Tell Me Your Dreams Part 29

"How long have you been teaching, Doctor?"

"More than fifteen years."

"That's wonderful. How do you divide your time? By that I mean, do you spend half of your time teaching and the other half working as a doctor?"

"Now, I teach full-time."

"Oh? How long has it been since you actually practiced medicine?"

"About eight years. But I keep up on all the current medical literature."

"I have to tell you, I find that admirable. So you read up on everything. That's how you're so familiar with iatrogenicity?"

"Yes."

"And in the past, a lot of patients came to you claiming they had MPD?"

"Well, no..."

"Not a lot? In the years you were practicing as a doctor, would you say you had a dozen cases who claimed they had MPD?"

"No."

"Six?"

Dr. Raleigh shook his head.

"Four?"

There was no answer.

"Doctor, have you ever ever had a patient who came to you with MPD?" had a patient who came to you with MPD?"

"Well, it's hard to-"

"Yes or no, Doctor?"

"No."

"So all you really know about MPD is what you've read? No further questions."

The prosecution called six more witnesses, and the pattern was the same with each. Mickey Brennan had a.s.sembled nine top psychiatrists from around the country, all united in their belief that MPD did not exist.

The prosecution's case was winding to a close.

When the last witness on the prosecution's list had been excused, Judge Williams turned to Brennan. "Do you have any more witnesses to call, Mr. Brennan?"

"No, Your Honor. But I would like to show the jury police photographs of the death scenes from the murders of-"

David said furiously, "Absolutely not."

Judge Williams turned to David. "What did you say, Mr. Singer?"

"I said"-David caught himself-"objection. The prosecution is trying to inflame the jury by-"

"Objection overruled. The foundation was laid in a pretrial motion." Judge Williams turned to Brennan. "You may show the photographs."

David took his seat, furious.

Brennan walked back to his desk and picked up a stack of photographs and handed them out to the jurors. "These are not pleasant to look at, ladies and gentlemen, but this is what the trial is about. It's not about words or theories or excuses. It's not about mysterious alter egos killing people. It's about three real people who were savagely and brutally murdered. The law says that someone has to pay for those murders. It's up to each one of you to see that justice is done."

Brennan could see the horror on the faces of the jurors as they looked at the photographs.

He turned to Judge Williams. "The prosecution rests."

Judge Williams looked at her watch. "It's four o'clock. The court will recess for the day and begin again at ten o'clock Monday morning. Court adjourned."

Chapter Nineteen.

ASHLEY Patterson was on the gallows being hanged, when a policeman ran up and said, "Wait a minute. She's supposed to be electrocuted." Patterson was on the gallows being hanged, when a policeman ran up and said, "Wait a minute. She's supposed to be electrocuted."

The scene changed, and she was in the electric chair. A guard reached up to pull the switch, and Judge Williams came running in screaming, "No. We're going to kill her with a lethal injection."

David woke up and sat upright in bed, his heart pounding. His pajamas were wet with perspiration. He started to get up and was suddenly dizzy. He had a pounding headache, and he felt feverish. He touched his forehead. It was hot.

As David started to get out of bed, he was overcome by a wave of dizziness. "Oh, no," he groaned. "Not today. Not now."

This was the day he had been waiting for, the day the defense would begin to present its case. David stumbled into the bathroom and bathed his face in cold water. He looked in the mirror. "You look like h.e.l.l."

When David arrived in court, Judge Williams was already on the bench. They were all waiting for him.

"I apologize for being late," David said. His voice was a croak. "May I approach the bench?"

"Yes."

David walked up to the bench, with Mickey Brennan close behind him. "Your Honor," David said, "I'd like to ask for a one-day stay."

"On what grounds?"

"I-I'm not feeling very well, Your Honor. I'm sure a doctor can give me something and tomorrow I'll be fine."

Judge Williams said, "Why don't you have your a.s.sociate take over for you?"

David looked at her in surprise. "I don't have an a.s.sociate."

"Why don't you, Mr. Singer?"

"Because..."

Judge Williams leaned forward. "I've never seen a murder trial conducted like this. You're a one-man show looking for glory, aren't you? Well, you won't find it in this court. I'll tell you something else. You probably think I should recuse myself because I don't believe in your devil-made-me-do-it defense, but I'm not recusing myself. We're going to let the jury decide whether they think your client is innocent or guilty. Is there anything else, Mr. Singer?"

David stood there looking at her, and the room was swimming. He wanted to tell her to go f.u.c.k herself. He wanted to get on his knees and beg her to be fair. He wanted to go home to bed. He said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "No. Thank you, Your Honor."

Judge Williams nodded. "Mr. Singer, you're on. Don't waste any more of this court's time."

