VERDICT WATCH CO - Gannon Stauch, 11, found deceased, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 27 Jan 2020 *Arrest* #67

[kaen]

It shouldn't have been that hard for the lawyers on the defense team to get a local to order the MRI and the PET analysis (wonder why they didn't? )

IMO

RSBM

I believe the defense did not push for/advocate for those tests for one specific reason-- TS never had those traumas to the extent that she stated. If she had been hit in the head and out for any length of time in any workplace, it would have been documented by the workplace for workman's comp and any liability. (I have run schools and I know if I had heard of an employee getting such and injury/losing consciousness it would be part of our records.) She would have been able to access those records for this case. If she had gotten hit in the face and had dental issues, she would have had medical records for that as well-- regardless if it was a college team or community team.

This team knew that this doc. wanted these kinds of tests as it "bolstered" her theories. The doc. was on board and slowly but surely these tests were not fought for and ultimately the request was withdrawn. Dr. Lewis is a gullible woman in her belief of TS, her belief in the stories of other murderers and this legal team. Listening to her, I felt like I was watching a tv drama from the 60s with missing the eerie background theme music.

I am so relieved that she was such a nightmare on the stand. I am relieved that TS is not testifying because no one in this family deserves to have that woman deride, insult and lie about them anymore. The family is so close to never having to hear her awful tirades and excuses ever again. The verdict can't come quick enough.

 

[Seattle1]

Thank you so much. So she's (maybe) familiar with NY rules of procedure.


But unlikely to be able to order medical tests in CO except under special circumstances. I guess no reciprocity?

It shouldn't have been that hard for the lawyers on the defense team to get a local to order the MRI and the PET analysis (wonder why they didn't? )

IMO

I'm thinking of a couple of reasons:

1) Be careful what you ask for -- especially when you have to share the results with the other side. I recall from my notes of the last pretrial hearing-- (previously posted here), that the Court approved a MRI dating back to fall 2022 but the test was never performed.

2) Follow the money...the tests must be Court Ordered to authorize payment by the State.

3) In this case, I presume it was the cost of the EEG and MRI, under the conditions the defense requested the tests administered, that the Court requested the defense to show cause to the Court why the tests were reasonable, ordinary, and necessary for a sanity evaluation (defendant's 3rd sanity evaluation).

Take note the defense and/or witness failed to appear and show cause to the Court, and instead requested the tests withdrawn.

IMO, the defense wasn't in a position to hire local tests without payment authorization and nobody offered a freebie. JMO

 

[Cindizzi]

Thank you so much. So she's (maybe) familiar with NY rules of procedure.


But unlikely to be able to order medical tests in CO except under special circumstances. I guess no reciprocity?

It shouldn't have been that hard for the lawyers on the defense team to get a local to order the MRI and the PET analysis (wonder why they didn't? )

IMO

On cross examination by Young the other day, Dr Lewis said she had no idea that the Court had wanted more input from her. She said she would have been happy to speak to him by phone.

So, like her saying that the Court wouldn’t pay for it— who do we believe? Did the Defense lie to or mislead her because they decided it was too much work for them? JMO

Tweets are from October 13, 2022 hearing.

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[…]

The further delay comes just weeks after another inconclusive status conference on Aug. 25, when Stauch most recently appeared in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court. During that hearing, Judge Gregory Werner said he had received the highly anticipated results of Stauch’s previous mental health evaluation, conducted by the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, that found her sane at the time of her alleged killing of 11-year-old stepson Gannon Stauch.



But during that hearing, Stauch’s defense attorneys said they planned to challenge CMHIP’s findings and requested that a new evaluation be conducted by an out-of-state psychiatrist. They also asked that Stauch remain at CMHIP while the new evaluation is being conducted, and that she wear an electroencephalographic (EEG) monitor for 72 hours during the exam.

During the Aug. 25 hearing, prosecutors raised concern that CMHIP might refuse to hold Stauch while an outside professional conducts her next evaluation. Werner said Stauch’s attorneys would have to work personally with the hospital to reach an agreement, and scheduled them to update the court on the hospital’s decision on Thursday.

