A psychiatrist testified Thursday in the trial of beating suspect Wayne Treacy, as his attorneys work to prove he was insane at the time of the beating that left Josie Lou Ratley with permanent brain damage.
Treacy's defense called its key witness, Dr. Alexander Neumeister, considered one of the most respected men in the study of mental health, especially post-traumatic stress disorder.
Neumeister examined Treacy several times and testified Thursday that Treacy is a textbook case of PTSD. The defense contends Treacy had the disorder after his brother hanged himself.
He said Treacy's behavior before, during and immediately after the March 2010 attack of Ratley was consistent with the dissociative stage, which he describes as a prolonged state of detachment during which Treacy lost the ability to consciously control his impulses and understand what he was doing or the consequences of his actions.
"Here's a relatively normal or perfectly normal high-achieving student, who's doing something, who apparently was exposed to a very severe trauma and is doing something unimaginable, in fact, which does not add up at all," Neumeister said. "There's a phenomenon which I cannot explain to you because I don't know, but I always say patients with PTSD are kind of magnets for trouble."
Prosecutors said the attack occurred after Ratley sent Treacy a text message that appeared to make light of his brother's suicide, which set him off.
Neumeister said that if Treacy had directed his rage at himself, rather than at Ratley, this could have been a different case, one about alleged cyberbullying that led to a suicide.
