RECAP: Psychologist calls Oxford High School shooter "feral child" in Miller hearing Day 3
(CBS DETROIT) - It was another dramatic day in court for the third day of the Oxford High School shooter's Miller hearing. The hearing will determine if the shooter, who is a juvenile, is eligible to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tuesday's hearing centered around the testimony of a psychologist and featured a disturbing body camera video of the shooter in jail.
Licensed psychologist Colin King described the shooter as a "feral child," who was emotionally, socially, and psychologically abandoned. The defense played body camera footage, which they said shows the shooter in the middle of a psychological break.
"Why didn't you stop it, God? Why didn't you stop it?" the shooter said in the video. "You let it out. Why? I am sorry, I am sorry. Please, God, I am sorry."
"We witness a child in the throws psychosis," said King. "He's having a panic attack and a break with reality."
King said he spent nearly 24 hours over six sessions with the shooter, about a year after the shooting. King detailed school assignments that the shooter had drawn guns drawn on, and worried emails from the shooter's teachers, as well as text messages between the shooter and his parents.
King said those all should have been red flags to the adults in his life.
"When he told his parents that he was hearing voices and he needed to see a therapist. I don't know what 15-year-old raises his hand and says my brain hurts, I need to see a therapist. And it never happened."
The defense also played a video of the shooter collapsing in the back of a diner one year before the shooting. King suggested he may have suffered a brain injury. He said the shooter is capable of rehabilitation, as his brain is still maturing.
"And his brain probably will not reach full maturity for another 10 years."
The prosecution, however, argued that the shooter planned his actions in detail and clearly knew the consequences.
The prosecution referenced a report by another psychologist who interviewed the shooter and concluded he was not mentally ill. They will call that psychologist as a rebuttal witness on Aug.18. After that, the judge is expected to issue their ruling.
