Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 2, 2006 23:44:14 GMT -5
The psychiatrist testified that Greg Moore suffered from "intermittent explosive disorder."
Then, Moore exploded.
The eruption that stunned the courtroom occurred when a prosecutor cross-examined the psychiatrist Friday morning during the penalty phase of Moore's capital murder trial.
Kansas assistant attorney general Steve Maxwell, who is seeking a death sentence, asked Kansas City psychiatrist William Logan if he was familiar with Moore attacking his wife as she was dying of cancer.
"Back off!" shouted Moore.
Lawyer Gary Owens had his hand around his client's back, as he had done with Moore throughout the trial. Moore had sat quietly as a jury convicted him of capital murder in the shooting of Harvey County Deputy Kurt Ford and began hearing evidence in the penalty phase of the trial.
Until Friday.
Moore's shoulders began rising.
"Back off!" he shouted again.
Sedgwick County sheriff's Deputies Brett Seacat and Robert Burkhead, sitting near the defense table, sprang toward Moore. The guard grabbed Moore's arms before he could get out of his chair.
"That hurts!" Moore yelled. "That hurts!"
Moore was wearing a shocking device on his thigh, under his suit. Burkhead had pressed the switch.
Moore's two daughters, who had been sitting in the court gallery, both leaped up and began screaming.
"Stop!" Sarah Moore, 20, yelled, beginning to cry. "Stop it!... Don't!"
Sedgwick County District Judge David Kennedy dismissed the jury from the courtroom as the guards and Moore toppled to the floor.
The deputies fired a Taser at Moore, whose eyes rolled back in his head. He jerked, and then relaxed.
"Why do you have to talk about my wife like that?" Moore moaned. "Leave my wife alone! Leave my wife alone!"
After he was handcuffed, Moore, face down, began apologizing to the deputies.
"Didn't hurt me," Seacat told Moore.
"I'm sorry," Moore said as deputies led him from the courtroom. "I'm sorry." '
Kennedy sent the jury home and ordered the trial in recess until Wednesday.
The defense was hoping the doctor's testimony would persuade the jury that Moore suffered from a disorder that caused him to fly into a rage. They say it explains why he opened fire on Ford and other law enforcement officers as they went into Moore's house in Newton during an all-night stand-off April 9, 2005.
But the defense has also tried to show that Moore's condition is under control in prison, where he's receiving supervision and medication.
Friday's eruption could be the state's strongest counterpoint.
What the judge made clear is that there won't be a mistrial.
"You're not entitled to a mistrial when your conduct is what causes a mistrial," Kennedy said in overruling the defense's request.
Another question might be whether Moore even will remember the tantrum.
Earlier in the day, Logan said Moore often blanks out moments of uncontrolled rage.
"During these periods, he would become so angry he wouldn't remember them," Logan told the jury.
Volatility has accompanied Moore most of his life.
"He was raised in a house with a violent, alcoholic father, who beat his mother and chased him around with guns and knives," Logan testified.
Moore began drinking and smoking marijuana at age 12.
"He estimated he was intoxicated every day in high school," Logan told the jury.
Moore figured he'd been in hundreds of fights, Logan said, before he was shot in the stomach during a 1979 barroom fight over a game of pool. He was a military police officer at the time.
"I found it interesting that anyone with his history would be made a military police officer," Logan said.
Moore has been haunted by nightmares of being shot ever since.
Logan said Moore would continue down a similar path, building a criminal rap sheet for attacking people. But Moore stayed out of legal trouble between 1980 and 1996.
The main difference: During that span, Logan said, Moore remained sober and sought treatment for his rage.
Over the years, Moore has been on medication to control anxiety and depression. He's been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder -- which is marked by unpredictable fits of anger.
His wife, Gwen, died in 1997.
"After that, he quit taking his medication and replaced it with alcohol," Logan testified.
By 2002, Moore was using methamphetamine. Because of his substance abuse, the state removed his two daughters from the home for several months.
Three years later, police were at his door because of another domestic dispute. Police tried to talk him out of the house. They heard him beating his girlfriend. They went in, and the shooting started.
Said Logan: "Basically, if he has some assistance, with either medication or counseling, and he doesn't use any accelerants, such as drugs or alcohol, he has much less chance of these explosive incidents."
Minutes later, the court guards were trying to subdue Moore.
