Did you happen to watch the rebuttal testimony of the doctor from the Dekalb County Jail? I only ask because I was of the opinion that, while HN knew right from wrong, there was something really wrong with his brain.
I have completely changed my mind after this testimony. Specifically the part where HN was under very close supervision in the medical ward for three months, with security guards and psychological caregivers alternating rounds about 6 times an hour, with a variety of caregivers observing HN's behavior. The fact that none of them ever noticed a single tidbit of behavior that gave them pause about HN's mental stability says a lot to me.
I know people can hide certain mental problems for short periods of time and I know some people are accomplished at faking sanity. What I do not know of is anyone who can sustain that 24/7 for three solid months.
Faking it for a few hours while you talk to the defense team's shrink, however, would be no problem for someone as smart as HN appears to be. And the testimony that there are no records of him researching mental illness mean nothing to me. He could have walked into a Barnes & Noble, read for an hour or so, and left without buying a book. There would be no record of anything!
I'm curious what you think about that because it had such a dramatic impact on my theory.