But CMHIP has not responded to the defense’s multiple phone calls and attempts to get its help, said Josh Tolini, one of Stauch’s attorneys.

Though Tolini offered the El Paso County jail or Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo as alternative locations able to house Stauch during the evaluation, Werner said he was not ready to order the evaluation until he had more information on how the EEG monitor would “impact potential diagnosis” as well as the chances that the device would yield a “definitive” sanity result.

​

He also said he wanted more input from law enforcement officers on what their “security and safety concerns are” for Stauch and those around her during the evaluation.​

[…]

Werner scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Oct. 13, when he expects to hear from the county jail commander, other law enforcement agents and the defense team about their security concerns and the effectiveness of the EEG monitor.

Tolini also said he plans to subpoena one of CMHIP’s doctors to provide information on whether the state hospital will house Stauch during her second exam.

Judge in Letecia Stauch case orders use of 'all reasonably necessary force' to get her to court

Letecia Stauch’s case is again in limbo after a judge on Thursday said he needed more input from law enforcement and health professionals on safety concerns surrounding Stauch’s second sanity

gazette.com

 

[10ofRods]

I think she would have if told it would give people the proof they needed to let her get away with murder.

MOO

I agree. It might be a sticking point in future. She may have deserved one (don't come at me!)

If the lawyers decided (instead of experts) that she was a perfectly functioning Brain, that could be an issue on appeal. At any, rate, send her to prison, let her get brain studies galore, and then take stock. We'll wait.

IMO.

 

[10ofRods]

I'm thinking of a couple of reasons:

1) Be careful what you ask for -- especially when you have to share the results with the other side. I recall from my notes of the last pretrial hearing-- (previously posted here), that the Court approved a MRI dating back to fall 2022 but the test was never performed.

2) Follow the money...the tests must be Court Ordered to authorize payment by the State.

3) In this case, I presume it was the cost of the EEG and MRI, under the conditions the defense requested the tests administered, that the Court requested the defense to show cause to the Court why the tests were reasonable, ordinary, and necessary for a sanity evaluation (defendant's 3rd sanity evaluation).

Take note the defense and/or witness failed to appear and show cause to the Court, and instead requested the tests withdrawn.

IMO, the defense wasn't in a position to hire local tests without payment authorization and nobody offered a freebie. JMO

I figured cost might be a thing. They'd rather pay Dr. Lewis than pay for actual traceable evidence of (alleged) brain issues with their defendant. I guess they had their reasons.

They certainly found money to pay Dr. Lewis for - what, several days in court? I don't know about Dr L but most experts charge a full day (7 hours) for every day on a case where they travel.

She was likely booked from the day she flew out of her home airport. Most experts give a daily rate for this kind of thing (and they pay themselves for all the time spent away from home -IME as a consultant). So, it could have been $3000 a day plus travel, hotels, food, etc. Or, some experts will give a discount ($2000 a day) if they really want to work. Some expert witnesses really up the charges if they have to be on call for a court appearance for several days away from home.

Did the defense decide to pay Dr Lewis rather than obtain verifiable evidence of brain injury/dysfunction? Did they think that wouldn't help (and might harm) their client? DID doesn't really have strongly detectable brain imaging studies, in any case (controversial).

As always, your analysis forms a foundation for the rest of us. Thank you.

IMO.

 

[Cindizzi]

I figured cost might be a thing. They'd rather pay Dr. Lewis than pay for actual traceable evidence of (alleged) brain issues with their defendant. I guess they had their reasons.

They certainly found money to pay Dr. Lewis for - what, several days in court? I don't know about Dr L but most experts charge a full day (7 hours) for every day on a case where they travel.

She was likely booked from the day she flew out of her home airport. Most experts give a daily rate for this kind of thing (and they pay themselves for all the time spent away from home -IME as a consultant). So, it could have been $3000 a day plus travel, hotels, food, etc. Or, some experts will give a discount ($2000 a day) if they really want to work. Some expert witnesses really up the charges if they have to be on call for a court appearance for several days away from home.

