Brian Dugan's attorney used fMRI evidence during his sentencing for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico (right).
Magnetic resonance imaging has been hailed as a possible means of creating the ultimate lie detector. Yet the first publicized fMRI evidence admitted into a US court was not used to separate fact from fiction, but to prove that a murderer was a real psychopath. Brian Dugan was already serving a life sentence for two murders when he was indicated in the 1983 rape and murder of a third, Jeanine Nicarico. In July of this year, Dugan pleaded guilty to killing the young girl. During the sentencing hearings that followed, Dugan’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, introduced fMRI scans as evidence that his client suffered from a clear case of psychopathy. While Dugan was ultimately sentenced to death, the jury’s 5+ hour deliberation of the case may indicate that fMRI scans could become an important tool for defense attorneys in the US legal system.
Greenberg’s expert witness was Dr. Kent Kiehl, a researcher at the University of New Mexico. Kiehl regularly performs fMRI scans on prisoners as part of his studies in psychopathy and moral reasoning. According to Kiehl, Dugan has 37 out of 40 markers for the condition, placing him in the 99.5 percentile. Yet the prosecution argued, with the help of its own expert Jonathan Brodie of NYU, that a mental illness such as psychopathy does not mitigate the results of Dugan’s actions and that a scan in 2009 could not accurately reflect the state of mind of someone in 1983. The jury deliberated for five hours, notified the judge that they had reached a decision, but then asked for more time. Following a sequestered night, the jury met again before delivering the death sentence. The jury, before returning for further deliberation, was originally looking to give Dugan a life sentence, so Greenberg is seeking an appeal.
While PET scans, and brain abnormalities have been used in cases before, this is the first time that a fMRI scan has been admitted as evidence of a defendant’s mental or moral state. Of course, sentencing hearings in the US are less strict than trials in the admission of evidence. We are a long way away from knowing if fMRIs can be accepted as proof that a defendant (or witness) is lying about an event.
[photo credit: Sun Times]
Tags: brain scan, fmri, lie detector, murder, sentencing
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So.. what, he’s clinically insane, therefore we might as well kill him instead of wasting our time with a life sentence? That’s the sentiment I’m getting from the jury, reading this article.
While I agree with the prosecution “that a scan in 2009 could not accurately reflect the state of mind of someone in 1983,” I do not agree with the statement “that a mental illness such as psychopathy does not mitigate the results of [his] actions.” America already wastes far more money jailing drug offenders than they would keeping several thousand psychopaths alive, and keeping them alive gives us a large test group that we can use to help us figure out how to prevent crimes like these in the future (or even how to prevent people like him from being born with the condition, if the cause is genetic). Capital punishment is only ever vindictive and short-sighted.
That said, I suppose it’s good that fMRI evidence is being considered. But the execution (pun not intended) needs a little work.
That should be “indicted”, not “indicated”.
WHAt kiNd Of dEAtH SENtENCE Will HE RECEiVE??? iNjECtiON, HANqiNq, OR ElECtROCUtiON???
[...] have had a brief but notable history in US courts. Convicted murderer and rapist Brian Dugan had fMRI scans entered as evidence of his psychopathy during his sentencing in Illinois in 2009. A true fMRI lie detection test was offered into evidence [...]