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No Memory of Shooting Sodhi Killer says
09/17/2003
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0917roque17.html
No memory of shooting, killer says
Psychiatrist testifies
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 17, 2003 12:00 AM
A Mesa man who shot a Sikh gasoline station owner to death five days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks told a psychiatrist he had no memory of the shooting.
"He heard somebody say that somebody there was shot," Dr. Richard Rosengard testified Tuesday at Frank Roque's murder trial in the slaying of Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was wearing a turban when he was gunned down.
"He didn't independently know that he had done that," Rosengard said, conceding he only discussed Sodhi's murder with Roque for a few minutes. "Then later, he realized that he had done it."
A defense expert witness, Rosengard testified that Roque, 44, suffers from two forms of mental illness: brief reactive psychosis and depression with psychotic features.
Roque "was not able to discern the legal wrongfulness of his actions because of a psychotic pathology, because of his illness," Rosengard said.
Rosengard and psychologist Phillip Barry's testimony form the cornerstone of Roque's insanity defense. Defense attorney Dan Patterson is attempting to convince jurors that Roque should be sent to a state hospital until he no longer is a threat to anyone.
Prosecutor Vince Imbordino is arguing for the death penalty. Court appointed psychiatrist Jack Potts is expected to testify today that Roque was not insane, and any mental illness he might have is not so extensive that the defendant couldn't distinguish right from wrong.
Under cross-examination from Imbordino, Rosengard said it's possible that Roque bent his license plate to avoid identification and sped away from Sodhi's east Mesa gas station, because he knew what he did was wrong and didn't want to get caught.
Rosengard said there are other possible explanations for Roque's behavior, adding that it's impossible for him to explain "what a psychotic mind was thinking."
The psychiatrist said that it's possible to understand the difference between right and wrong, even during a psychotic episode.
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