Coming home a killer?

[thedrifter]

December 26, 2006

‘He lost his mind’

Coming home a killer?
Former Marine facing murder chargehad PTSD counseling, friends say ;;
Salt Lake Tribune

By Nate Carlisle and Matthew D. LaPlante

A former Marine accused of murdering the mother of his two sons was haunted by recollections of bloody battles in Iraq in which he felt responsible for the deaths of a number of women and children, according to a friend.

Marine Corps officials, including the sergeant who led Walter Smith into battle in 2003, confirmed that the young Marine was involved in some of the most intense fighting of the war. And that fighting, said 1st Sgt. Nick Lopez, led to deaths of civilians who were caught in the crossfire or used as human shields by Saddam Hussein’s soldiers.

Smith, 24, is charged in the March 26 drowning of Nicole Speirs, the 22-year-old mother of his twin sons, in the bathtub of the family home in Tooele, Utah.

Smith was among the Marines who opened fire on a car approaching a checkpoint on April 8, 2003, in Iraq, Lopez said. The man inside, who was not a combatant, was killed.

Smith also may have been forced to fire into civilian vehicles that had been commandeered by Iraqi soldiers in the first brutal days of fighting in and around Baghdad, Lopez said.

In many instances, Lopez said, that fighting resulted in the deaths of civilians, including women and children.

In an e-mail to The Salt Lake Tribune, a man identifying himself as Dennis Petersen of Orem, Utah, said he had befriended Smith and described some of the events, later confirmed by Lopez, that troubled Smith. Petersen said Smith was especially distraught over deaths of non-combatants, including one instance in which the Marine felt responsible for the deaths of women and children.

“When Walter realized his role in this tragedy, he lost his mind,” wrote Petersen, who declined a phone interview.

Lopez said he recognized that Smith was having a difficult time dealing with his experiences in Iraq. Shortly after returning from the war, Smith was discharged from the service “for medical reasons,” Lopez said.

Several people who knew Smith said he promptly entered counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, as had many members of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines.

Lopez said many of his Marines returned home highly distressed by their experiences — especially the deaths of civilians and the loss of comrades.

Documentary filmmaker Coby Broyles has followed the postwar lives of several Fox Company Marines, reservists mostly from Utah and Nevada, and has interviewed about 25 men from the unit, nearly all of whom have PTSD symptoms such as nightmares and flashbacks.

“Readjustment for them is hard,” she said. “I don’t think enough people in our society are aware of that. I think it makes their readjustment harder.”

Some of the men have conceded losing their temper, Broyles said, but she said she is not aware of any of them committing violence since returning home.

What role Smith’s military experiences might have played in Speirs’ death is unclear. Smith’s attorney, Matthew Jube, said Dec. 12 that he would seek his client’s medical records from the military and private practitioners who treated the Marine.

Forensic psychologist Martin Williams said he was doubtful that PTSD could account for or explain Smith’s alleged violent behavior.

“One aspect of PTSD is … irritability and outbursts of anger,” said Williams, a University of California at Berkeley psychologist who is often called to testify on traumatic-stress issues.

“And then there is the thing everybody seems familiar with — flashbacks, that classic situation where a veteran hears a car backfiring or some loud noise in the middle of the night and suddenly he’s out of bed, on the floor, looking for his gun.”

Williams noted, however, that PTSD sufferers remain conscious of and responsible for their actions.

Jeff Victoroff, associate professor of clinical neurology and psychiatry at the University of Southern California, agreed with Williams’ analysis, but he also noted that exposure to the violence of war can materialize in ways aggravated by the symptoms of PTSD.

“One element of PTSD is emotional numbing,” he said. “If a person has been exposed to a great deal of violence and has lost the inhibition against violence and at the same time has experienced the emotional numbing of PTSD ... it is conceivable they might respond to an otherwise minor irritation or perceived threat with an explosion of rage and aggression.”

Tooele Police Department Sgt. Todd Hewitt said Smith’s military and medical history did not enter into his agency’s investigation into Speirs’ death.

