Good points thanks.
Here's the thing......I believe for any weight to be given to VS as a contributing factor a qualified psychologist or doctor needed to get it into his medical record.
Now, if it is in his medical record from when he was only 15 years old I am not sure that it would help him because it was over 10 years later when he committed his crimes.
If VS was such a hindering influence in his emotional and mental well-being then why go 10 years without consulting a professional to get medication to help deal with it? I mean why did he never go to get medical help for it as an adult?
The VS disease is a legitimate mental/health diagnoses but juries need medical proof that medical attention was sought, doctors diagnosed it, medication did not help.
***
If VS made BK violent then the mitigation expert needs to put on witnessess or police reports to show past violent episodes and all I am seeing is he put a friend's head in a headlock as a teenager and told his dad:
"Don't do something stupid" when BK stole his sister's phone to buy drugs.
And there is another issue....
Were BK's VS symptoms from or aggravated by his Heroin use? I believe his Heroin use is documented.
This is another whole ball of wax.
2 Cents
If it is in his medical records when he was 15 it is absolutely relevant to his actions in his twenties. In his posts he mentions that it had been going on for years, as had the DP/DR that accompanied it. 1) Experiencing DP/DR kind of disconnect for years during the formative teen years is going to have long lasting effects on his personality and socialization. 2) VSS, as a general rule, doesn't just go away on its own. It may lessen, and the patient may have better adapting skills over time, but chances of it spontaneously disappearing are close to zero. Even any success with medication usually results in just reducing it, not erasing it entirely. For patients who get little help from medications, the one of the commonly recommended strategies for dealing with it is----literally to learn how to not fixate on it/begin to ignore it. For people with certain co-occurring mental health issues, that can be nearly impossible.
He did try medication for it--Topamax (migraine medication often tried for VSS because VSS can sometimes be caused by migraines). He had a very bad reaction to it. He mentions the doctor trying several medications, but not by name--the usuals are Lamictal, gabapentin, propranalol, benzos, and Zoloft. My own son did several different regimens, most had little to no positive effect (oh, but the side effects.....ugh).
He reports this started long before his heroin usage. Hallucinogenic drugs can be the cause of an associated visual snow syndrome called HPPD, but heroin wouldn't cause it. It could worsen VSS in a person who already has it. The heroin usage could certainly make the DP/DR worse.
There is no proof that he didn't continue to see specialists or try medications throughout his late teens and early twenties. I can tell you that after multiple medication regimens provided little improvement but a ton of side effects, my son's neuropthalmologist said he'd probably be better off stopping the medications and focusing on therapy/reducing inflammation/etc.
Let me clarify--the VS in and of itself wouldn't make him violent. The resulting DP/DR combined with other likely mental health issues that can be associated with this can form and shape a personality into the kind of individual who can commit the kind of crime that he is accused of.
How did he get through degrees with all this? Rigid self control and the ability to mask just barely enough to get by in specific environments.
None of this excuses what he did. Personally, I don't think it should make a difference between LWOP and death penalty, because I no longer support the death penalty. None of this is a direct A to B line from dots in your vision to brutally murdering people. But they are pieces of the puzzle of how he formed into the person he is. And that's something worth studying.
legislature.idaho.gov
