About midnight on May 22, 1996, Judson Carmichael had sex with his girlfriend in her Pontiac and, while robbing her, stabbed her 39 times in the head with a screwdriver and left her dead in a remote Pahokee park, court papers charge.
Prosecutors say Carmichael should die.
Carmichael says he’s insane.
But a judge, county officials, psychiatrists and neurologists are questioning the validity of the method Carmichael has chosen to prove his insanity – and whether taxpayers should pay for it.
Carmichael and his court-appointed attorney, Randy Berman, have asked Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Edward A. Garrison for permission to receive a 24-hour telemetry exam. Berman would not provide details of the proposed exam. Dr. Walter Martinez, a West Palm Beach neurologist, said the test, often used to monitor electrical brain activity in epileptics, combines video technology with electroencephalograms, or EEGs.
By watching a video of a patient side-by-side with a monitor of rhythmic, electrical brain waves, a physician can diagnose epilepsy and determine which parts of the brain are causing seizures.
But Martinez said that even if Carmichael proved he was experiencing seizures, there is no scientific link between seizures and criminal activity.
“There is no such thing as electricity in your brain that will make you kill somebody,” Martinez said. “I have never heard of a defendant doing this before. I have seen patients with seizures with horrible behaviors, and none of them killed.”
Carmichael faces charges of first-degree murder after the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office accused him of killing his girlfriend, Natalie Durham, before stealing her credit card and car, which he crashed in Miami. He and his girlfriend were 20 years old at the time.
Garrison said allowing the exam would require an “extraordinary measure” because of the cost to the county and the intense security Carmichael would require for a 24-hour trip to a local hospital.
Garrison said he feared the test could be nothing more than a “fishing expedition.”The judge demanded that Berman submit a sealed letter from a doctor explaining exactly what the test might prove and what medical basis there is to require it.
“Otherwise, I’m ruling in the dark,” Garrison said. Area psychiatrists said there is no scientific evidence directly linking abnormal brain waves with criminal behavior.
“His brain waves influence his behavior. That’s what he’s trying to prove,” West Palm Beach psychiatrist Dr. McKinley Cheshire said. “Whether that can be considered valid, and whether that can be technically done, I don’t know. I think he’s going to be plowing new ground.”
