense attorney Ferris R. Bond indicated he would appeal based on circumstances surrounding Mesa's four-hour videotaped confession and the use and accuracy of interpreters who worked with police. Bond also questioned whether Mesa properly waived his right to legal counsel before talking to police.
So, you could probably see what's coming down the road for Mr. Simich Jr's defense should he get the death penalty or life in prison.
Although, there are limited studies regarding the psychosis of deaf individuals compared to hearing people where multitudes of studies exist. Questions range from how to access the validity of such a deaf person experiencing psychosis "talking hands" to language dysfluency. This is a relatively new and unknown area involving deaf and hard of hearing individuals regarding psychosis.
And in United States v. Joseph Mesa, the trail stemming from the two murders that took place at Gallaudet University in 2000-2001, the case hinged on the defense's assertion that Mr. Mesa (who is deaf) experienced psychotic symptomatology that supported a not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) plea whereas the prosecution asserted that Mr. Mesa's claims were not consistent with psychotic illness at all, much less a valid NGRI defense. Dr. Pollard, examiner and expert witness in the case, was left trying to explain the above complications regarding the manifestation and assessment of psychosis in deaf vs. hearing people, but without the advantage of a valid tool for making such an assessment of Mr. Mesa (other than his clinical interview skills and experience), and simultaneously refuting the use of invalid psychological tests that the defense put forth as supporting Mr. Mesa's claimed psychosis. (It is well known that the use of psychological tests designed and normed for use with hearing people typically make deaf subjects appear more disordered than they actually are. (Brauer, et al, 1999; Leigh & Pollard, in press; Rosen, Vernon & Andrews, 1990) references). One juror later remarked to the press, "If this case does anything, I hope it does provide the initiative for more research to be done in the areas of psychological testing for deaf people."
Again, how will the Deaf community react should a death penalty be handed down? Or even life in prison? And how does the Deaf community feel about the death penalty for a Deaf person? What are their rationale for their opinions? What excuses would they use? What new conspiracy theories will come up thinking it's a "hearie" plot against Deaf people?
There are always people who favor the death penalty and those who are against it whether they're hearing people or not. However, this time it is a family affair gone bad. There are exceptions for a truly insane person. But, is this a case of a person gone bad due to insanity or mental incompetency?
See my past blogs on the Simich Jr case here, here,and here.
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