Quick Take
A forensic psychologist who first testified in December returned to the stand Monday and doubled down on her belief that Adrian Gonzalez is not safe for release — and said she believes the evidence is even stronger now. The attorneys rested their cases and will deliver their closing statements Tuesday morning in the trial over whether Gonzalez, convicted of the 2015 murder of Santa Cruz 8-year-old Madyson Middleton, can go free.
Adrian Gonzalez’s psychopathic traits appear more serious than originally believed, a forensic psychologist told a Santa Cruz court Monday morning, adding that information from recent testimony and Roger Karlsson’s report on Gonzalez prompted her to give Gonzalez a higher score on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) — an assessment used to determine one’s level of psychopathy — than other psychologists have. Following Gonzalez attorney Charlie Stevens’ cross-examination, prosecutor and Deputy Chief District Attorney Tara George rested her case, making the psychologist the trial’s final witness.
“I did say in the past that I thought there was a significant risk of release, and I continue to have that opinion,” said Fresno-based clinical and forensic psychologist Susan Napolitano. “But the facts supporting that opinion are much stronger today than they were when I last testified.”
Napolitano said she scored Gonzalez a 20 on the PCL-R, which is higher than both Karlsson’s score of 17 and San Francisco Forensic Institute psychologist Ashley Mowrey’s score of 11. Typically, a score of 30 denotes a definite psychopath, and 40 is the highest the scale goes.
“There are people who are so psychopathic that almost everything they do is to manipulate and deceive,” she said. “I don’t see Mr. Gonzalez as in that extreme level of psychopathy. His level is lower than that, and the lower your level of psychopathy, the more you can interact in superficial ways and look like normal people.”
Gonzalez, 25, who was 15 when he raped and murdered 8-year-old Madyson Middleton, is in the midst of a trial that will determine whether he should be released from custody or remain incarcerated for another two years. The trial is nearing its end following weeklong testimony from Gonzalez himself.
Napolitano, who previously testified in December, originally told the jury that Gonzalez exhibited psychopathic traits as well as a surprising level of calculation in committing the crime. On Monday, she said that testimony regarding Gonzalez’s pornography searches for key terms including “very young teen” raised red flags.
Further searches for terms involving rape and “extreme bondage,” along with information from a recent psychological evaluation of Gonzalez, helped her conclude that he has a paraphilic disorder of sorts — the recurring sexual attraction atypical objects, situations or individuals — with pedophilic traits.
Napolitano also pointed to the fact that Gonzalez once searched for the story of Junko Furuta, a gruesome, notorious case of kidnapping, rape, torture and murder of a young girl in Japan. When Stevens cross-examined Napolitano, he asked her if there was any indication that Gonzalez was aroused by the story, to which she said no. She also said that there is no record of Gonzalez searching for children or child pornography.
“My understanding, education, training and experience is that people who are sexually interested in children will often go to [these sites],” she said of the types of internet pornography found in Gonzalez’s search history. “They are still legal, but represent young or tiny or petite teenagers, and you would be allowed to look at them without committing a child pornography offense.”
However, Napolitano stopped short of asserting this is what Gonzalez was doing, and said it “is possible” that he was looking for pornography that appeared to feature people his age at the time.
Stevens also raised the point that Gonzalez said that he was remorseful for committing the crime, but Napolitano said that would be “an overreliance on self-reporting.”
“Him saying he felt remorse and feeling remorse are two different things. I know I’m watching through a video camera, but I did not see the substance and emotional resonance that I would consider part of remorse,” she said. “I saw words, but not remorse.”
Napolitano also took issue with Gonzalez saying that he takes responsibility for the crime and his tendency to blame it on depression and suicidal thoughts.
“I think that, to me, is evidence of giving an excuse for his behavior, as opposed to fully taking responsibility for it,” she said.
The attorneys are set to give their closing statements Tuesday morning, after which the jury will begin deliberation.
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