By James Mayse
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer
OWENSBORO, Ky. — The trial of an Owensboro man charged with assaulting two police officers in 2010 opened Monday in Daviess Circuit Court, with the defense stating the man is not guilty of the assault because he was suffering from a mental illness that rendered him incapable of understanding his actions.
Christopher Lee Jackson, 26, of the 3600 block of Winchester Drive, faces two counts of felony third-degree assault for allegedly striking OPD officers Whitney Adamson and Sgt. Brad Youngman during a Feb. 10, 2010 incident at the home where Jackson lived with his parents and brother.
The trial could be a bellwether for an upcoming trial in which Jackson will face a murder charge for allegedly beating and kicking a man, Lesilie Tyler Mulligan, 78, at Rosedale Nursing Home in 2008. Mulligan later died of his injuries. A date for the murder trial has not yet been set.
In opening statements Monday, both Commonwealth’s Attorney Bruce Kuegel and defense attorney David Farley asked the jury to find that Jackson is mentally ill; but Kuegel said the jury should find that Jackson is guilty but mentally ill — a finding that would mean Jackson would receive mental health treatment while incarcerated in prison — while Farley asked the jury to find that Jackson was not guilty by reason of insanity.
Jackson was found competent to stand trial on Jan. 11. At the competency hearing, a psychologist who conducted the competency evaluation said Jackson has to take several medications daily in order to maintain his competency. Jackson has been involuntarily hospitalized at least twice. He was sent to a state mental hospital after being found incompetent to stand trial in Mulligan’s death; after he was released and then arrested for assaulting the officers, he was again found incompetent to stand trial and again involuntarily hospitalized.
The Daviess grand jury indicted Jackson on the murder and assault charges in 2011, after Jackson began responding to treatment for schizophrenia.
During his opening statement, Farley said: “Today is a good day for Chris” because the medications he takes made him capable of understanding what was happening. Jackson suffers from “treatment resistant paranoid schizophrenia,” which manifests in symptoms such as auditory hallucinations.
At the end of the testimony, Farley said he believed the jury would find Jackson was insane “and therefore not guilty.”
Jackson’s father, Larry Jackson, said he called officers to the family home on Feb. 10 because Christopher Jackson had been talking to himself and was walking around the home with a knife and a hammer. Larry Jackson said his son had been refusing to take his psychiatric medications for about 10 days prior to Feb. 10.
“He said there was nothing wrong with him,” Larry Jackson said. But he said his son was not talking rationally and was acting strangely, even compared to previous episodes.
Youngman said Jackson was not armed and sat on the couch as instructed when officers entered the home. Chris Jackson initially answered a few of Youngman’s questions, but then became uncooperative. When Larry Jackson gave permission for Chris be taken to RiverValley Behavioral Health, Chris “stood up quickly and said he didn’t want to go,” Youngman said.
Youngman put a hand on Jackson’s shoulder, at which point Jackson “broke free of me, went toward Officer Adamson and struck her with a closed fist in the face,” Youngman said. Adamson was standing in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.
“Chris kept punching her” after Adamson fell down, Youngman said.
Youngman said he used his Taser twice on Jackson, with no effect. Jackson stopped striking Adamson after he threatened to shoot him, he said.
When asked how much crisis intervention training he had received, Youngman said all OPD officers take a 40-hour crisis intervention course. When asked how much of the training focused on people with mental health issues, Youngman said he didn’t know.
Adamson said Youngman took the lead in speaking to Jackson because Adamson had not had crisis intervention training at that time. She was to look for potential weapons that Jackson could use, Adamson said.
Adamson said when Jackson jumped up, he struck her with two punches to the face; when they both fell to the ground, “I was on the bottom. He just went to town punching me in the face,” Adamson said.
Adamson was treated in the emergency room for injuries but did not suffer a permanent injury. Youngman was struck in the forehead by Jackson’s elbow but refused treatment.
Jackson was taken to Owensboro Medical Health System for observation. After the jury had left the courtroom, the attorneys argued a defense motion that an OMHS nurse should be not be allowed to testify that Jackson told the nurse, “I know my rights, I’m not going to talk to you.”
“Any attempt by the Commonwealth to show that Mr. Jackson was mentally competent by evidence of his invocation of his right to silence is not admissible at any time during the trial,” the motion says. Kuegel told Daviess Circuit Judge Jay Wethington the statement “goes to (Jackson’s) thought process.”
Wethington agreed with the defense’s request to prohibit the testimony and said allowing the statement would be “fundamentally unfair” to Jackson.
The trial continues today in Daviess Circuit Court.
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