Did the defense decide to pay Dr Lewis rather than obtain verifiable evidence of brain injury/dysfunction? Did they think that wouldn't help (and might harm) their client? DID doesn't really have strongly detectable brain imaging studies, in any case (controversial).

As always, your analysis forms a foundation for the rest of us. Thank you.

IMO.

https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/04th_Judicial_District/El_Paso/Stauch/10-11-2022%20Exhibit%20A%20-%20Attachment%20to%20EPSO%20Position%20Re%20Deft%20Motion%20for%20Second%20Evaluation.pdf

 

[Seattle1]

On cross examination by Young the other day, Dr Lewis said she had no idea that the Court had wanted more input from her. She said she would have been happy to speak to him by phone.

Lol...

So I've been pulling my hair out on a proposal due in a few hours and yeah, ... why don't I just call the Secretary of Transportation and we can just hash it out over the phone... easy peasy.

Dr. Lewis believes she can ignore Court procedures, no transparency, no court reporter, because the rules that all other expert witnesses follow pursuant to the Colorado Rules of Evidence, Article VII, Rule 703, Bases of Opinion Testimony By Experts, don't apply to her.

Much like her subjects, it's crazy.

ETA: I'm more convinced than ever now that DL likely dictated her less-than-stellar expert witness report to Tolini over the phone, and this is the only reason the report was ever filed with the court. JMO

 

[10ofRods]

https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/04th_Judicial_District/El_Paso/Stauch/10-11-2022%20Exhibit%20A%20-%20Attachment%20to%20EPSO%20Position%20Re%20Deft%20Motion%20for%20Second%20Evaluation.pdf

View attachment 419685View attachment 419686View attachment 419687

So did it come down to money? Personally, as someone from the era of brain-research-by-EEG, I don't think it would have shown a single thing (it's not specific enough, by a long shot). And, apparently, still very expensive.

Dr Lewis should have argued for MRI/PET/SPECT analysis (preferably SPECT). Of course, with security, it would have been way more expensive than having Dr L testify (and would have needed expert testimony in addition).

This brings us to the question of whether people should get away with crimes if they can afford expensive brain tests (and the interpretation is always so controversial; there is no clearcut science of Murder).

I did start thinking about how hard it would be to get someone like T. inside an MRI machine. SPECT isn't much different. She could easily claim that the results were flawed by her phobia/alarm/anxiety from the testing.

Dr L, OTOH, had a firm fee (with or without expensive testing). She decided to make do, in her testimony, without those tests. She seems to think maybe those tests will be paid for (by someone) in the future, and that her own views would be supported or expanded upon.

Who knew this would come in, in this case? I wonder where the NGRI plea will go, in future, if such expensive tests are required.

Odd fact: we don't have a lot of brain imaging results from normal people who don't kill. It's a flaw in the method, IMO.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

Glad to see attorney Cook continues to get his fitness in during court session. Most likely that chair will need replaced once trial is completely over. moo

If its not the seat rocking, its his leg bouncing or pen clicking. The man cannot sit still.

 

[Cindizzi]

Lol...

So I've been pulling my hair out on a proposal due in a few hours and yeah, ... why don't I just call the Secretary of Transportation and we can just hash it out over the phone... easy peasy.

Dr. Lewis believes she can ignore Court procedures, no transparency, no court reporter, because the rules that all other expert witnesses follow pursuant to the Colorado Rules of Evidence, Article VII, Rule 703, Bases of Opinion Testimony By Experts, don't apply to her.

Much like her subjects, it's crazy.

ETA: I'm more convinced than ever now that DL likely dictated her less-than-stellar expert witness report to Tolini over the phone, and this is the only reason the report was ever filed with the court. JMO

Lol
Took me a minute to find it.
It’s at 6:50:00

First she says LS is guilty
Then Young asks her who wrote her report ( watch Tolini squirm )
Then he brings up the MRI and EEG

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[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

I’m convinced that WC is a smoker and he’s always late because he doesn’t allow enough time to go through Security.

