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Defense Resumes Case In Hernandez Trial

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Defense Resumes Case In Hernandez Trial

Witness Called Hernandez A Paranoid Schizophrenic

Said Hernandez Was 'Psychotic' The Day Of The Murder

Click Here To Watch The Entire Hernandez Confession Video
ORLANDO (CBS4) ― Attorneys defending a South Florida teen accused of killing a classmate in a school bathroom four years ago are expected to rest their case Tuesday. Tuesday morning, they're expected to announce in open court whether 18-year-old Michael Hernandez will testify.

Three defense experts, a psychiatrist and two psychologists, have testified that they believe Hernandez was legally insane when he killed Jaime Gough.

Prosecutors are going to call three experts of their own to counter the insanity defense mounted by Hernandez's attorney.

In 2004, prosecutors say Hernandez lured Jaime Gough, 14, into a bathroom at Southwood Middle School and stabbed him to death. Hernandez is also is charged with attempting to kill another classmate, Andre Martin.

Rosenfeld, who was questioned for more than 10 hours over two days, told jurors his assessment of Hernandez's mental state.

"I've diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia," Rosenfeld said in testimony on Friday. "It's a psychotic disorder. It's a break from reality, someone who is out of touch with reality," he added.

Rosenfeld also mentioned Hernandez's diary, saying "He was going to kill all the people in the world. The idea that he could kill all the people in the world is absurd for anyone, certainly an 18 year old."

Rosenfeld said schizophrenia is a disorder partly due to genetics.

"It's a combination of the genes you're born with and the circumstances you grow up with," he said.

Explaining Hernandez's calm, cool confession, Rosenfeld commented, "A paranoid schizophrenic can sound coherent, but have all kinds of crazy ideas."

The testimony was laying the framework for the defense, claiming Michael was criminally insane during the time of the killing.

On the legal issue of an insanity defense, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Richard Schlesinger addressed the jurors, "It's pretty straight up: the defendant is insane if he doesn't understand the difference between right and wrong or appreciate the consequences of his actions.

Taking the stand before the psychologists, Hernandez's parents said he was a "good child" who played Little League baseball and never gave them any trouble.

Hernandez's father said his son had been a typical boy who played sports and had friends who visited the house. But in the summer of 2003, when the boy was 13, he said he withdrew from friends and family.

Michael's mother, Kathy Hernandez, told a similar story. Her son had friends and enjoyed collecting toy cars and Beanie Babies dolls until things began to change in seventh grade.

Manny Hernandez told the jury that his son "was a "good child who for whatever reason did something horrible, but he was a good child, very loving, very caring."

He added that his son had a collection of more than thirty bibles and a collection of more than thirty knives.

"He was like the perfect child, kept his room very neat. Gave us no problems," the father added.

He said that in the year before the killing, Michael became withdrawn, shied away from family activities and stayed in the house alone much of the time.

He says Michael began performing repetitive "rituals," staring into the refrigerator, staring at the family's grandfather clock, obsessively arranging his silverware at the dinner table.

His mother, Kathy, also testified she once saw a disturbing image on her son's computer.

"I just remember walking in his room. I don't remember exactly what the picture was but it was gory," adding that she told him to remove it.

When each parent was asked whether they believed Michael was insane, his mother replied, "I think he was then and I think he still is." His father said to the same question, "To do an act of what he's accused of doing, that's just insane."

Both parents proposed taking their son to a psychologist but he objected.

Earlier in the week, jurors heard from a former friend of Hernandez who testified that he was lucky to be alive - Andre Martin, now 18, said his name was apparently on a "hit list" Hernandez maintained in a bizarre diary.

Martin also told jurors that Hernandez tried to lure him into the same bathroom stall where Gough was killed, a day before the murder.

"Did there come a time when the school bell rang while you were in the bathroom?" a prosecutor asked him. "Yes," Martin responded. When the bell rang, he hurried off to class.

The prosecutor questioned Martin about his friend. "What type of movies did Michael like?" He answered, "Horror movies." Martin said Hernandez was fascinated with horror and gore. In fact, a few months before the murder, Hernandez supposedly told Martin he thought he was crazy.

The defense attorney asked Martin if he thought Hernandez was insane. "In my opinion, back then at the time of this incident, he wasn't mentally stable," Martin replied, "but not insane." That's not the answer the defense was looking for in an insanity defense.

Hernandez also watched expressionless as jurors were shown the four- inch, curved, serrated knife that he's accused of using to kill Gough. Gough was stabbed more than forty times, and nearly decapitated.

The weapon was among items retrieved from Hernandez's book bag the day of the killing.

Det. Fernando Suco of the Miami-Dade police department testified to attorneys in court about the weapon, "Down here is the knife with the blood stains on it."

Also in his book bag was a blood-spattered red windbreaker along with a pair of latex gloves that he wore while stabbing his good friend. Jurors were shown photographs of other less ominous items in the backpack: school books, notepaper, and his lunch consisting of carrots, chips and dip.

Detective Suco testified that Hernandez admitted involvement in Gough's murder and that his parents were called only after the boy had been questioned for hours. The state tried to counter any suggestion that police took advantage of their son.

In the courtroom, a prosecutor asked him, "At any time did the parents ask you to stop questioning their son?" Det. Suco answered, "No." The prosecutor then asked if, "At any time did the parents ask for an attorney?" The detective again answered, "No."

On cross examination, Hernandez's defense attorney brought out that his parents weren't told of any options they might have had. Defense attorney Richard Rosenbaum asked Det. Suco, "Did you tell them that they could ask that the questioning stop?" Det. Suco responded, "No."

Rosenbaum asked, "Did you tell them that they could ask for a lawyer for their son?" Det. Suco answered, "No."

Rosenbaum then countered, "Did you tell them that they could insist on being present while he was questioned?" The detective again was negative in his response. The defense is hoping to convince jurors that Hernandez, a fourteen year old, was unfairly manipulated into confessing.

Gough's mother and father have endured the presentation of bloody murder exhibits and Hernandez's graphic statement to police. On Tuesday, the last witness on the stand was the medical examiner, who described the 42 stab wounds and gashes Hernandez inflicted on Gough.

"It's been very difficult for us to sit here," described Gough's father Jorge, "especially for my wife, to sit here and listen to his confession and the things that he did to my son."

Jurors sat in rapt fascination as they watched a video tape of Hernandez's confession to police. Hernandez coldly and calmly confessed to killing Gough in the bathroom.

During initial questioning by Miami-Dade homicide detective Salvatore Garafolo, Hernandez claimed that another student had killed Jaime because he had owed him money. On further questioning Hernandez eventually became caught up in a series of conflicting statements and finally confessed in a videotaped statement that he committed the murder.

If convicted, Hernandez faces life in prison.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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