Found Deceased CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 *Arrest* #53

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  • #701
If she appears in orange, my understanding is that it's because it's her choice to do so. I think she is within her rights to wear civvies, and enter before the jury so they don't see any restraints. It helps to prevent prejudgements. However, I am not a lawyer, so if I am incorrect, please correct me.

MOO

I'm sure they can let her enter to try and make the restraints less visible, but I believe LS(Tee) will make sure the jury sees them anyway. Anything she can do, to be transgressive and to get attention.
 
  • #702
I'm sure they can let her enter to try and make the restraints less visible, but I believe LS(Tee) will make sure the jury sees them anyway. Anything she can do, to be transgressive and to get attention.
That’s her to a “t”.
As much as I want Michael Allen to destroy her, I’m heartbroken it won’t bring Gannon back. I hope Mr. Allen uses the right words to break her heart.
 
  • #703
It's been over three years since 11-year-old Gannon Stauch was allegedly killed, and on Monday the jury trial for his accused killer and stepmom, Letecia Stauch, is finally slated to begin.


BBM and font adj

The trial will begin with two weeks of jury selection, where the prosecution and defense will work to select a 16-person jury for the trial, four of which will be alternates.

The reason for the two-week long jury selection process is due to the likelihood that many potential jurors will be unable to be present for the entirety of the six-week long trial, as well as expected difficulties with jurors being exposed to previous media coverage of the case, according to Judge Gregory Werner.

To accommodate the anticipated length of jury selection, opening statements are scheduled to begin on the afternoon of April 3.


The first evaluation conducted by CMHIP found Stauch to be sane, Werner said at a hearing in August. The findings of the second evaluation conducted by the defense have yet to be revealed, and as of last week had yet to be filed to the court at all.

The lack of the second sanity report put Stauch's trial in jeopardy as 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen indicated at the pre-trial readiness conference on March 9 that not having the second report prior to trial was a serious complication.

Allen said that if the report was not received before trial, the prosecution could move to exclude the expert conducting the sanity evaluation, who was referred to as "Dr. Lewis" throughout the hearing, from testifying at trial.

Allen said not having the report borders on "bad faith" from the defense's expert.

"This is a disrespect to court deadlines," Allen said. "I've never seen anything like this."

Werner, who shared Allen's frustrations, gave a hard deadline of Wednesday evening, March 15, for the second sanity report to be filed.

"Convey to your expert that it's not a suggestion, it's not a guideline ... it's a deadline," Werner said. "If she (Dr. Lewis) wants to testify here in this case, it has to be done (by the deadline)."

Court records show that Stauch's defense attorneys filed a report, the contents of which are unknown, to the court on Thursday.
 
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  • #704
I'm sure they can let her enter to try and make the restraints less visible, but I believe LS(Tee) will make sure the jury sees them anyway. Anything she can do, to be transgressive and to get attention.
Maybe the judge could ask Letecia for a “pinky promise” to behave. SMDH at how much I hate that woman.
 
  • #705
She is using "Insanity" defense? I didn't see that anywhere in the videos she is in...especially the one from the neighbor's "Ring" video.

While it is hard to understand that someone "sane" can kill a child...she is not insane. Narcissistic and anti social, yes. Insane, no.

Oh, I think she's thoroughly insane in the usual sense of the word.

But legally competent to stand trial. She's one of those people whose mental illness is so profound and so easily projected onto others that I'm guessing her entire family felt and feels crazier when she's around. When she wants to hide it, she will, but she likes letting it out in order to intimidate and manipulate others.

IMO. Is she even using the insanity defense though? I thought not. I'm so confused.
 
  • #706
Oh, I think she's thoroughly insane in the usual sense of the word.

But legally competent to stand trial. She's one of those people whose mental illness is so profound and so easily projected onto others that I'm guessing her entire family felt and feels crazier when she's around. When she wants to hide it, she will, but she likes letting it out in order to intimidate and manipulate others.

