The murder trial for
#LeteciaStauch is resuming now. I'll be bringing you updates from the courtroom throughout the day.
The first witness to be called to the stand this morning is Dr. Jackie Grimmett. She worked as a forensic psychologist at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo in 2020. Dr. Grimmett conducted a competency evaluation on Letecia Stauch in December 2020.
Dr. Grimmett said she met with Letecia Stauch for about 3 hours and 40 minutes. This was a court-ordered competency evaluation requested by the defense.
Before meeting with Stauch, Dr. Grimmett reviewed the discovery in the case, which included police reports, video, and a lot of information. She said she noted a lot of consistencies in the report and was concerned about that.
Early on in her testimony, Dr. Grimmett said during her interaction with Letecia Stauch, “She was humming to herself, she was hitting her head on the wall. She seemed happier then she should’ve been."
“At some point she turned around to talk to somebody else, then turned around to talk to me. She said she was talking to a vampire,” said Dr. Grimmett, talking about her interaction with Letecia Stauch.
Dr. Grimmett said Stauch was complaining about nightmares and anxiety and mentioned being bipolar. Dr. Grimmett said she consistently observed Stauch not having mental health issues, hallucinations, etc. and Stauch did not mention anything about dissociative identity disorder.
Dr. Grimmet said Stauch said she was impulsive all her life, was hyper, and would be manic for a few minutes to a few hours. Dr. Grimmett said she didn’t rule out anything at first.
Dr. Grimmett said Stauch mentioned two instances where she found herself in places where she hadn’t planned on being. Stauch also told her she had various personalities, and she named them.
“She named Taylor, Tecia, Jasmine, and I believe Jasper,” said Dr. Grimmet, when testifying about the different personalities Letecia Stauch claimed she had.
Dr. Grimmett said she didn’t see any signs that Letecia Stauch was changing personalities. She said she considered dissociative identity disorder as a diagnosis. She also said she has never reviewed someone with dissociative identity disorder.
Dr. Grimmett said dissociative identity disorder affects up to 1% of people. She said it’s a very destructive behavioral disorder, and can be very frightening because people don’t know what’s happening to them.
She added dissociative identity disorder can be strange, and people can’t hold down jobs or hold down relationships. She said when talking to Stauch, Stauch’s history didn’t support that.
Dr. Grimmett said Stauch had selective names based on things she liked and aspirations she had. She added, "alter egos present themselves to you," and people don't create them.
When testifying about Letecia Stauch referencing vampires, Dr. Grimmett said, “Mrs. Stauch introduced a vampire called Justice and said there is a button in her cell where she could summon Justice, Jasmine…”
Dr. Grimmett said Letecia Stauch said she’s been experiencing the vampires since her stay in Alaska. She said Stauch referenced the vampires throughout the interview, and also directed Dr. Grimmett toward the movie Twilight.
Dr. Grimmett said she didn’t ask Stauch about vampires initially. “It sounded like a fabrication… It seemed like she was conveying a story from fiction," said Dr. Grimmett.
Dr. Grimmett said it seemed like Letecia Stauch was presenting symptoms that she didn’t have, and there were some suggestions she wasn’t as impaired as she was portraying.
Dr. Grimmett said she believed Letecia Stauch has personality disfunction, including borderline personality disorder and a narcissistic personality.
Dr. Grimmett also said Letecia Stauch talked about Gannon and his death. She said Stauch, based on her religious beliefs, believed Gannon could be brought back to life. Dr. Grimmett said, “clinically it appeared delusional,” but it was something to explore further.
Dr. Grimmett said the symptoms Letecia Stauch presented, seemed to be an effort for Stauch to achieve something for herself. She said Stauch was trying to feel better and make sense of her situation, while making efforts to portray herself in different ways.
Dr. Grimmett said there was an absence of mental illnesses, but some behavior that was present, which included the borderline personality disorder and a narcissistic personality. Dr. Grimmett believed Letecia Stauch was competent to stand trial.
