PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "The reveal came as lawyer Marcio Sciarra was questioning the psychiatrist hired by the defence, Dr. Mitesh Patel, who interviewed Ly on several occasions and found that he has post-traumatic stress disorder due to abuse by his mother, as well as a major depressive disorder"……"In building up to the big moment on Monday, Sciarra asked Patel if observing Ly testify in court would be an “adequate substitute for an evaluation.” Patel emphasized that it would not be, as a psychiatrist would be unable to ask Ly any questions and build a rapport with him. He also said the adversarial nature of a criminal trial is very different than a psychiatric evaluation. “For me to rely on lawyers cross-examining an individual and asking them questions — to come to an opinion about someone’s mental health based on that, I think that would be almost a dereliction,” Patel testified. “That would be very concerning to me. I would not do that. I can’t speak to how courts would view that.”
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "And then Sciarra turned around at the podium and pointed toward the courtroom’s public gallery, as every juror’s head followed his finger: “You see this lady right here in the front row wearing all black? Do you know that lady?” Sciarra said, as he pointed toward the woman. “I know that lady as Dr. Alina Iosif,” Patel replied. Sciarra indicated that Iosif was hired by the Crown to provide an opinion on Ly. After reviewing Patel’s reports and watching Ly’s testimony in court last week, she concurred that he was the “subject of severe child abuse” but that the issue of whether Ly suffered from PTSD prior to his mother’s killing “remains unclear to me,” according to excerpts of her report read by Sciarra."
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PASSAGE THREE OF THE DAY: "Patel said that in his practice, the combination of reviewing another doctor’s reports and watching an individual testify in court “would not be consistent with the ability to provide an informed forensic opinion pertaining to the mental health of a client.” He said there are “very clear parameters under which we need to practice,” and providing an opinion on someone “should ethically require” certain things including being able to engage in dialogue with them. “If I can’t engage them in dialogue and actually assess them, I would not want to proffer an opinion,” Patel said, “and if any opinion was provided, it would be extremely limited.”
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STORY: "‘Do you know that lady?’ Crown psychiatrist assessed accused Toronto murderer from courtroom gallery, defence reveals," by Courts and Justice Reporter Jacques Gallant, published by The Toronto Star, on May 13, 2024. (Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering legal affairs and courts, after previously covering federal politics. He has been part of reporting teams nominated for a National Newspaper Award and the Michener Award for public service journalism.)
SUB-HEADING: “To come to an opinion about someone’s mental health based on that, I think that would be almost a dereliction,” the defence’s own psychiatrist said.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Tien Ly, 46, was killed by her son Dallas Ly in March 2022."
GIST: "It’s the reveal that had the jury at a Toronto murder trial turning their heads in unison.
A defence lawyer for a man who admits to stabbing and decapitating his mother disclosed in court on Monday that a psychiatrist hired by the Crown was essentially assessing Dallas Ly from a courtroom bench while watching Ly’s testimony last week, unbeknownst to the jury.
The reveal came as lawyer Marcio Sciarra was questioning the psychiatrist hired by the defence, Dr. Mitesh Patel, who interviewed Ly on several occasions and found that he has post-traumatic stress disorder due to abuse by his mother, as well as a major depressive disorder.
Ly himself told the jury last week that his mother, Tien Ly, severely abused him throughout his childhood and that he didn’t intend to kill the 46-year-old nail salon owner during a confrontation in their home in March 2022. Sciarra has told jurors they will have to determine if what happened was actually murder.
In building up to the big moment on Monday, Sciarra asked Patel if observing Ly testify in court would be an “adequate substitute for an evaluation.” Patel emphasized that it would not be, as a psychiatrist would be unable to ask Ly any questions and build a rapport with him. He also said the adversarial nature of a criminal trial is very different than a psychiatric evaluation.
“For me to rely on lawyers cross-examining an individual and asking them questions — to come to an opinion about someone’s mental health based on that, I think that would be almost a dereliction,” Patel testified. “That would be very concerning to me. I would not do that. I can’t speak to how courts would view that.”
And then Sciarra turned around at the podium and pointed toward the courtroom’s public gallery, as every juror’s head followed his finger:
“You see this lady right here in the front row wearing all black? Do you know that lady?” Sciarra said, as he pointed toward the woman.
“I know that lady as Dr. Alina Iosif,” Patel replied.
Sciarra indicated that Iosif was hired by the Crown to provide an opinion on Ly. After reviewing Patel’s reports and watching Ly’s testimony in court last week, she concurred that he was the “subject of severe child abuse” but that the issue of whether Ly suffered from PTSD prior to his mother’s killing “remains unclear to me,” according to excerpts of her report read by Sciarra.
Patel said that in his practice, the combination of reviewing another doctor’s reports and watching an individual testify in court “would not be consistent with the ability to provide an informed forensic opinion pertaining to the mental health of a client.”
He said there are “very clear parameters under which we need to practice,” and providing an opinion on someone “should ethically require” certain things including being able to engage in dialogue with them.
“If I can’t engage them in dialogue and actually assess them, I would not want to proffer an opinion,” Patel said, “and if any opinion was provided, it would be extremely limited.”
In cross-examination, Crown attorney Jay Spare countered that Iosif wasn’t actually providing a diagnosis of Ly in her report but was rather critiquing Patel’s.
He also pointed out that Ly told Patel several things in his interviews that were different than what Ly said in court. Ly told Patel he imagined his mother would punch him when he told her he was moving out; he testified that his mother did punch him. He told Patel he feared his mother’s reaction to him leaving; in court he said he thought she would be happy.
Patel testified that those differences don’t change his “overall impressions” of Ly, nor do they impact his diagnosis.
The trial continues.
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
---------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
————————————————————————————
YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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