IMO. Is she even using the insanity defense though? I thought not. I'm so confused.
LS entered a plea of Not Guilty by reason of insanity:

Originally, Stauch entered a plea of not guilty for murder, she later changed her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. Gannon was only 11 when he was reported missing. According to the defense, the evaluation is a “sanity” eval, meaning an expert is expected to decide whether or not Letecia was sane at the time of the crime.
 
  • #707
Dr. Lewis appears to be 82 years old. She's at least 80. Looks like she got her bachelor's from Radcliffe in 1963 (which would make her approximately 82).



She appears to be psychoanalytically oriented. Or something like that. At any rate, it sounds as if being elderly and possibly a bit disorganized by nature is slowing her down. I wonder if they'll ever get that report.

SPECULATION based on what's available about Dr. Lewis.
 
  • #708
LS entered a plea of Not Guilty by reason of insanity:

Originally, Stauch entered a plea of not guilty for murder, she later changed her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. Gannon was only 11 when he was reported missing. According to the defense, the evaluation is a “sanity” eval, meaning an expert is expected to decide whether or not Letecia was sane at the time of the crime.

The only thing that matters now, in this regard, is what the psychiatric experts say and what the judge finds to be the case. It sounds like they're having a hard time getting a regular psychiatrist to say she's incompetent, since she was (twice?) put on psychiatric hold and twice deemed well enough to go back to jail and face trial (by the county's psychiatrists, I believe).

Can't wait to see what happens if Dr Lewis fails to produce that document of "insanity" (Dr Lewis says someone an be crazy but competent to stand trial, apparently - at least that's what's on the splash screen of her movie).

If LS gets what she wants and tries the insanity defense, I bet they will put her on the stand. And she will act insane.

IMO that's a real possibility. Doesn't really matter, I guess - she's going away for life, it would just change the venue.
 
  • #709
That’s her to a “t”.
As much as I want Michael Allen to destroy her, I’m heartbroken it won’t bring Gannon back. I hope Mr. Allen uses the right words to break her heart.

I hope he makes her look and feel like a complete idiot. Because she thinks she's very smart. She possesses enough reason to know how smartness is measured and she is going to simmer and maybe even boil over when all her stupidity is carefully revealed at trial. She really should just plead guilty and go away.

IMO. And I too mourn Gannon and feel there's no adequate punishment for this non-human masquerading as a person.

ALL JMO of course.
 
  • #710
The only thing that matters now, in this regard, is what the psychiatric experts say and what the judge finds to be the case. It sounds like they're having a hard time getting a regular psychiatrist to say she's incompetent, since she was (twice?) put on psychiatric hold and twice deemed well enough to go back to jail and face trial (by the county's psychiatrists, I believe).

Can't wait to see what happens if Dr Lewis fails to produce that document of "insanity" (Dr Lewis says someone an be crazy but competent to stand trial, apparently - at least that's what's on the splash screen of her movie).

If LS gets what she wants and tries the insanity defense, I bet they will put her on the stand. And she will act insane.

IMO that's a real possibility. Doesn't really matter, I guess - she's going away for life, it would just change the venue.

Not counting Lewis's examination, there have been three. Two for competency, one for sanity.

So, two to say she's okay to participate in her on defense - one by the state, one by the defense.

And with the plea, one by the state.

Competency has a different standard to sanity, according to folks further back on the thread. Anyone who ever plead not guilty by reason of insanity was found competent, first.

The Difference Between "Competency" and "Sanity"
 
  • #711
Jury selection is going to be so important here. I do hope there are some men on the panel. I thibnk they will relate to being a kid at the mercy of a crazy stepmom/girlfriend. And/or relate to having a crazy girlfriend and understand what went wrong.

In the last couple of trials I watched, I saw the judge saying that the potential jurors did not need to be ignorant of the facts in the case ----they just needed to be able to remain impartial and unbiased. THat is what Judge Newman in Murdaugh case declared. I like that trend because 'ignorance' of current news sometimes brings in jurors who cannot put the dots together. [Casey Anthony trial ]
 
  • #712
Jury selection is going to be so important here. I do hope there are some men on the panel. I thibnk they will relate to being a kid at the mercy of a crazy stepmom/girlfriend. And/or relate to having a crazy girlfriend and understand what went wrong.

