Psychologist Says 'Very Personable' Teen Shooter Spoke Of Being A Dental Hygienist скачать в хорошем качестве

Psychologist Says 'Very Personable' Teen Shooter Spoke Of Being A Dental Hygienist

Jennifer Sapia is a licensed psychologist in Southport, North Carolina, who assessed teenage mass shooter Austin Thompson. She testified in Thompson's sentencing hearing in Raleigh this morning (Thursday, February 12). Sepia testified about Austin's typical adolescent development, his traumatic brain injury from shooting himself in the forehead, and his remarkable recovery. 02:58 "I was asked to meet with Austin and to review his records and identify any emotional, psychological or developmental factors that would be important for the court to understand in terms of mitigation and sentencing purposes." 05:21 She's testified in a "Miller" hearing before. Miller refers to the name of the 2012 SCOTUS case that said people who committed a homicide when they were under 18 can’t be sentenced to life in prison without parole unless their youthfulness at the time of the offense is considered. 06:46 "How long did you meet with Austin?" "I met with him for about two hours and 20 minutes" 07:42 "he was easy to engage. He was personable. He was very talkative. I think he started talking the minute I sat down." 08:14 "He was easy to engage. He was personable. He was very talkative. I think he started talking the minute I sat down." 09:10 "He was, I think, a little bit nervous initially, and when he he tended to laugh, a little smile, maybe not at appropriate times. I think that was a little bit of his nervousness, but just possibly post head injury. He was, again, just pretty easy going. He was engaged in the conversation, I would say, very personable. When I was leaving, he seemed disappointed that even though it had been almost two and a half hours, wanting to know when, when or if he'd see me again, and told me to have a safe drive when I was leaving." 12:04 "He understands cognitively what has happened, right? And has taken responsibility for that, understands that he will be going to prison for a very long time. But it was kind of like this adolescent magical thinking. He was talking about a future, maybe being a dental hygienist really not able to fully appreciate and put himself into that kind of future. And that's typical for adolescents." 13:39 "Adolescent brains are vastly different from adult brains, functionally, structurally, chemically." 20:49 "that was a major insult to his brain. At that time, he had to relearn even the most basic of skills, initially, just being able to attend to what's going on around him, to be able to make sense of incoming information, to understand and use language again" 24:04 "Austin's full scale IQ score when initially tested, was a 73 so almost two standard deviations below normal" 27:45 "Based on the healing that has obviously occurred in his brain and the improvements he's made from 2023 to 2024 would you expect to see the scores continue to rise to some degree?" 30:56 "Well, sadly, adolescents are not adults right? They don't think reason problem solved the way adults can, because they just don't have those adult capacities. They are very much present focused in their decision making and not future oriented." 36:36 "While he's 18 now, he's going to continue to get better, right? Better develop those skills, self regulation, impulse control, emotional management, thinking, appreciating future consequences. I don't see any evidence that would suggest that those skills will not continue to improve despite his brain injury." 39:10 "My understanding, he's not been seen by or evaluated by any mental health professionals for any underlying mental health condition." 39:30 "Do you believe that he would benefit from those types of services moving forward?" "Absolutely." Thompson was 15 when he murdered five people in an Oct. 13, 2022, shooting spree. The victims were Thompson's 16-year-old brother, James Roger Thompson; Nicole Connors, 52; Susan Karnatz, 49; Mary Marshall, 35; and Gabriel Torres, 29, a Raleigh police officer who was on his way to work. Connors' friend Lynn Gardner and Officer Casey Clark of the Raleigh Police Department were injured. Thompson pleaded guilty on Jan. 21 to all charges, including five counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. He’s being sentenced pursuant to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said people who committed a homicide when they were under 18 can’t be sentenced to life in prison without parole unless their youthfulness at the time of the offense is considered. Judge Paul Ridgeway in North Carolina’s 10th Judicial District is presiding. ****************************************************************************** Subscribe to Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff: https://www.legalaffairsandtrials.com...