PORT ANGELES — A prosecution witness Thursday sought to rebut the contention that teenager Lauryn Louise Last was mentally incapable of voluntarily waiving her rights when she was interrogated by police in 2009 about the 2008 death of her full-term infant.
Miami psychologist Bruce Frumkin described himself as a leading expert in determining the mental competency of witnesses to waive what is known as their Miranda rights — the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer present.
He said in a continued Clallam County Superior Court hearing that Last, now 18, showed no signs of impairment during three separate interviews by Port Angeles police lasting almost two hours.
Last, 16 when she was questioned in 2009, has since been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her infant son and faces up to 18 years and four months in prison.
Jesse Winfield — a Port Angeles police corporal at the time who has since been promoted to sergeant — was Last’s main questioner for nearly two hours the night of Jan. 2, 2009, two days after the infant’s death.
Winfield said in a statement contained in court files that Last drowned the infant in a toilet, then put the infant in a trash can.
Frumkin listened to the recording of the interviews.
Heard no impairment
“I did not hear any impairment in the quality of responses that she gave, particularly at the time her Miranda rights were given to her,” Frumkin said in testimony he gave by phone.
“She was oriented. She was alert.”
Judge Ken Williams presided Thursday over what is called a 3.5 hearing, held to determine the admissibility of a defendant’s out-of-court statements.
The hearing has been continued a half-dozen times, with four including testimony, and at the end of Thursday’s hearing, Williams continued it again to 9 a.m. Feb. 24.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg called on Frumkin to counter the Nov. 18 testimony of defense psychologist Anthony Eusanio of Edmonds.
Didn’t understand
Eusanio had said physical and sexual abuse inflicted upon Last, the marijuana and methadone pills she took the day she was questioned, and symptoms of what Eusanio called complex post-traumatic stress disorder compromised her understanding of what it meant to waive her Miranda rights.
The father of the child is serving time in Colorado for sexual assault of Last, who was 15 at the time, while the man was 37.
Frumkin said complex post-traumatic stress disorder “has not gained wide acceptance as a diagnosis.”
He said Last’s history of being abused and her emotional problems did not mute her understanding of the Miranda waiver “in any appreciable degree,” adding intelligence testing showed she was capable of understanding what she was doing.
Last also is familiar with Miranda rights from watching police shows and talking with her mother about the criminal justice system, Frumkin said.
Last’s attorney, John Hayden of Clallam Public Defenders, scoffed at learning about the law from fictional TV shows.
Frumkin also agreed with Hayden’s statement: “There’s a big difference between understanding a rule and being able to apply it in a stressful situation.”
Hayden took issue with Frumkin downplaying Eusanio’s diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
“You can call it schizophrenia or you can call it potato salad,” Hayden said. “It doesn’t change the fact that Bubba is still hearing voices, does it?”
Frumkin agreed.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.