Source: Witchita Eagle
www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/crime_courts/14945746.htm
Then, Moore exploded.
The eruption that stunned the courtroom occurred when a prosecutor cross-examined the psychiatrist Friday morning during the penalty phase of Moore's capital murder trial.
Kansas assistant attorney general Steve Maxwell, who is seeking a death sentence, asked Kansas City psychiatrist William Logan if he was familiar with Moore attacking his wife as she was dying of cancer.
"Back off!" shouted Moore.
Lawyer Gary Owens had his hand around his client's back, as he had done with Moore throughout the trial. Moore had sat quietly as a jury convicted him of capital murder in the shooting of Harvey County Deputy Kurt Ford and began hearing evidence in the penalty phase of the trial.
Until Friday.
Moore's shoulders began rising.
"Back off!" he shouted again.
Sedgwick County sheriff's Deputies Brett Seacat and Robert Burkhead, sitting near the defense table, sprang toward Moore. The guard grabbed Moore's arms before he could get out of his chair.
"That hurts!" Moore yelled. "That hurts!"
Moore was wearing a shocking device on his thigh, under his suit. Burkhead had pressed the switch.
Moore's two daughters, who had been sitting in the court gallery, both leaped up and began screaming.
"Stop!" Sarah Moore, 20, yelled, beginning to cry. "Stop it!... Don't!"
Sedgwick County District Judge David Kennedy dismissed the jury from the courtroom as the guards and Moore toppled to the floor.
The deputies fired a Taser at Moore, whose eyes rolled back in his head. He jerked, and then relaxed.
"Why do you have to talk about my wife like that?" Moore moaned. "Leave my wife alone! Leave my wife alone!"
After he was handcuffed, Moore, face down, began apologizing to the deputies.
"Didn't hurt me," Seacat told Moore.
"I'm sorry," Moore said as deputies led him from the courtroom. "I'm sorry." '
Kennedy sent the jury home and ordered the trial in recess until Wednesday.
The defense was hoping the doctor's testimony would persuade the jury that Moore suffered from a disorder that caused him to fly into a rage. They say it explains why he opened fire on Ford and other law enforcement officers as they went into Moore's house in Newton during an all-night stand-off April 9, 2005.
But the defense has also tried to show that Moore's condition is under control in prison, where he's receiving supervision and medication.
Friday's eruption could be the state's strongest counterpoint.
What the judge made clear is that there won't be a mistrial.
"You're not entitled to a mistrial when your conduct is what causes a mistrial," Kennedy said in overruling the defense's request.
Another question might be whether Moore even will remember the tantrum.
Earlier in the day, Logan said Moore often blanks out moments of uncontrolled rage.
"During these periods, he would become so angry he wouldn't remember them," Logan told the jury.
Volatility has accompanied Moore most of his life.
"He was raised in a house with a violent, alcoholic father, who beat his mother and chased him around with guns and knives," Logan testified.
Moore began drinking and smoking marijuana at age 12.
"He estimated he was intoxicated every day in high school," Logan told the jury.
Moore figured he'd been in hundreds of fights, Logan said, before he was shot in the stomach during a 1979 barroom fight over a game of pool. He was a military police officer at the time.
"I found it interesting that anyone with his history would be made a military police officer," Logan said.
Moore has been haunted by nightmares of being shot ever since.
Logan said Moore would continue down a similar path, building a criminal rap sheet for attacking people. But Moore stayed out of legal trouble between 1980 and 1996.
The main difference: During that span, Logan said, Moore remained sober and sought treatment for his rage.
Over the years, Moore has been on medication to control anxiety and depression. He's been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder -- which is marked by unpredictable fits of anger.
His wife, Gwen, died in 1997.
"After that, he quit taking his medication and replaced it with alcohol," Logan testified.
By 2002, Moore was using methamphetamine. Because of his substance abuse, the state removed his two daughters from the home for several months.
Three years later, police were at his door because of another domestic dispute. Police tried to talk him out of the house. They heard him beating his girlfriend. They went in, and the shooting started.
Said Logan: "Basically, if he has some assistance, with either medication or counseling, and he doesn't use any accelerants, such as drugs or alcohol, he has much less chance of these explosive incidents."
Minutes later, the court guards were trying to subdue Moore.
Source: Witchita Eagle
www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/crime_courts/14945746.htm