David walked over to the jury box, trying to forget about his headache and fever. He spoke slowly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have listened to the prosecution ridiculing the facts of multiple personality disorder. I'm sure that Mr. Brennan wasn't being deliberately malicious. His statements were made out of ignorance. The fact is that he obviously knows nothing about multiple personality disorder, and the same is true of some of the witnesses he has put on the stand. But I'm going to have some people talk to you who do do know about it. These are reputable doctors, who are experts in this problem. When you have heard their testimony, I'm sure that it will cast a whole different light on what Mr. Brennan has had to say. know about it. These are reputable doctors, who are experts in this problem. When you have heard their testimony, I'm sure that it will cast a whole different light on what Mr. Brennan has had to say.

"Mr. Brennan has talked about my client's guilt in committing these terrible crimes. That's a very important point. Guilt. Guilt. For murder in the first degree to be proved, there must be not only a guilty act, but a guilty intention. I will show you that there was no guilty intention, because Ashley Patterson was not in control at the time the crimes occurred. She was totally unaware that they were taking place. Some eminent doctors are going to testify that Ashley Patterson has two additional personalities, or alters, one of them a controlling one." For murder in the first degree to be proved, there must be not only a guilty act, but a guilty intention. I will show you that there was no guilty intention, because Ashley Patterson was not in control at the time the crimes occurred. She was totally unaware that they were taking place. Some eminent doctors are going to testify that Ashley Patterson has two additional personalities, or alters, one of them a controlling one."

David looked into the faces of the jurors. They seemed to be swaying in front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut for an instant.

"The American Psychiatric a.s.sociation recognizes multiple personality disorder. So do prominent physicians around the world who have treated patients with this problem. One of Ashley Patterson's personalities committed murder, but it was a personality personality-an alter alter-over which she had no control." His voice was getting stronger. "To see the problem clearly, you must understand that the law does not punish an innocent person. So there is a paradox here. Imagine that a Siamese twin is being tried for murder. The law says that you cannot punish the guilty one because you would then have to punish the innocent one." The jury was listening intently.

David nodded toward Ashley. "In this case, we have not two but three personalities to deal with."

He turned to Judge Williams. "I would like to call my first witness. Dr. Joel Ashanti."

"Dr. Ashanti, where do you practice medicine?"

"At Madison Hospital in New York."

"And did you come here at my request?"

"No. I read about the trial, and I wanted to testify. I've worked with patients who have multiple personality disorder, and I wanted to be helpful, if I could. MPD is much more common than the public realizes, and I want to try to clear up any misunderstandings about it."

"I appreciate that, Doctor. In cases like these, is it usual to find a patient with two personalities or alters?"

"In my experience, people with MPD usually have many more alters, sometimes as many as a hundred."

Eleanor Tucker turned to whisper something to Mickey Brennan. Brennan smiled.

"How long have you been dealing with multiple personality disorder, Dr. Ashanti?"

"For the past fifteen years."

"In a patient with MPD, is there usually one alter who dominates?"

"Yes."

Some of the jurors were making notes.

"And is the host-the person who has those personalities within him or her-aware of the other alters?"

"It varies. Sometimes some of the alters know all the other alters, sometimes they know only some of them. But the host is usually not aware of them, not until psychiatric treatment."

"That's very interesting. Is MPD curable?"

"Often, yes. It requires psychiatric treatment over long periods. Sometimes up to six or seven years."

"Have you ever been able to cure MPD patients?"

"Oh, yes."

"Thank you, Doctor."

David turned to study the jury for a moment. Interested, but not convinced, Interested, but not convinced, he thought. he thought.

He looked over at Mickey Brennan. "Your witness."

Brennan rose and walked over to the witness box. "Dr. Ashanti, you testified that you flew here all the way from New York because you wanted to be helpful?"

"That's correct."

"Your coming here couldn't have anything to do with the fact that this is a high-profile case and that the publicity would be beneficial to-"

David was on his feet. "Objection. Argumentative."

"Overruled."

Dr. Ashanti said calmly, "I stated why I came here."

"Right. Since you've been practicing medicine, Doctor, how many patients would you say you've treated for mental disorders?"

"Oh, perhaps two hundred."

"And of those cases, how many would you say suffered from multiple personality disorder?"

"A dozen..."

Brennan looked at him in feigned astonishment. "Out of two hundred patients?"

"Well, yes. You see-"

"What I don't see, Dr. Ashanti, is how you can consider yourself an expert if you've dealt with only those few cases. I would appreciate it if you would give us some evidence that would prove or disprove the existence of multiple personality disorder."

"When you say proof-"

"We're in a court of law, Doctor. The jury is not going to make decisions based on theory and 'what if.' What if, for example, the defendant hated the men she murdered, and after killing them, decided to use the excuse of an alter inside her so that she-"

David was on his feet. "Objection! That's argumentative and leading the witness."