A medical examiner was unable to classify Speirs’ death as an accident or homicide, but police say Smith recently admitted to the murder after checking into the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City. There, according to an affidavit filed in support of murder charges, the 24-year-old told detectives: “I am responsible for Nicole’s death.”

Tooele County prosecutors filed first-degree felony murder charges against Smith on Dec. 7.

Lopez said Smith was a good, well-disciplined Marine who had “the utmost of respect for authority” and did not seem at all troubled “until we got home.”

Lopez said that although none of Smith’s troubles would justify what he is alleged to have done, the questions raised by the incident have him worried.

“I’m now asking myself, ‘Are we doing enough for these guys?’”

Ellie

[FistFu68]

MR.MARTIN WILLIAMS,NEED'S TO LEARN;THAT YOU CANNOT JUDGE A COMBAT MARINE! UNLESS YOU'VE, BEEN THERE ;DONE THAT? ANOTHER SELF~PROCLAIMED GURU! ON PTSD,NO LESS;WHAT A FRIGGING JOKE!

[USMCVet1992]

Mr. Williams states that PTSD sufferers have irritablility and outbursts of anger, yet he also states that PTSD could not explain Smith's alleged violent behavior. What bull**** that is... These guys are going to Iraq and killing people that are trying to kill them, and a few get caught in the cross-fire, ya gotta expect that some are gonna come home screwed up in the head and maybe do some things that just dont make sense. Are they cold blooded murderers? No. Do they need help? Hell yes they do. The Military will discharge a lot of them without offering that help though. Something Mr. Williams likely knows nothing about. If you do a search of the SL Tribune, they did an article about all of the guys coming home with PTSD and being shunned by the VA because they smoked dope or did something else that caused them to lose some of their benefits. Freakin doctors need to go see what these guys are doin in Iraq.

[jerryk]

ya,ll know this may make ya,ll mad but the bs about comeing home fromw a war and killing your wife or kids cause you had to kill people in war is just a excuse,i have ptsd from nam i did things over there that i wont even talk about,but it has never entered my mind to go in and kill my wife of 28 yrs or my boy that is 25 ,that just came back from over there ,when some one say it cause of a war ,to me they would have done it even if they hadnt been over there sorry but do not feel sorry for himhe killd his wife he should hang for it

[FistFu68]

YES IT IS MURDER~JERRY!BUT,EVERYONE HANDLE'S THEIR RAGE,HATE,VIOLENT BEHAVIOR, AT THEIR OWN PACE!PLUS I'D VENTURE TOO SAY,YOU'VE BEEN TAKING MED'S FOR YOU'R (PTSD) ALOT LONGER THAN THIS MARINE,THE ACCUSED HAD? PLUS,MAYBE HE WAS MARRIED TO A WOMAN;THAT DROVE HIS AZZ TOO KILLING HER? CHIT~HAPPEN'S!THE PRISON'S ARE FULL OF 'EM.TRYING TO HUMP IN ANOTHER MARINE'S BOOT'S,AIN'T GETTIN IT!!! DON'T GET MAD,JUST ANOTHER;VIEWPOINT!

[USMCVet1992]

Nobody here said what was done was right, but there needs to be treatment along with the punishment, not just punishment. Jerry, you may not have come home and done stupid crap, but you are but one. There are those out there that simply cannot cope with the stresses of the aftermath once they come home. Gotta agree with FIST on this one, lots of unknowns.... My point was that PTSD is written off far too often and ignored as just stupid behavior rather than trying to find the solution. Just my .02 cents....

[jerryk]

fist: i dont even take any so call meds ,i dont need them,another excuse ,just be cause the v.a say you have ptsd .dont mean you have to take their doppy pills they want to give you, did say people would not like what i said again sorry

[FistFu68]

JERRY~GOOD FOR YOU ON THE MED'S!!!IF I WAS OUTTA LINE,I APOLIGIZE!!!BUT NOT ALL MEN MAYBE HAVE THE STRONG WILL,OR WHATEVER IS KEEPING YOU'R AZZ WELL GROUNDED!I KNOW YOU WERE A GOOD MARINE JERRY,STILL ARE;HEY? S/F~MARINE!!! HAPPY~NEW~YEAR!