The Measure of Madness by Cheryl Paradis

Author:Cheryl Paradis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2010-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

Dr. Weidenbacher interrupted my thoughts about Tortorici and steered the interview back to the issue of competency. “Do you know what you’re charged with?” he asked.

Mr. Cowen nodded and said: “I told my girlfriend to leave, she was yelling at me and on the way out she picked up a rock and threw it through the window. I chased after her. She ran across the street and I tried to grab her. I guess I pushed her. She ran into some car and fell down.”

Mr. Cowen had an excellent understanding of his case. He described the events in detail—an important criterion for competency to stand trial. He maintained that he had never slapped his girlfriend, but acknowledged that he should not have chased her and that she may have been hurt when she fell.

“Do the voices discuss your legal case?” I asked.

“The people who are transmitting in my ear through the microchip implants influence my decisions,” he said. Then, all of a sudden, he broke eye contact and looked off to the side. He appeared to be hallucinating.

“You seem distracted,” I pointed out, bringing him back to our conversation.

“The implanted microchip voices are discussing my case,” he admitted.

“What did they say?”

“The voices were just laughing and carrying on,” he blandly replied.

We continued to discuss these voices as if hallucinations were an ordinary experience. He told us that the implantation of devices was part of a larger conspiracy. He believed it was possible that his ex-girlfriend was somehow connected with the conspiracy against him and that she was pressing charges against him in order to derail any future lawsuit against the surgeon. He also thought that his attorney “could be involved in the conspiracy.” Clearly, his delusions about the “implants” contaminated his ability to view his legal case in a rational manner.

I questioned him again about whether he would agree to discuss his case with his attorney. He patiently explained that he could never discuss his legal case with his attorney, since “others” were listening. Although he wanted to accept a plea, he would not discuss it with his lawyer because he had, in his words, “no hope for privacy.”

As we continued to question him, I carefully watched for signs that he might involve us in his paranoid system. I scanned his face for expressions of anxiety or fear, but found quite the opposite. He looked me straight in the eye and smiled in a winning way. Most paranoid defendants I have interviewed were wary and defensive. He surprised me again when he laughed and admitted that his beliefs certainly sounded crazy. I found it remarkable that Mr. Cowen, while clearly delusional, on some level was able to see himself objectively.

Mr. Cowen did not fit the stereotype of a mentally ill man. He was not disheveled or incoherent. He did not behave bizarrely. He was enjoyable to talk with and had a good sense of humor. If I did not know about his delusions, he would have seemed perfectly normal. He was unique because he was clearly psychotic but appeared rational on the surface.

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