Mental health experts: Shumway not insane Psychologist, psychiatrist say accused killer suffers from disorders, but is not psychotic

CARIBOU – State prosecutors rested their case against Christopher Shumway on Wednesday afternoon after a psychologist and a psychiatrist both testified that the man accused of beating and strangling a co-worker to death was not psychotic at the time of the slaying.

Shumway, who is charged with murder in the Jan. 2, 2005, killing of Erin Sperrey at the Tim Hortons restaurant in Caribou, has pleaded not guilty and not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. He also faces charges of gross sexual conduct and robbery in connection with the case.

His jury-waived trial has been under way since Monday in front of Justice E. Allen Hunter in Aroostook County Superior Court. The trial continues today.

Dr. Diane Schetky, a Rockport forensic psychiatrist, and Dr. Ann Leblanc, a Waterville forensic psychologist, testified Wednesday that Shumway suffers from several major mental disorders, but they found no evidence in their evaluations that he is psychotic. They testified he knew right from wrong when he allegedly killed Shumway.

Brad Macdonald of Bangor, Shumway’s attorney, said at the close of court Wednesday that he will ask Justice Hunter on Thursday morning for a judgment of acquittal because the state did not prove its case.

The request, the Sperrey family was told, is a formality allowed by law. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson did not expect the request to be allowed.

Macdonald also said the lone witness for the defense will be Dr. Ronald Brown, a psychologist.

Leblanc, director of Maine’s Forensic Service, said Shumway suffers from poly-substance abuse disorder, depression, anti-social personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“None of those are major mental illnesses, and there is no psychosis,” she testified Wednesday afternoon. “At the time, he could make logical organized decisions.

“He also has a preoccupation with deviant sexual behavior,” she testified. “His actions on the night of the killing were goal-oriented.”

Schetky, who examined Shumway while under contract with the state, talked with the accused killer for nearly 31/2 hours in March 2005. Her testimony, which came earlier in the day, paralleled that of Leblanc.

“He has a long history of psychological disorders,” she testified. “He suffers from PTSD, has many deviant sexual interests, personality disorders, and was substance dependent.

“He was pursuing goal-oriented conduct, thinking ahead with purposeful behavior,” she testified, referring to the night of the killing. “He’s been making bad decisions all his life.”

Both doctors said the mental disorders Shumway has are “not considered psychotic disorders … and that he knew right from wrong.” Psychosis is defined as a major mental disorder in which the personality is seriously disorganized and contact with reality is usually impaired.

While they both told Macdonald their diagnoses may be wrong, they stood by them.

The two doctors never wavered from their diagnoses, even when Macdonald told them Shumway had been lying to them about the events of the night of Jan. 2, 2005. He said Shumway was truthful only with Brown. He said Shumway also lied to the Maine State Police when they interviewed him about Sperrey’s death.

Shumway’s post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the two doctors, comes from years of being sexually abused by his father as he grew up. They testified that the abuse is possibly responsible for his deviant sexual fantasies.

It is alleged that he killed Sperrey, his supervisor at the Bennett Drive Tim Hortons, around 7 p.m. Jan. 2, 2005. Previous witnesses testified that Shumway was enamored of Sperrey, who spurned his advances, and that he wanted money to return to Massachusetts where he grew up.

The state claims Shumway beat Sperrey to death using his hands and feet, put her lifeless body in her own car, and drove away with more than $1,200 in currency and coins from store receipts. It is alleged that he drove Sperrey’s car from the restaurant to mile 231 on Interstate 95, where he lost control of the car and ended up in the median against a rocky ledge.

It is alleged further that at some point after leaving the restaurant, he stopped the car, undressed the lifeless Sperrey and molested her.

Shumway was arrested at a Bangor motel some six hours after the disabled car with Sperrey’s body inside was found near Lincoln on Jan. 3, 2005. He has been held without bail ever since.

Both professionals testified that Shumway told them what had happened in the doughnut shop and afterward as he made his way from Caribou to Fort Fairfield to Houlton and onto I-95.

He also told them of three attempts he made on his own life while in the motel room. He said he tried to hang himself with telephone cords and cut himself with a box cutter.

He told police who arrested him basically the same story he told Leblanc and Schetky, they both said on the stand.

“No,” Leblanc replied when asked by Macdonald if her evaluation would change knowing that Shumway was not being honest with her when he was being examined.

“He has many problems,” she said. “I didn’t find him to be dishonest, but I saw him as very frightened, very anxious.

“I expected deceptiveness,” she said. “It does not throw out my evaluation.”