In the last couple of trials I watched, I saw the judge saying that the potential jurors did not need to be ignorant of the facts in the case ----they just needed to be able to remain impartial and unbiased. THat is what Judge Newman in Murdaugh case declared. I like that trend because 'ignorance' of current news sometimes brings in jurors who cannot put the dots together. [Casey Anthony trial ]
And Isabel Celis too. At least the case will be refiled for another jury. :(
 
  • #713
Dr. Lewis appears to be 82 years old. She's at least 80. Looks like she got her bachelor's from Radcliffe in 1963 (which would make her approximately 82).



She appears to be psychoanalytically oriented. Or something like that. At any rate, it sounds as if being elderly and possibly a bit disorganized by nature is slowing her down. I wonder if they'll ever get that report.

SPECULATION based on what's available about Dr. Lewis.
A lot of folks with an interest in dissociative disorders working with patients did have a psychoanalytic background, in the past. You only have to read pop psychology treatments like Sybil to see that. More recently, the work being done has more of a focus on things like neurology. It's less about Freud and dream analysis and more about the changes in your brain on a physical and chemical level due to trauma. van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score is a good example of this.

Early days of them working with Lewis, they really obviously wanted to get either an EEG or an MRI for LS... can't remember which it was, or if it was both. I suspect she wanted to try to get brain scans of her in different states. It's a known phenomenon that with genuine cases of DID, often different system members will look different in scans. It's been done by different folks working with DID patients for almost as long as they've been studying it in the modern age. You can see it done in the reality series 'Many Sides of Jane'. The other thing they like to do with different system members is complex personality tests, the MMPI and such. They also use tests specifically designed to show rates of dissociation, like the DES (though that one isn't used often now, it's been replaced with other, more accurate tests). I would expect that minus the scans, they had her do a bunch of testing of that kind.

Here are some articles about brain scans being done on patients with DID.

Computers can 'spot the difference' between healthy brains and the brains of people with Dissociative Identity Disorder | Website archive | King’s College London

A systematic review of the neuroanatomy of dissociative identity disorder

Hippocampal and Amygdalar Volumes in Dissociative Identity Disorder

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17588928.2012.669750

MOO
 
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  • #714
A lot of folks with an interest in dissociative disorders working with patients did have a psychoanalytic background, in the past. You only have to read pop psychology treatments like Sybil to see that. More recently, the work being done has more of a focus on things like neurology. It's less about Freud and dream analysis and more about the changes in your brain on a physical and chemical level due to trauma. van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score is a good example of this.

Early days of them working with Lewis, they really obviously wanted to get either an EEG or an MRI for LS... can't remember which it was, or if it was both. I suspect she wanted to try to get brain scans of her in different states. It's a known phenomenon that with genuine cases of DID, often different system members will look different in scans. It's been done by different folks working with DID patients for almost as long as they've been studying it in the modern age. You can see it done in the reality series 'Many Sides of Jane'. The other thing they like to do with different system members is complex personality tests, the MMPI and such. They also use tests specifically designed to show rates of dissociation, like the DES (though that one isn't used often now, it's been replaced with other, more accurate tests). I would expect that minus the scans, they had her do a bunch of testing of that kind.

MOO

For LS, I recall the same exams (EEG, MRI) were requested in previous defense in motions to the court.

I know the court granted the MRI more than a year ago only for the defense to cancel the request. We learned this last week when they asked for an MRI again.

I think they wanted the EEG conducted over 24 hour period at an outside facility but I think the court granted the EEG if conducted at the jail. Memory fades but this might be why the defense canceled the MRI last year. MOO
 
  • #715
Quotes snipped by me.

In addition to the mental health report, the defense also wants Stauch, 39, to undergo an MRI.

Does anyone know if it's (un)common for an MRI to be ordered when someone wants to plead innocent by insanity? I just find it interesting.

