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Brain abnormalities, sexual abuse: Defense experts testify about the making of a 'monster'

Defense attorneys promised that the penalty phase of the Donald Smith trial would be "all about mental illness," and testimony has proved that prediction.

Defense attorneys promised that the penalty phase of the Donald Smith trial would be “all about mental illness,” and testimony has proved that prediction.

Witnesses testified at length Tuesday and Wednesday about the condition of Donald Smith’s brain based on neuroimaging, psychological tests and his physical and emotional history.

The consensus, as summed up by forensic neuropsychologist Dr. Joseph Sesta: “There is no question that Donald Smith does not have a normal human brain.”

Brian abnormalities are statutory mitigators – things jurors can consider when deciding Smith’s fate. Other mitigators include mental illness, childhood deprivation and substance abuse.

Dr. Joseph Wu, a California-based neuropsychologist, showed MRI and PET scans of Smith’s brain, pointing out areas that were either too large, or atrophied. He suggested the cause could be traumatic brain injury sustained during a childhood bike accident or a later car crash, as well as some “insult” that occurred in utero, like maternal illness or even exposure to the herbicide Roundup.

Wu said the abnormalities in the physical structure of Smith’s brain corresponded with poor impulse control, addiction and pedophilic behaviors. Those hard-wired abnormalities were exacerbated, Wu said, by Smith’s life experiences.

“Mr. Smith has a history of being severely emotionally neglected,” he said.

Wu said Smith’s brain resembles those of Romanian orphans, with an abnormally enlarged amygdala, associated with an empathy deficit.

Wu also found abnormalities that research shows result in “aberrations in sexual-object preference and an increase in pedophilic orientation.”

Dr. Sesta disagreed with Wu that Smith suffered from a traumatic brain injury, but said there was clearly severe abnormalities in his brain.

“Something is wrong with it,” he testified.

Sesta called it a “tragedy” that Smith, who had once been recommended for indefinite commitment as a violent sexual predator, was released. He said it should have been clear that he was a dangerous pedophile based on his pursuit of a 13-year-old girl in 1992.

When the girl fled, he told jurors, “he doesn’t just go on to the next person, like flashers usually do. Mr. Smith gets out of the van, something literally out of every child’s nightmare, and begins chasing her down the street.”

He added, “I don’t know of any behavior that screams of lack of behavioral control more than chasing children down the street in broad daylight to take them back to your van.”

Sesta offered the evidence of Smith’s abnormal brain as a kind of comfort to those horrified by his acts. “At some point you have to ask yourself how does one human being do this to another? And how can we sleep at night? One thing I can say is: His brain is certainly not normal.”

Dr. Brooke Butler, a mitigation expert, testified about Smith’s childhood and upbringing. She described a boy who was alternately ignored and coddled by his mother, who suffered abuse at the hands of his stepfather. Butler noted he wet the bed, and was so socially awkward he resorted to paying children to play with their toys. She testified he tried to commit suicide on more than one occasion and engaged in deliberately risky behaviors, including repeatedly having sex with a fellow inmate who was HIV positive. Butler also testified he was molested by two teenage boys when he was 9 and later was raped in prison by two men.

Butler also testified about Smith's crack addiction, which his own words turned him into a "monster." Butler said Smith at one point received a sizable inheritance from his stepdad and blew through $100,000 in just a few weeks, binging on cocaine.

Butler also showed jurors a series of pictures of Smith as a child, up through high school. After that, defense attorneys noted, the only extant photos of Smith were mugshots.

One witness the defense had planned to question was challenged by prosecutors. Former prison warden James Aiken planned to tell jurors that Smith didn’t stand a chance in lockup – that he would be a target for rape and what Aiken called “KOS or Kill on Sight” because of inmates’ deep hatred for child sex offenders. Judge Mallory Cooper decided that what might happen to Smith sometime in the future could not legally be considered mitigation. Aiken testified briefly and was excused.

Smith’s son was the last witness to testify, which he did via Skype from a McDonald's somewhere in Maine. Donald Smith Jr. testified that he was traumatized by his father’s poor parenting, which included breaking his toys and doing drugs with him at the age of 16. But he said he’s found salvation and sobriety in God and that he valued his connection to his father. “No one can take the place of my dad because he is my blood,” he said.

Attorneys spent the final hours of the day reviewing the instructions jurors will get before they begin deliberations Thursday morning.

Jurors return at 9:30 a.m. to hear closing arguments and jury instructions before being sent to deliberate Smith’s fate.

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