Betrayal

'Again, Doctor, not my question. Does PTSD cause blackouts?'

Washburn cleared his throat and spoke from his table. 'Objection. Badgering.'

Tollson didn't take two seconds to make up his mind. 'Overruled.' He leaned over to speak to the witness. 'Please answer the question, Doctor.'

Mills jumped right in. 'Would you like me to repeat it?'

Tollson transferred his scowl down to her. 'Can the sarcasm, Counselor. Doctor, answer the question, does PTSD cause blackouts?'

'Yes, there are some reports of that.'

'Some? How many of these reports are you personally familiar with?'

'I'm not sure. To the best of my recollection, a few.'

'A few. All right. And do any of these few reports with which you're familiar speak to the duration of any of these rare PTSD blackouts?'

From behind her, Everett Washburn rumbled forth again. 'Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence. The doctor's awareness of only a few reports on blackouts doesn't mean that the blackouts themselves are rare.'

'Sustained.'

But Mills came right back at Overton. 'Doctor,' she said, 'do any of these few reports with which you're familiar speak to the duration of any of these PTSD blackouts?'

'Yes, they do.'

Mills had her own expert witness on this topic, although she wasn't sure she was going to use him. In any event, she'd done her homework and knew her facts. 'Doctor,' she said, 'isn't it true that these PTSD blackouts tend to be of very short duration?'

'Yes.'

'Along the line of forgetting where you put your keys, for example?'

'I'm not sure I understand what you mean.'

'You put your keys on your kitchen counter, for example, then are struck with a vivid post-traumatic flashback. When it's over, you can't remember where you placed your keys. That's the kind of PTSD blackout discussed in the literature, is it not? In other words, a memory lapse of relatively short duration?'

'I think so. Yes.'

Mills walked back to her table, took a drink of water. Turning around to the witness, she asked, 'Doctor, are you aware of any PTSD blackouts that extended for more than a day?'

'No. I've never heard of that.'

'How about an hour?'

'No, I don't think so.'

'Ten minutes?'

'Somewhere in that realm, I believe. The flashback, usually, tends to be intense but short-lived.'

The gallery might not have understood exactly what Mills was getting at with this questioning, but the doctor's answer of ten minutes sent a buzz through the room. Galvanized by it, the prosecutor moved in closer to the witness. 'Doctor, you've also testified about blackouts that are coupled with excessive alcohol and drug use, or both. Would you characterize these blackouts as caused by PTSD, or by the alcohol and/or drug use?'

'Well, they're related. The PTSD exacerbates the abusive behavior.'

'But it is the drinking or the drug use that causes the actual blackouts, is it not?'

'I don't think we can say that.'

'Well, Doctor, alcohol and drug use by themselves can cause blackouts, correct?'

'Yes.'

'And this is a fairly common and well-documented phenomenon, is it not?'

'Yes.'

'But blackouts associated with PTSD are both rare and of short duration, isn't that true?'

Washburn knew that this was a compound question, and hence objectionable, but saw nothing to gain by further interruption.

'Yes.'

'So,' Mills continued, 'if you had a blackout for an extended period of time, Doctor, say a couple of days, there is scientific evidence that it could have been caused by alcohol, and no scientific support for the suggestion that it was caused by PTSD alone, correct?'

'Yes.'

'Thank you, Doctor. Now, you've said that Mr. Scholler told you that he had abused both alcohol and Vicodin, isn't that so?'

Clearly frustrated now, Overton had come forward in the witness chair, her hands on the balustrade of the box. 'That's right.'

'Did he also tell you, Doctor, that he had abused alcohol in Iraq before one of these so-called traumatic experiences?'

'Your Honor!' Finally Washburn was moved to rise to his feet in outrage. 'I object to Counsel's characterization. Most of us humans would consider sustaining a severe head wound during a rifle and grenade attack on foreign soil in defense of our country a traumatic event. There is nothing spurious or so-called about it.'

This brought the gallery noise now to a full hum, and Tollson dropped his gavel for the first time. Without a word, he glared around the room until all the noise had ceased.

Mills broke the silence. 'I'll withdraw the word so-called, Your Honor.' But she wasn't backing down. 'Perhaps the court reporter can reread my question without the offending word.'

Tollson looked down over the bench at his reporter and nodded.

The woman pulled the tape up and read, 'Did he also tell you, Doctor, that he had abused alcohol in Iraq before one of these'-a pause-'traumatic experiences?'

Overton, her mouth set, shot a glance at Washburn, then came back to her tormentor. 'Yes, he did.'

'In other words, Mr. Scholler's alcohol abuse preceded his PTSD, and by itself was capable of producing extended periods of memory blackout, isn't that so?'

'Apparently,' Overton snipped out.

'That would be a 'yes,' then, is that correct?'

Through all but gritted teeth now. 'Yes.'

'And Mr. Scholler told you that the particular blackout after the death of the victim, Ron Nolan, lasted approximately four days, isn't that true?'

'Yes.'

'Thank you, Doctor,' Mills said. 'No further questions.'

Lawyer and client sat knee to knee in a holding cell behind the courtroom during the lunch recess. Outside their two small wired windows, it was a bright and sunny day. Their view included a small city of media vans that had set up out in the parking lot. Washburn's mouth was full of liverwurst on rye, but it didn't shut him up. 'It doesn't matter,' he said. 'What's important is she established the PTSD. Now we've just got to make sure we get Tollson to let it in. You gonna eat your pickle?'

'No. I'm not holding anything down. You go ahead.'

Washburn stopped chewing. 'You nervous?'

'Why would I be nervous? On trial for murder and all.'

'You've got to keep your strength up.' Washburn grabbed the pickle and took a bite of it. After he finally swallowed, he sipped from his bottled water and cleared his throat. 'But we need to talk about what we do if he doesn't allow it.'

'You mean Tollson?'

A nod. 'And the PTSD. We get that, we're going to have the jury on our side. They're going to see what happened in Iraq, what you've been through…it's decent odds they don't convict. On the other hand, this morning I was hoping Ted would rule to let the PTSD in without a hearing, but he didn't do that. Which means he's thinking about it, maybe he thinks it's bogus.'