I was at the Courthouse on 4/20 and when you come in the front entrance ( only entrance) you go through security just like at airports . Don’t have to remove your shoes but you have to line up and put your stuff in a plastic bin and walk through the scanner. I noticed that EVERYONE had to take off their belts.

One day I noticed him on the WebEx feed when it was time for afternoon break and they were all standing for the Jury and he looked all antsy and took off his belt and folded it.

I laughed and thought Ah, he’s going outside to smoke a cigarette ( or 10 cigarettes.)

No judgment on smokers- I just think that’s why he’s late so often.

JMO

Maybe it was him in the stairwell! Trying to be quicker and get back on time. Being a smoker would also explain his chair rocking, pen clicking and leg shaking, he wants nicotine.
(Ex-smoker but still addicted to the nic and vape)

 

[Cindizzi]

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[Seattle1]

So did it come down to money? Personally, as someone from the era of brain-research-by-EEG, I don't think it would have shown a single thing (it's not specific enough, by a long shot).

^^rsbm

Not necessarily all about the money.

IMO, what happened here was the defense was shady from the origin. They announced they planned to challenge the sanity diagnosis by CMHP but couldn't decide which depraved acts by the defendant to allege performed while sane and which to allege were when LS was insane!

I do think the Court would have approved the EEG/MRI tests at CMHP where the other sanity evaluations were performed and where the cost was estimated at only $1,324 for detention/security.

And then the defense dropped how it was an out-of-state expert who would probably need special accommodations (an outside hospital) for the expert and defendant to stay during the 72-hour monitored EEG-- at almost $14,000. for LS's detention and security!

But rather than show cause to the Court, they withdrew the test request.

I don't think anybody would accuse Judge Werner of being unreasonable, but being prudent to seek sufficient details about why he should allow LS out of custody for 72 hours before rendering a decision.

And based on what we witnessed of Dr. Lewis, I cringe at the idea of LS and Lewis out of custody together for 72 hours. JMO

Werner said he was not ready to order the evaluation until he had more information on how the EEG monitor would “impact potential diagnosis” as well as the chances that the device would yield a “definitive” sanity result.

He also said he wanted more input from law enforcement officers on what their “security and safety concerns are” for Stauch and those around her during the evaluation.​

 

[pizzawonder]

I hope, in their closing statements, the prosecutors ask the jury to consider why she had to strike so many blows to such a small body? Why did she have to stab him 18 times? Why after that, why did she then have to strike him 4 times with some blunt force object, bashing in his small, still growing little skull? And then after that, why did she have to shoot him? The defense would have you believe it was because she was being irrational. Or psychotic. But here's the real reason why she struck him so many times.

Little Gannon was born just one and half pounds. He was so tiny that no one expected him to live. But that little tiny baby, that little tiny boy you could hold in one hand, he wanted to live. He wanted to live. He fought so hard - day after day - growing ounce after ounce - to live. He refused to give up.

And 11 years later, when the stepmother who hated caring for him, who despised having to help him with his stomach issues, who resented being his "babysitter", who said in a google search that she didn't like him, who was furious with his father, and hated his mother, when she decided to end his life, he fought!

Oh he fought. Just like he did 11 years ago. He fought for his life. He fought back against those stabbings, all 18 of them. We saw the proof of it on his hands, and his little fingers. And then he fought back against the blows, all four of them, he fought to keep his heart beating. He fought to keep breathing.

And when she heard those breaths, those last gasps for air, realizing that he was still alive, she ran upstairs and got the gun. The one wound he couldn't fight back against.

Gannon wanted to live. In the face of all her anger, and hatred, and resentment, and selfishness - despite it all - he wanted to live.

It wasn't psychosis. It wasn't insanity. It wasn't irrationality. No. She wanted him dead. It was his love of life, his fight to live, that caused her to have to deliver so many blows. He wanted to live.

This resonates so deeply.

I was also a preemie and that's part of why I was immediately invested in following Gannon's case from the first news that he was missing.

