Dorothy Williams - Cook County State's Attorney

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was fit for post-conviction proceedings and fit for trial in 1991. Dr. Markos then discussed the absence of any evidence of head injury. There were no medical records supporting the injury, there was no consistent age given for the incident allegedly resulting in such injury. After reviewing all the documents and reports, Dr. Markos performed a clinical examination of petitioner. Defendant was calm and cooperative, maintaining good eye contact. Defendant was not disorganized, did not have abnormal thought behavior. Defendant did not suffer from delusions, hallucinations, nor was she paranoid. Defendant, however, did report serious memory problems for "just about everything." She did not know what she was charged with, her date of birth, or how old her two grown children were. Yet, she could recall being struck by a car and that she went to a hospital. She also was able to give details of treatment at Dwight penitentiary, including the names and doses of medications that she was prescribed. Defendant further stated that when she was transferred from Dwight to Cook County Jail, one medication was substituted for another. Dr. Markos noted that it was unusual that defendant did not know basic facts like what day it was, yet could recall "precise information regarding her head injury and psychiatric treatment. This alone, created a strong suspicion of malingering, or faking. Dr. Markos stated that it was strange from a clinical standpoint that an "individual who had no memory for basic personal details was able to spontaneously color a picture of psychiatric sequela secondary to head injury which was not established in the first place." Dr. Markos noted that the head injury was never reported to authorities or examiners at Dwight and remained unreported until 1995. There was no indication "whatsoever that 16
any head injury took place which was documented by proper authority." Moreover, an MRI, EKG and CAT-scan showed no evidence of hemorrhage, hematoma or lesions to the brain. Dr. Markos further stated that the police reports illustrated defendant was purposeful, very organized, and goal directed in committing her crimes and during the interrogation. The psychiatrist further found that there was no evidence of any cognitive deficit or organic brain damage and defendant was malingering or faking. Dr. Markos explained the discrepancy between his conclusion in 1995 and in 1997 stating: "back in 1995 based on the information that was made available to me...I rendered an opinion. But it so happened that Miss Williams was malingering. And when I reexamined her in 1997, the data was overwhelming. The clinical information and findings clearly indicated a diagnosis of malingering and led me to make a finding of fitness." Dr. Blumstein also testified that in 1995, he had no police reports, transcripts, or court-reported statements and relied on defendant’s rendition of her mental capabilities. After reading all these materials in 1997, he was able to develop relevant questions based upon the facts and compare them with petitioner’s responses. He was also better able to test petitioner. The records as well as her responses demonstrated the defendant’s intelligence. Although his ruling on her post-conviction petition was overturned on other grounds, Judge Shelvin Singer ruled on August 20, 1999 that “petitioner had a basic formal education, was able to read; and, in addition, had a crafty intelligence above that of a normal person’s.” 17
Page 1 and 2: OCTOBER 2002 SESSION PRISONER REVIE
Page 3 and 4: only to die during every person’s
Page 5 and 6: mental disability. Notwithstanding
Page 7 and 8: After speaking with Assistant State
Page 9 and 10: the defendant had come to aid the r
Page 11 and 12: want to pay defendant, so she wrest
Page 13 and 14: defendant was incarcerated pending
Page 15: see a flat line. You know, you’d
Page 19 and 20: that she did not attend high school

Dorothy Williams - Cook County State's Attorney

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