Storey's mom testifies on changes in him
Jason...@virgin.net
By DAVID HOLDEN and MIKE SALINERO
Times Staff Writers
08/06/99
A psychologist testified today that her interviews with Brian Storey showed no indication that he was so mentally impaired that he could not appreciate that it would be wrong to kill.
Vonceil Smith, a staff psychologist at Taylor-Hardin Secure Medical Facility, interviewed Storey in March and May. The court ordered the hospital to assess Storeys mental health.
Storey, 19, is accused of murdering Nicole Williamson, a clerk, on Aug. 7, 1997, at the Circle C Food Store at Byrd Spring Road and South Memorial Parkway.
During Smiths first interview in March, she said, Storey wouldnt cooperate. She called Storeys lawyers to have them persuade him to cooperate.
During the second interview in May, Storey said he had used drugs and alcohol excessively since he was 14.
Smith said she thought some of his statements were exaggerated. For instance, Storey told her he had taken about 300 hits of LSD, consumed about a half case of beer a day and smoked ''a lot of marijuana.
On cross-examination by Storeys attorney, William P. Burgess, Storey said she had not tested the defendant specifically for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But she said Storeys behavior may have indicated he had some symptoms of the disorder.
Smith said she based her opinion - that Storey was not so mentally impaired that he could not appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions - on court records, information from lawyers, information from the family and direct observation and a battery of tests. The tests indicated Storey had average intelligence.
Smith said one of her concerns was that Storey seemed to have little appreciation for the seriousness of the charges against him.
Closing arguments in the case were expected to begin this afternoon.
On Thursday, a heartbroken Joyce Storey told the jury her son was crying out for help before he stumbled into trouble, but she failed to see the warning signs in time.
''We were worried about the wrong things, his grades at school, she said. ''We should have been worried about his life.
Her son, Brian Storey, is on trial for capital murder in the death of Nicole Williamson, 28, who died Aug. 7, 1997, during a robbery at Circle C Food Store at Byrd Spring Road and South Memorial Parkway. He is accused of shooting Williamson twice with a shotgun.
Corey Kintz, 19, who drove the getaway car after the robbery, was charged as an accomplice. Kintz testified against Storey Wednesday.
Two doctors testified Thursday that Storey was suffering from a mental disease or defect when the robbery occurred.
Storey sat with his head bowed as his mother testified in his defense Thursday. Joyce Storey and her husband, Robert, have two other sons.
Brian Storey earned good grades, obeyed his parents and was a very sweet person, she said. He was very athletic, too, she said. He played soccer, football and basketball, but he lived and breathed baseball.
By the time he was in the ninth grade at Grissom High School, he was on the baseball and basketball teams. He associated mostly with other athletes and kids from their church, Willowbrook Baptist.
But he began to change during the summer between the 10th and 11th grades, she said. He disobeyed his parents and became more willful.
He also began to pull away from the church, she said.
By mid-1997, she was finding bags in his jeans that smelled like marijuana, she said. He had changed friends and, over his parents objections, was hanging around with people her family believed to be bad companions.
He lost his position on the baseball team in early 1997 and he failed the 11th grade.
Then, his mother said, Storey started making weird comments.
''He said things like, 'You dont know me. Im not going to live past 25. I have nothing to live for, Joyce Storey said.
She didnt know what to do. She and her husband took his car and told him to leave their home in June 1997 until he could obey their rules.
He left but they allowed him to return home a month later.
His behavior did not change and she took him to see the family physician, Dr. Jeffrey Garber. Garber prescribed medicine for him Aug. 1, 1997, and she made sure that he took some every morning until Aug. 6. He did not return home that night.
Garber, a family practitioner, said he has treated Storey for minor ailments since 1990. But in July 1997, he determined that Storey had insomnia and suffered from severe depression.
According to Garber, Storey said he was a failure as a person, blamed himself for everything that had gone wrong and had no interests. Although Storey said he used marijuana, no drugs were detected on a drug screen, Garber said. Physically, Storey was hot and flushed and unable to relax, he said.
Garber said he saw Storey again on Aug. 1, 1997, and recommended psychiatric or psychological counseling, but Storey rejected it.
Then he prescribed a drug called Zoloft, an antidepressant similar to Prozac, to improve Storeys mood. ''I consider it a safe drug which has very little interaction with other drugs, he said.
Dr. James R. Merikangas, a Woodbridge, Conn., neurologist and psychiatrist, testified Thursday that Storey was suffering from a mental disease and a mental defect when the robbery occurred. Merikangas first saw Storey in October 1998.
Brain scans showed blood flow is restricted in a part of Storeys brain, a problem that he has probably had all his life, Merikangas said.
On Aug. 7, 1997, the day of the robbery, Storey was suffering from severe mental depression, attention deficit hyperactive disorder and an adverse reaction to Zoloft, Merikangas said.
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