JUDGE: Resuming the case of the State versus Joe Davola. It is now time for the defendant to plead his case.
DEFENCE LAWYER (DL): We would like to call expert witness for the defence, Dr. Melina Isawesome to the stand.
DL: Dr. Isawesome for the record can you state what area your expertise is in?
DR. I: I am a Forensic Psychologist. My specialist field is psychological trauma and criminal law.
DL: Please tell the court which tests and strategies you used to deal with the client Joe Davola.
DR. I: I used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders,
created by the American Psychiatric Association, but it is more commonly referred to today as the DSM which is now in its fifth edition.
To indicate if the client had any disorders which may have lead to the altercation we are all here for, I used that.
DL: Was the client diagnosed with any mental disorders?
DR. I: I have diagnosed Mr. Davola with ongoing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD,
previously referred to as combat fatigue or shell shock.
Alongside this was a comorbid disorder of schizophrenia.
As the DSM-5, suggested that the client had PTSD,
I administered the Self-Report Inventory for PTSD Test.
This test was backed up with evidence by Hovens, Bramsen, and Van-Der-Ploeg, in 2002, and in 2013, again reaffirmed, by Kok and colleagues.
This test results confirmed my original hypothesis, that indeed the client has PTSD.
DL: Can you tell us more about these disorders?
DR. I: Well PTSD, is often characterised by a person suffering a traumatic and stressful event,
with the survivor having been exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, and with the exposure being direct or witnessed.
In the case of Mr. Davola he experienced death first hand whilst serving and protecting his country.
He experiences intrusive thoughts and memories from his time overseas,
and experiences flashbacks and nightmares related to his time serving.
Mr. Davola is a textbook case for PTSD and has acquired symptoms from every criterion of the PTSD diagnosis.
Although he has received Medals of Valour from the rest of the world,
he modestly, finds himself not good enough to be allowed back into society,
and he feels he has let everyone down.
DL: As you can hear folks this man is a hero, and the system does nothing for these people.
He has PTSD, or for the older generations, shell shock.
This man has probably saved your life more than you'll ever know.
And now you sit here and judge him for the one moment in his life not being a hero.
Shame on you.
Dr. Isawesome, what type of treatments are there for PTSD, and schizophrenia?
DR. I: Well, for PTSD I recommended Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as a main form of treatment, alongside some psychodynamic psychotherapy.
This would allow Mr. Davola to hopefully overcome his PTSD.
As for the treatment of schizophrenia I suggested that anti-psychotic drugs be implemented as part of the rehabilitation process.
In my interview transcript, I have suggested that these treatments due to evidence from scientific research such as that conducted by Kane and Mcglashan in 1997.
DL: How effective are these treatments? Will he once again become the hero that our nation deserves?
DR. I: Well, I believe that these treatments, if implemented correctly,
could allow Mr. Davola to recover, or be rehabilitated quite well.
DL: I have no further questions Your Honour.
JUDGE: The floor is open to the prosecution.
PROSECUTION (PROS): Dr. Isawesome, according to your report, another Doctor suggested that the client had a jealous subtype of schizophrenia.
Is schizophrenia not dangerous?
DR. I: Anything can be considered dangerous, someone driving a car can be dangerous.
PROS: Well we give licenses to drive doctor.
DR. I: But not to live.
People suffering from schizophrenia deserve nothing less than the best our system can give them,
and unfortunately sometimes its not enough and people can slip through the cracks.
Just like Mr. Joe Davola did.
PROS: I would like to present to you an article from Exhibit A on the screen.
This is a replica of the bread loaf that Mr. Davola used to beat my client to the brink of death.
DL: Objection! Prosecution is badgering the witness.
PROS: Withdrawn.
However, I would like the good Doctor to tell us what Mr. Davola told them about the bread beating.
What was he doing leading up to the attack?
DR. I: Well, Mr. Davola said that he grabbed the breadstick and beat him with it.
He suggested he was not aiming for the head region, but that he was angry at your client for having an affair with his wife.
And leading up to the event, he was potentially following your client.
PROS: Now tell the court, was my client having an affair with Mr. Davolas wife?
DR. I: No, he was not.
PROS: Why was that please?
DR. I: Because Mr. Davola does not have a wife.
PROS: Because Mr. Davola does not have a wife, because he made her up, isn't that right?
