Another "beautiful" mind

He tells the shrink that he’s been diagnosed as schizophrenic, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar. He’s been hospitalized several times, treated with Haldol & Prolixin. Now, he’s taking Abilify.

He also tells him that his marriage was destroyed by the FBI. They took his wife as part of a vast complex conspiracy involving Central Stargate and MK Ultra.

His codename is "The Victim" but he’s not allowed to utter that term. He’s studied remote viewing which allows him to see what others can’t. But others in his family have that power and they’ve been using it to ruin his life, including destroying his marriage. A human cyborg program, begun in Las Vegas, sent an agent to L.A. who is after him.

He’s in court because he threatened to kill a good friend because he thought he was having affairs with his ex-wife and his sister. They know he needs help but he scared them. He’s been smoking grass and it worsens his delusions.

The shrink tells his lawyer that using a mental defense is dangerous because incarceration of this kind of chronic mental patient can become indeterminate. In other words, if he is NGI, incurable, and dangerous, he could be warehoused.

His lawyer gets him through a plea after the DA agrees to take one count for probation and time served. A good deal, given the potential.

Of course, as soon as he’s out, he wants to withdraw his plea. He comes to court needing a bath. He’s got a folder with scribbled notes, arrows, boxes, attempts to make coherent thoughts connect. His affect is clearly mental, several ticks away from the usual client, whose reasoning and credibility is faulty. He is more pathetic; his buyer’s remorse is filled with more than the usual claims of coercion, misrepresentation by his appointed lawyer, his expectations.

It’s evident that he is stuck in a no-win Catch-22 (as was his lawyer). Asserting his version of the case would have been futile - he would have lost, and the result would have been to scare the court (and the D.A.) into fearing his future acting out on his paranoia. They would have envisioned headlines: "Mental Patient Freed By Court Kills ..."

But he can’t succeed on probation, either. The court has imposed a bewildering array of conditions: anger management classes, drug counseling classes, drug testing, reporting, fines, fees, restitution, keep-away orders from "victims" including family and friends.

In court, his affect - as the shrinks politely put it - is inappropriate. He can’t keep quiet, rambles, won’t directly answer questions, interrupts the judge, never accepts an outcome the way a civilized condemned defendant and contrite probationer is supposed to.

The judge properly denies his motion to withdraw his plea and orders him back on probation. He’s not satisfied, becomes agitated, makes faces and noises. The judge loses patience after her short fuse (its Friday afternoon) expires. She screams at him. Orders him to leave the court, then to be remanded. Back-up bailiffs appear, each bigger than the other, ready to pounce. The judge relents. He leaves the court.

He’ll be back.