thedrifter
10-01-08, 11:29 AM
Witnesses differ on PTSD at Cisse trial
Testimony in conflict on war link to child’s death
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, October 2, 2008
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — During a murder trial here Tuesday, two expert witnesses wrestled with the touchy subject of what events can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder.
A forensic psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist squared off — the latter by telephone from Florida — during testimony at the court-martial of a Marine sergeant accused of murdering his 6-year-old daughter last October.
At issue was whether Sgt. Bassa Cisse, 33, was suffering from PTSD the day he struck and stepped on his daughter, Naffy, in their Kishaba Towers apartment on Camp Foster on Oct. 21.
In a taped interview shown to the court-martial panel Monday, Cisse told criminal investigators he flew into a rage when the girl soiled her clothing. The girl, a child from a former relationship in the Ivory Coast, had just joined Cisse’s family after a lengthy custody battle and Cisse was just back from a seven-month tour in Iraq.
Naffy, who had just turned 6 a week before she was killed, died from multiple head and internal injuries caused by blunt force, a Navy forensic pathologist testified Tuesday. He ruled the death a homicide.
Air Force Col. Lester Huff, a forensic psychiatrist, said Cisse was suffering from PTSD when he beat his daughter.
"After his return from his second deployment to Iraq, he noticed that he was having some nightmares that involved feelings of inadequacy," Huff testified. "There was some avoidance and numbing in the way he dealt with people."
He said Cisse also showed signs of increased irritability, lack of concentration, increased aggression and angry outbursts.
Huff said that although Cisse’s PTSD caused him to "lose it" and beat his daughter, the sergeant was mentally competent to stand trial.
But Navy Cmdr. Gary Hoyt, a clinical psychologist and head of the mental health department at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, testified Cisse was not suffering from PTSD.
He said he has dealt with PTSD patients during most of his 13-year career in the Navy and has seen more than 1,000 patients for the disorder.
"PTSD is a response to a traumatic event," Hoyt said by telephone from Florida, where he is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. "Usually a life-threatening event."
Cisse, he said, had not experienced such a life-threatening event while deployed for seven months in early 2007. Several witnesses said Cisse never heard a shot fired during his last tour in Iraq and his unit did not lose any men to combat.
According to Huff and Hoyt, Cisse said he was troubled by an incident in which he was leading a patrol from Al Asad Air Base and the vehicle he was in almost tipped over a cliff.
He also said he was haunted by the voice of an Iraqi who was outraged that Cisse once refused to have the men in his squad help with his overturned vehicle.
"You’re not a very good Muslim!" the Iraqi shouted as Cisse’s squad drove by, according to court documents.
Hoyt, who examined Cisse with a Navy psychiatrist in January, said almost tipping a vehicle over a cliff did not rise to the level of a traumatic event.
Huff disagreed.
"Some would find the event traumatic and some would not," Huff said. "It’s something that would be memorable to me."
Hoyt suggested that Huff was "stretching the criteria" for coming up with his PTSD diagnosis. "You have to be very careful in not cheapening the diagnosis of PTSD," he said.
Huff said he was more confident of his diagnosis because he spoke to more people involved in the case. The diagnosis of the other doctor was incorrect, he said.
"My evaluation was more thorough."
Hoyt countered that he had read Huff’s report and nothing Huff had added would have changed his diagnosis.
The issue of PTSD is the key to the prosecution’s case against Cisse. The defense claims Cisse flew into an uncontrollable rage because he suffered from PTSD, which is why he pleaded guilty Friday to negligent homicide, a lesser included offense.
The prosecution claims PTSD had nothing to do with his actions. Maj. Gregory Palmer contends that Cisse, a former teacher in the Ivory Coast, was "an unyielding man who sees failures in others as his own failures" and that "corporal punishment is the way he learned to discipline his students."
A friend from the Ivory Coast and Cisse’s wife, Mafina, both testified that it was common for teachers in Africa to discipline students by slapping their faces, delivering knuckle raps to the head and spanking them.
Other witnesses testifying Tuesday described Cisse as a peaceful, religious man who never showed public displays of anger or abuse to any of his children.
Cisse did not testify, but spent most of the nine-hour hearing at the defense table crying, at times audibly sobbing as he listened to the testimony.