The trail is finally nearing and LS long dreaded fear - the details of her shame on full public display for all to see and know. imo

Do you think she sometimes feels ashamed? Because the antics just don't seem to stop. JMO.
 
  • #716
  • #717
Quotes snipped by me.



Does anyone know if it's (un)common for an MRI to be ordered when someone wants to plead innocent by insanity? I just find it interesting.



Do you think she sometimes feels ashamed? Because the antics just don't seem to stop. JMO.

She will be an interesting case study one day.

I do think she’s ashamed and some of her antics are a result of that. I remember her hiding behind her hair at an earlier court proceeding. Her shame for me is apparent every time she causes a stir before coming into court or asking to be excused. She does not want to be seen, heard through her rambling writings, yes. imo
 
  • #718
Does anyone know if it's (un)common for an MRI to be ordered when someone wants to plead innocent by insanity? I just find it interesting.

An abstract on Dr. Lewis's evaluation methodology:



Also, in her evaluation of Arthur Shawcross, Lewis concurred with Dr. Pincus on the link between a cyst in the temporal lobe (found on MRI) coupled with an EEG spike in the same area indicated an abnormality:

In the video Inside the Killer’s Mind, neurologist Dr. Jonathan Pincus posited that brain damage coupled with a history of abuse could result in aggressive behavior.

“The violent ones were all neurologically impaired on examination.” He discussed a cyst found on Shawcross’ MRI in the temporal lobe that by itself wouldn’t necessarily be significant, but coupled with an EEG spike in the same area it indicated an abnormality.

Also in the film, Dr. Dorothy Lewis stated that in her exams of violent children she “found that these kids had more accidents, injuries, illnesses and hospitalizations than other kids.”


I believe that brain injuries and abnormalities could account for elements of personality that are attributed to empathy, inhibition and moral concepts; characteristics sometimes lacking or poorly displayed in those with criminal behaviors.


 
  • #719
An abstract on Dr. Lewis's evaluation methodology:



Also, in her evaluation of Arthur Shawcross, Lewis concurred with Dr. Pincus on the link between a cyst in the temporal lobe (found on MRI) coupled with an EEG spike in the same area indicated an abnormality:

In the video Inside the Killer’s Mind, neurologist Dr. Jonathan Pincus posited that brain damage coupled with a history of abuse could result in aggressive behavior.

“The violent ones were all neurologically impaired on examination.” He discussed a cyst found on Shawcross’ MRI in the temporal lobe that by itself wouldn’t necessarily be significant, but coupled with an EEG spike in the same area it indicated an abnormality.

Also in the film, Dr. Dorothy Lewis stated that in her exams of violent children she “found that these kids had more accidents, injuries, illnesses and hospitalizations than other kids.”


I believe that brain injuries and abnormalities could account for elements of personality that are attributed to empathy, inhibition and moral concepts; characteristics sometimes lacking or poorly displayed in those with criminal behaviors.


So, that's more like the work that's being done to explore CTE in athletes, rather than DID specifically. Interesting.

I know much has been made in the past of certain violent offenders having had serious, often repeated, head trauma. I think it came up with Richard Ramirez, for example. It was definitely highlighted in the case of Aaron Hernandez.

It's important work. It's changing the way sports are played. Just this week, the rules changed for Australian rugby league and a mandatory benching for eleven days for players with concussion was implemented.

NRL announces new rules in major shakeup

Whether it turns out to be at all relevant to LS and this case remains to be seen.

MOO
 
  • #720
So, that's more like the work that's being done to explore CTE in athletes, rather than DID specifically. Interesting.

I know much has been made in the past of certain violent offenders having had serious, often repeated, head trauma. I think it came up with Richard Ramirez, for example. It was definitely highlighted in the case of Aaron Hernandez.

It's important work. It's changing the way sports are played. Just this week, the rules changed for Australian rugby league and a mandatory benching for eleven days for players with concussion was implemented.

Whether it turns out to be at all relevant to LS and this case remains to be seen.

MOO

Right or wrong, I think it's taken the spotlight on athletes and CTE to give any credit to what doctors were trying to say and/or educate in the 70's.
 
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