Psychiatrist Backs Cushing Insanity Plea

A psychiatrist testified he would have found James William Cushing insane during the murder of a Queen Anne Hill woman even if Cushing had not said he ``heard voices'' commanding him to kill her.

Dr. C. Richard Johnson said Cushing, who is developmentally disabled and has mental problems, knew he was killing Geneva McDonald.

``But at the time he was doing it and even now, he doesn't fully appreciate what he did was wrong,'' Johnson said.

Even without the ``voices'' element, Johnson said, ``essentially this was an irrational act - one that has no motive except something to do with what was going on in his brain.''

Johnson said he thinks of Cushing, 37, as an 8-year-old boy with even less of a moral capacity.

Citing his 25 years of experience as a physician, Johnson said: ``If anyone qualifies for legal insanity under this (state) rule, Mr. Cushing has.''

Cushing suffers from a mental disease known as organic personality syndrome of the explosive type, Johnson said. Cushing meets four of the five criteria for the disease, he said.

``He has poorly controlled rage at times . . . it's the way his brain is wired,'' Johnson told jurors at Cushing's trial on charges of aggravated first-degree murder.

In interviews, Johnson said he could find no rational reason why Cushing chose McDonald.

``I just chose a house,'' Johnson quoted Cushing as saying. ``How was I to know she was a mother?''

This added to Johnson's belief that Cushing did not know right from wrong because he indicated it was all right to kill someone who is not a mother.

Deputy Prosecutor Lee Yates pressed hard in cross-examination, asking if Johnson were 95 percent or 51 percent sure Cushing knew he was killing someone.

``I'm somewhere in the middle,'' Johnson said.

Johnson said if Cushing had not been arrested, there was a good chance he would have killed again.

``And have been insane?'' Yates asked sharply.

``In my opinion, he would have been,'' Johnson said.

Yates asked what was the significance of Cushing leaving the ax he says he used to kill McDonald, 63, on a bed.

``The significance was that he was not trying to avoid detection very easily,'' Johnson said.

The physician told defense attorney Mark Prothero he is ``more clear (in diagnosis) with Mr. Cushing than I have been in other cases.''

Cushing has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder and other crimes - a defense his lawyers must prove by a preponderance of the evidence.

Washington's insanity statute requires that the defense prove that as a result of mental illness or defect, the defendant's mind was affected to such an extent that he or she was unable to perceive the nature and quality of the acts or was unable to tell right from wrong with reference to those acts.

Another mental-health expert, Charles Lund, a psychologist, also testified that Cushing meets the legal-insanity test. A third psychologist, Kenneth Muscatel, told jurors Tuesday that Cushing ``was unable to know what he was doing was wrong'' when he killed McDonald.

The case is expected to go to the jury Monday.