Ellie
Testimony in conflict on war link to child’s death
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, October 2, 2008
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — During a murder trial here Tuesday, two expert witnesses wrestled with the touchy subject of what events can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder.
A forensic psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist squared off — the latter by telephone from Florida — during testimony at the court-martial of a Marine sergeant accused of murdering his 6-year-old daughter last October.
At issue was whether Sgt. Bassa Cisse, 33, was suffering from PTSD the day he struck and stepped on his daughter, Naffy, in their Kishaba Towers apartment on Camp Foster on Oct. 21.
In a taped interview shown to the court-martial panel Monday, Cisse told criminal investigators he flew into a rage when the girl soiled her clothing. The girl, a child from a former relationship in the Ivory Coast, had just joined Cisse’s family after a lengthy custody battle and Cisse was just back from a seven-month tour in Iraq.
Naffy, who had just turned 6 a week before she was killed, died from multiple head and internal injuries caused by blunt force, a Navy forensic pathologist testified Tuesday. He ruled the death a homicide.
Air Force Col. Lester Huff, a forensic psychiatrist, said Cisse was suffering from PTSD when he beat his daughter.
"After his return from his second deployment to Iraq, he noticed that he was having some nightmares that involved feelings of inadequacy," Huff testified. "There was some avoidance and numbing in the way he dealt with people."
He said Cisse also showed signs of increased irritability, lack of concentration, increased aggression and angry outbursts.
Huff said that although Cisse’s PTSD caused him to "lose it" and beat his daughter, the sergeant was mentally competent to stand trial.
But Navy Cmdr. Gary Hoyt, a clinical psychologist and head of the mental health department at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, testified Cisse was not suffering from PTSD.
He said he has dealt with PTSD patients during most of his 13-year career in the Navy and has seen more than 1,000 patients for the disorder.
"PTSD is a response to a traumatic event," Hoyt said by telephone from Florida, where he is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. "Usually a life-threatening event."
Cisse, he said, had not experienced such a life-threatening event while deployed for seven months in early 2007. Several witnesses said Cisse never heard a shot fired during his last tour in Iraq and his unit did not lose any men to combat.
According to Huff and Hoyt, Cisse said he was troubled by an incident in which he was leading a patrol from Al Asad Air Base and the vehicle he was in almost tipped over a cliff.
He also said he was haunted by the voice of an Iraqi who was outraged that Cisse once refused to have the men in his squad help with his overturned vehicle.
"You’re not a very good Muslim!" the Iraqi shouted as Cisse’s squad drove by, according to court documents.
Hoyt, who examined Cisse with a Navy psychiatrist in January, said almost tipping a vehicle over a cliff did not rise to the level of a traumatic event.
Huff disagreed.
"Some would find the event traumatic and some would not," Huff said. "It’s something that would be memorable to me."
Hoyt suggested that Huff was "stretching the criteria" for coming up with his PTSD diagnosis. "You have to be very careful in not cheapening the diagnosis of PTSD," he said.
Huff said he was more confident of his diagnosis because he spoke to more people involved in the case. The diagnosis of the other doctor was incorrect, he said.
"My evaluation was more thorough."
Hoyt countered that he had read Huff’s report and nothing Huff had added would have changed his diagnosis.
The issue of PTSD is the key to the prosecution’s case against Cisse. The defense claims Cisse flew into an uncontrollable rage because he suffered from PTSD, which is why he pleaded guilty Friday to negligent homicide, a lesser included offense.
The prosecution claims PTSD had nothing to do with his actions. Maj. Gregory Palmer contends that Cisse, a former teacher in the Ivory Coast, was "an unyielding man who sees failures in others as his own failures" and that "corporal punishment is the way he learned to discipline his students."
A friend from the Ivory Coast and Cisse’s wife, Mafina, both testified that it was common for teachers in Africa to discipline students by slapping their faces, delivering knuckle raps to the head and spanking them.
Other witnesses testifying Tuesday described Cisse as a peaceful, religious man who never showed public displays of anger or abuse to any of his children.
Cisse did not testify, but spent most of the nine-hour hearing at the defense table crying, at times audibly sobbing as he listened to the testimony.
Ellie