It's not fair. He wanted to live. He deserved to live. He should be here.

 

[squareandrabbet]

^A very astute question by the jury, one worthy of a full answer. Yet all the windbag doctor offered was a yes, after 2 days of blathering.

I call BS. Dr L never tested for faking by LS. She was more interested in adding another DID case study to her aged resume.

jmo

Aside: now I think that when Leticia was babbling on about her “bio son”, she was referring to the fake offspring of another one of her faked personalities.

 

[Seattle1]

Lol
Took me a minute to find it.
It’s at 6:50:00

First she says LS is guilty
Then Young asks her who wrote her report ( watch Tolini squirm )
Then he brings up the MRI and EEG

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

This is gold!!

 

[Marie Bell]

Yes, with the doctor sitting there just totally relaxed. Note the loose scarf around the doctors neck, the cane resting between them, the wheel chair by the door. SERIOUSLY??? And she is asking for Maria?
View attachment 419668

Yes, the one comment that I've seen repeated all over the place by various psychologists and other professionals who meet prison or mental hospital inmates, is that you don't wear scarves around your neck, or wear ponytails, or anything at all which can be grabbed and weaponised.

 

[Marie Bell]

Thank you so much. So she's (maybe) familiar with NY rules of procedure.


But unlikely to be able to order medical tests in CO except under special circumstances. I guess no reciprocity?

It shouldn't have been that hard for the lawyers on the defense team to get a local to order the MRI and the PET analysis (wonder why they didn't? )

IMO

To me it seems that Dr Lewis has stated that she isn't qualified to interpret those sorts of tests/scans whatever. Her qualification - such as it is - is in psychiatry. She's qualified to evaluate the patient's presentation and behaviours. She's spent her whole career doing the 'flying a kite' thing, whereby she suggests that neurological expertise is needed; so in comes her partner Dr Jonathan Pincus, and the female Dr, whose name I can't recall (Yeargar ?) She even mentioned these two people when she was blustering about how she consulted them 'for free'.

So all of a sudden the state isn't getting the psych evaluation it had authorised and paid for; it is asked to pay for this other doctor, and then this other doctor. All in an effort to put the cart before the horse, as it were, and say 'look, there is a small anomaly on her brain tissue, so she *must* be insane - even though we couldn't tell by merely evaluating her or by any of her behaviours.

All my own opinion.

 

[iamshadow21]

Yes, the one comment that I've seen repeated all over the place by various psychologists and other professionals who meet prison or mental hospital inmates, is that you don't wear scarves around your neck, or wear ponytails, or anything at all which can be grabbed and weaponised.

...Or leave a wooden walking stick right next to someone who bludgeoned a child so severely he would have died of it if she hadn't shot him to death before it could kill him...

MOO

 

[iamshadow21]

To me it seems that Dr Lewis has stated that she isn't qualified to interpret those sorts of tests/scans whatever. Her qualification - such as it is - is in psychiatry. She's qualified to evaluate the patient's presentation and behaviours. She's spent her whole career doing the 'flying a kite' thing, whereby she suggests that neurological expertise is needed; so in comes her partner Dr Jonathan Pincus, and the female Dr, whose name I can't recall (Yeargar ?) She even mentioned these two people when she was blustering about how she consulted them 'for free'.

So all of a sudden the state isn't getting the psych evaluation it had authorised and paid for; it is asked to pay for this other doctor, and then this other doctor. All in an effort to put the cart before the horse, as it were, and say 'look, there is a small anomaly on her brain tissue, so she *must* be insane - even though we couldn't tell by merely evaluating her or by any of her behaviours.

All my own opinion.

And she can't call on Pincus anymore, he died eight years ago, according to Google.

I imagine the people she can call on, old school ties, etc. are pretty thin these days. She would have outlived many of them. And the world has moved on... psychiatry doesn't look the way it did sixty, or even forty, years ago. And even in her time, she was an outlier.

If she didn't live off the suffering of others, I might feel sorry for her. As it is, it's an ivory tower of her own construction.

MOO