Highway shootings jury focuses on sanity of defendant
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Court TV) -- Jurors deliberating the fate of Ohio highway shootings defendant Charles McCoy Jr. appeared to seriously consider the defendant's sanity during their second day of deliberations in his capital murder trial.
McCoy has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a 24-count indictment stemming from 12 shootings between October 2003 and February 2004.
His lawyers presented four days of evidence in support of their claim that McCoy did not know the difference between right and wrong when he committed the shootings because he was neglecting to take his medication for paranoid schizophrenia.
About seven hours into deliberations, the panel of six men and six women requested extra copies of both the defense and prosecution psychiatric reports submitted into evidence.
In their reports and subsequent trial testimony, both experts agreed McCoy suffered from severe paranoid schizophrenia marked by auditory delusions of harassment that he felt could only be quieted by carrying out the shootings.
Their professional opinions differed, however, when asked if they believed the defendant knew what he was doing was wrong when he opened fire on two homes, a car dealership, a school and eight motorists.
Defense expert neuropsychiatrist Dr. Mark Mills testified that McCoy's habit of "cheeking" his antipsychotic medication, or pretending to take it, coupled with the severity of his psychosis rendered him absolutely "nuts" beyond the point of reasoning.
He testified that the early onset of McCoy's delusions, which included the belief that his genitals were being monitored by the bathtub spout, enhanced the severity of his psychosis. By McCoy's own admission, he had begun having delusions at the age of 9.
To rebut Mills' opinion, Franklin County prosecutors called forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick, who has examined such high-profile defendants as Andrea Yates, Susan Smith, Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVeigh.
Resnick concurred with Mills that McCoy carried out the shootings in an effort to silence voices he felt were harassing and criticizing him, but said McCoy explicitly told him in an interview that he knew carrying out the shootings was wrong.
He also pointed to evidence that McCoy expanded his target zone and revised his attack methods as indications that he understood the consequences of his conduct.
Resnick also cited McCoy's flight from Columbus and five days on the lam as further evidence that he appreciated the wrongfulness of the acts.
Judge Charles Schneider agreed to grant the jurors extra copies of Resnick's 29-page report and Mills' five-page report, but refused to give them a transcript of McCoy's interview with Franklin County Sheriff Det. Zachary Scott, the first person to speak with McCoy after he was arrested in Las Vegas on March 17, 2004.
In his instruction to the jury Wednesday, Schneider told the panel they would not be granted readbacks of testimony.
The transcript, which McCoy's lawyers read during Scott's testimony, was not admitted into evidence at the request of the defense, who later said they felt they had other more compelling evidence.
McCoy's lawyers introduced the interview to bolster their contention that their client was not in his right mind when he made incriminating statements to Scott, such as admitting, "I guess it looked bad for me," when asked why he fled Columbus.
The jury also asked for clarification of counts eight and nine of the indictment, which apply to the death of 62-year-old Gail Knisley, who was shot dead in the passenger seat of her friend's car.
Count eight charges McCoy with Knisley's aggravated murder, or first-degree murder, as it is also known, with the specification of intending to cause harm to more than two people, making him eligible for the death penalty.
Count nine also applies to Knisley's death, but simply charges the defendant with the intent to kill but without the finding of premeditation.
Schneider instructed the jury to consider them separately.
The panel resumed deliberations in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Thursday afternoon. They are being sequestered for the duration of their deliberations.
