Closing arguments to be presented todayBy LORI YOUNT, The Beaufort Gazette
During the 40-hour murder of a brain-damaged and physically disabled Brett Kinney, Samantha Morgan-Major was suffering from an array of mental illnesses and effects of drugs, including hallucinations, a psychiatrist testified Thursday in her death penalty sentencing hearing.
However, Morgan-Major, 24, knew what she was doing was wrong, psychiatrist Donna Schwartz-Watts said in her more than two-hour testimony.
"It didn't cause her to kill," Schwartz-Watts said of Morgan-Major's psychiatric disorders, adding that they might have been exacerbated by a drug prednisone given to her a month earlier. "She was seeing the faces of people who harmed her and was having flashbacks. ... It was difficult for her to conform her impulses to the law because substance abuse and underlying mental illnesses were involved in what happened."
The defense rested Thursday in its case to spare the life of Morgan-Major, who pleaded guilty in January to Kinney's murder in May 2004, with expert witnesses describing her extensive illnesses and traumas and the hard life she faces in prison.
If sentenced to death, she'll be the first woman on death row in South Carolina since 1992 and if executed, the first woman in the state since 1947.
Schwartz-Watts, who conducted a thorough report of Morgan-Major's psychiatric history, had diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder, antisocial traits, masochism and post-traumatic stress disorder from physical and sexual abuse, among other diseases.
Morgan-Major's family members and friends sexually abused her as early as age 8, Schwartz-Watts said Morgan-Major and another relative told her. Morgan-Major's 7-year-old son, Sebastian, was a pregnancy that resulted from a rape when she was 16, Schwartz-Watts said.
Morgan-Major, who had worked as a prostitute, had reason to be angry with Kinney, not to his own fault, she said.
"When they engaged in sexual acts, he asked her to dress up like a little girl," Schwartz-Watts told the judge. "It was a reminder of past incidents -- anger tied to her past."
Morgan-Major said she hallucinated while stabbing Kinney in the head, which was hours into his abduction, and Schwartz-Watts said she probably wasn't on drugs but was suffering from withdrawal when Morgan-Major first kidnapped and stabbed him.
Kinney's sister, Marlene Kinney, said she didn't believe Morgan-Major's characterization of a sexual relationship with her brother, who authorities said had known Morgan-Major and loaned her money before his abduction.
"All they have to go on is what (Morgan-Major) says," Marlene Kinney said.
The defense also tried to show a softer side of Morgan-Major with testimony from social worker Caroline Long Burry, who observed the confessed murderer interacting with her son, who Burry said is quite attached to his mother.
Sebastian wasn't brought into the courtroom by Morgan-Major's request, but Burry described a second-grader who is exceptionally bright, unlike his mother was in school, had a "sparkle in his eye" and "lit up" when he saw his mother.
"He loves her," Burry said forcefully. "He'd like to continue to see her."
For most his life, Sebastian has been living with Morgan-Major's mother, who experts have testified didn't provide supervision or stability in Morgan-Major's childhood. He's only able to see his mother occasionally when she's incarcerated.
However, Burry insisted Morgan-Major was interested and knowledgeable of her son's life, including knowing his class schedule, teachers' names and levels he's achieved in his video games. She also "picks" on him and asks if he's brushing his teeth and other motherly inquiries.
Losing not just a parent, but a mother, to execution would be devastating to a child already genetically predisposed to mental illness and substance abuse, said Burry, who has studied children of death row inmates and testified for death penalty defenses before.
"It's not like any other kind of loss," she said. "It's scheduled. It's a human decision that can be made or unmade. It's a death that deals with stigma."
If she receives life in prison, though, Morgan-Major faces anything but a "country club" penitentiary, according to the testimony of Kathleen Powell, program manager for the mentally ill and retarded at the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
"She'll be in a six by 10 cell for the rest of her life with very, very few privileges," she said.
Powell, who has dealt with Morgan-Major before, said she has a team of staff ready to greet her when she arrives in Columbia for any sentence, and Powell reiterated she was confident Morgan-Major could be controlled, as many other difficult inmates have been.
Though Morgan-Major is a memorable patient for her hostility toward officers, including an assault with a chess piece, Powell said Morgan-Major wouldn't be the first inmate in the state's facilities who has used an object to attack an officer.
"That's reassuring to know," 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone said during cross-examination.
Despite long discussions with her court-appointed attorneys, Sam Bauer and Nick Felix, Morgan-Major declined to testify at the end of the day. She retains the right to make a statement at the end of the hearing.
"In a way she's already testified," Stone said. "She really gave a statement to the police that's probably the most disgusting, vile statement I've heard."
After closing arguments, which are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. today, Morgan-Major's life is put in the hands of Circuit Court Judge Roger Young.
Young, 46, assumed the bench in 2003 as a resident judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit after working in private practice handling mostly civil cases and serving in the state House of Representatives, as a municipal judge in North Charleston and as Master-in-Equity for Charleston County. His 2002 nomination for circuit judge has no mention of involvement in death penalty
cases.
He was appointed by the S.C. Supreme Court to preside over Morgan-Major's death penalty case, and by her pleading guilty, the decision of her sentence rests with the judge.
Stone, who said he thinks Morgan-Major's decision to plead guilty was based more on strategy than remorse, said he doesn't question pursuing the death penalty in this case.
John d**eman Jr. also faces a murder charge and the death penalty in Kinney's death. He is awaiting trial.
"Had I not asked for the death penalty, I wouldn't be able to ask for it any other case," he said.
Source : The Beaufort Gazette
www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/story/5969085p-5249111c.html
