David looked into the faces of the jurors. They seemed to be swaying in front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut for an instant.
“The American Psychiatric Association recognizes multiple personality disorder. So do prominent physicians around the world who have treated patients with this problem. One of Ashley Patterson’s personalities committed murder, but it was a personality—an alter—over which she had no control.” His voice was getting stronger. “To see the problem clearly, you must understand that the law does not punish an innocent person. So there is a paradox here. Imagine that a Siamese twin is being tried for murder. The law says that you cannot punish the guilty one because you would then have to punish the innocent one.” The jury was listening intently.
David nodded toward Ashley. “In this case, we have not two but three personalities to deal with.”
He turned to Judge Williams. “I would like to call my first witness. Dr. Joel Ashanti.”
“Dr. Ashanti, where do you practice medicine?”
“At Madison Hospital in New York.”
“And did you come here at my request?”
“No. I read about the trial, and I wanted to testify. I’ve worked with patients who have multiple personality disorder, and I wanted to be helpful, if I could. MPD is much more common than the public realizes, and I want to try to clear up any misunderstandings about it.”
“I appreciate that, Doctor. In cases like these, is it usual to find a patient with two personalities or alters?”
“In my experience, people with MPD usually have many more alters, sometimes as many as a hundred.”
Eleanor Tucker turned to whisper something to Mickey Brennan. Brennan smiled.
“How long have you been dealing with multiple personality disorder, Dr. Ashanti?”
“For the past fifteen years.”
“In a patient with MPD, is there usually one alter who dominates?”
“Yes.”
Some of the jurors were making notes.
“And is the host—the person who has those personalities within him or her—aware of the other alters?”
“It varies. Sometimes some of the alters know all the other alters, sometimes they know only some of them. But the host is usually not aware of them, not until psychiatric treatment.”
“That’s very interesting. Is MPD curable?”
“Often, yes. It requires psychiatric treatment over long periods. Sometimes up to six or seven years.”
“Have you ever been able to cure MPD patients?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
David turned to study the jury for a moment. Interested, but not convinced, he thought.
He looked over at Mickey Brennan. “Your witness.”
Brennan rose and walked over to the witness box. “Dr. Ashanti, you testified that you flew here all the way from New York because you wanted to be helpful?”
“That’s correct.”
“Your coming here couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that this is a high-profile case and that the publicity would be beneficial to—”
David was on his feet. “Objection. Argumentative.”
“Overruled.”
Dr. Ashanti said calmly, “I stated why I came here.”
“Right. Since you’ve been practicing medicine, Doctor, how many patients would you say you’ve treated for mental disorders?”
“Oh, perhaps two hundred.”
“And of those cases, how many would you say suffered from multiple personality disorder?”
“A dozen…”
Brennan looked at him in feigned astonishment. “Out of two hundred patients?”
“Well, yes. You see—”
“What I don’t see, Dr. Ashanti, is how you can consider yourself an expert if you’ve dealt with only those few cases. I would appreciate it if you would give us some evidence that would prove or disprove the existence of multiple personality disorder.”
“When you say proof—”
“We’re in a court of law, Doctor. The jury is not going to make decisions based on theory and ’what if.’ What if, for example, the defendant hated the men she murdered, and after killing them, decided to use the excuse of an alter inside her so that she—”
David was on his feet. “Objection! That’s argumentative and leading the witness.”
“Overruled.”
“Your Honor—”
“Sit down, Mr. Singer.”
David glared at Judge Williams and angrily took his seat.
“So what you’re telling us, Doctor, is that there’s no evidence that will prove or disprove the existence of MPD?”
“Well, no. But—”