 |  |
|  Recent News |
|
|
| |
|
 You can add SikhNet news to your website or read it in your RSS news reader. |
|
Sodhi Shooter Ruled Not Insane by Court Psychiatrist
08/28/2003
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0828roque28.html
Man called sane in Sikh's death
advertisement
Psychiatric opinion counters defense
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 28, 2003 12:00 AM
A court-appointed psychiatrist examined a Mesa machinist twice and concluded that Frank Roque was not insane when he shot and killed a Sikh gas-station owner in retaliation for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Roque's defense attorneys are using a guilty but insane defense in his death-penalty trial, expected to start Tuesday, arguing that the balding 49-year-old defendant is schizophrenic and heard voices from God telling him to kill Arabs.
While Dr. Jack Potts' opinion on eve of trial is a setback for the defense, the forensic psychiatrist also raised the possibility that Roque was suffering from either a psychotic disorder or acute stress disorder.
However, Potts wrote that Roque's alcohol use may have contributed to the Sept. 15, 2001, shooting of Balbir Singh Sodhi during a spree that included drive-by shootings at a Lebanese-owned gas station and an Afghan immigrant's home.
"At the current time, it is my opinion, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that Mr. Roque was not insane," Potts wrote in an opinion dated Monday. "He may have suffered from a brief reactive psychosis; however, there is clear evidence that he was voluntarily intoxicated."
Even if Roque suffered from a mental disease, "it was not to the severity that he did not know the wrongfulness of his actions," Potts wrote.
Potts was appointed by Judge Mark Aceto of Maricopa County Superior Court as the court's psychiatric expert. His opinion is significant because the trial is expected to pit psychiatrists with conflicting positions against each other.
Dan Patterson, Roque's lead defense attorney, has said that Roque's mother was schizophrenic, that he grew up in New York City, and that he was uniquely affected when terrorists used hijacked planes to destroy the World Trade Center.
If jurors find Roque guilty but insane, he could be released from the state mental hospital if a psychiatrist panel determines he is no longer a threat to himself or others.
Singh Sodhi was an immigrant from India who wore a turban and beard as an expression of his Sikh faith.
Note: Comments do not represent the views of SikhNet. Comments containing
profanity, provocation or slandar will be removed by the moderators.
|
Add SikhNet news to your website