DR. I: Mr. Davola was in a heightened state of arousal at the time of the assault his delusions were fuelled by…
PROS: His delusions caused the grievous bodily harm of my client Doctor,
and he has to answer for that!
Tell us, does Davola hire people often.
DL: Objection! Relevance?
JUDGE: Overruled, prosecution please get to the point.
PROS: Is it entirely possible that your client, had a delusion that they hired a Private Investigator?
As there is no proof that there was any employment there.
DR. I: Potentially yes.
However, as Mr. Davola suggested that the P.I never found anything it is also possible that they never charged him.
PROS: Seems like speculation Doctor.
It could be just as likely then that anything the defendant says about my client is not true, just delusions and hallucinations which you have stated he exhibited in your report.
Why did he have these symptoms?
DR. I: Well, there are a few factors that could have resulted in schizophrenia such as biological, psychological, and environmental factors.
PROS: Could an environmental factor be drugs Doctor?
DR. I: Potentially yes, some drugs can pick on an individual's vulnerability to disorders such as schizophrenia.
PROS: Was your client, not found in possession of cannabis as a teenager?
A drug, which at the time was illegal in this state.
DR I: He was, but declares he never consumed any …
PROS: And was he or was he not diagnosed with schizophrenia, which can be a result of cannabis use.
DR. I: Yes, however…
PROS: Did your client intentionally cause harm to a police officer whilst in an interview with you? Yes or no.
DEF LAW: Objection! That is strictly doctor patient confidentiality, that evidence was not made available to the public.
PROS: Withdrawn.
JUDGE: That statement is to be stricken from the record.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, that evidence was obtained not through due process, thus it is inadmissible in court.
As such you are to disregard this evidence and ignore it when conducting your deliberations.
Prosecution this is your last warning.
PROS: You stated in your report that group sessions such as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, may help the client recover from his addiction to weed and liquor.
However, he may not recover at all and reoffend.
And if he did not consume the drugs like he says, why would he attend? I believe it was a guilty mind.
DR. I: For the reoffending, it is unlikely that Mr. Davola will do so as he is willingly going through the treatment processes and getting progressively better each session.
As for the group sessions, there are many reasons people attend those meetings,
not only for their addictions but the support that they can provide individuals with.
It opens up a supportive network for people that may have had nothing otherwise.
PROS: Does the client not have a supportive network of his own?
DR. I: Not to a great degree, or to my knowledge.
PROS: As a military man, would he not have had army buddies to call on in times of need.
And if you say he has no network, is it possible he has no network because of his aggressive and intolerable behaviours?
This man is dangerous as a civilian, and he has also got a background in military training that makes him lethal.
He should not be trusted, and as such he should face the full penalty of the law.
I rest my case.
DL: I have a few more questions Your Honour.
As a military man, with such 'lethal' tendencies, as my colleague so eloquently puts it.
Why is that Mr. Davola did not kill this man?
DR. I: He, even though his sensorium was not clear at the time of the incident, Davola knew that killing the man was wrong.
He showed restraint, when he could have easily killed the man.
DEF LAW: Why did Mr. Davola choose this man?
He could have chosen anyone; in the city, the country, even the world.
Why did he choose this man to follow?
DR. I: It is possible that this man's military training was at the back of his mind during the whole ordeal.
As I said in my report, his job was to watch, interpret, and take action.
It is just unfortunate that his action resulted in this assault.
DL: Well I have just been informed of some new evidence regarding the prosecution client.
So Doctor your saying that my clients heightened senses may have picked up on something that we,
not being military trained, may not have known or sensed.
DR. I: This is entirely possible.
DL: Well, the new evidence suggests that the prosecution is harbouring a paedophile, in charge of a child pornography ring.
PROS: Objection!
JUDGE: Overruled, do you have evidence to back up this claim?
DL: In cross examination with Dr. Isawesome's interview data and Mr. Davolas detailed journal entries,
we believe the evidence to be quite substantial.
JUDGE: Bailiff, please arrest the prosecutions client.
Jury the court has shown you both mitigating and aggravating circumstances it is now up to you to place your vote.
Members of the jury, I know your decision has been made, and I hope you understand and have taken into account that a life depends on your verdict.
Do you speak as one unanimous collective? Beyond reasonable doubt, how do you find the defendant?
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