ANNAPOLIS, Md. (CN) — On the fifth day of Capital Gazette shooter Jarrod Ramos’ insanity trial Tuesday, a private investigator detailed litigation he filed against the Annapolis newspaper before jurors heard from a clinical psychologist who said the gunman has three diagnosed mental illnesses.
The trial to determine Ramos’ criminal responsibility for the June 28, 2018, shooting that claimed five lives was cut short last Thursday due to tornado warning, but a jury still heard testimony from Ramos’ sister, Michelle Jeans. She testified that Ramos aspired to be a professional poker player, often traveled to Atlantic City to gamble and was astute at hiding his emotions. Jeans also told the jury she believed she was the admitted killer’s only friend.
When court resumed Friday, neurologist Dr. Thomas Hyde testified that in his opinion, Ramos suffered from an autism spectrum disorder that didn’t include an intellectual impairment. A veterinary technician also detailed Ramos’ relationship with his cat Tiger.
After taking Monday off for the Independence Day holiday, Tuesday's first three hours were spent on testimony from Thomas Lancaster, a private investigator and former Prince George’s County police officer with more than two decades of experience. He read portions of a 2012 lawsuit Ramos filed against the paper, which included quotes from "Epic of Gilgamesh," one of the earliest known literary works. The complaint also used superfluous language, describing reporting by Gazette reporter Eric Hartley as “attempted first-degree murder of the spirit.”
The article written by Hartley, which described Ramos’ harassment of a woman on Facebook, had by Ramos' own admission consumed his life, court documents show. He wrote in a 23-page pro se complaint that his case against the Capital become his sole fixation and that allegedly defamatory statements in that article were “encapsulated in its sarcastic headline.” Ramos also says he felt “subjected to mock execution” through the article’s publication.
Ramos -- who has admitted to killing journalists John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen and Rebecca Smith -- also wrote several rambling letters to the paper, which were included in various exhibits in his complaint. In one letter, Ramos warned Hartley, a former Gazette editor, to expect his lawsuit.
“Mr. Hartley, these are written objections, but your response was not invisible; the ground you tried digging was solid, as was my integrity,” Ramos wrote. “You can expect my lawsuit in July. Get your people ready, because I will be.”
During her questioning of of Lancaster on Tuesday, Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Leitess noted that Ramos’ filings hadn’t been rejected by the court for not making sense or failure to serve the parties. Aiming to undercut his insanity defense, Leitess said Ramos was meticulous with his choice of language and some of his phrases were actually included in Gazette articles about him.
Jurors also heard from Dr. Cather Yeager, a clinical psychologist employed at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia. She testified she had diagnosed Ramos with three specific mental illnesses -- autism spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and delusional disorder -- after interviewing him for a total of 15 hours.
Although unable to speak with Ramos’ parents to further home in on her diagnoses, Yeager did interview a grade-school friend of the shooter, who described him as introverted. The friend told Yeager their two main activities were playing video games and creating stories from choose-your-own-adventure books. They rode their bikes some, but otherwise Ramos had no interest in sports — which Yeager said was an indicator of an autism disorder.
When Ramos’ family moved to an American military base in England and returned, the friend said he had changed and had no interest in retaining the friendship, Yeager told jurors. The friend also recounted that it was difficult to even sit at lunch with Ramos in high school because he would be rant and rave about various subjects regardless of whether others were interested in them.
Ramos tended to wear the same clothes, normally in some sort of stripe pattern, and would often wear them for consecutive days, Yeager told jurors. The elementary school friend also described to the psychologist that Ramos had “black and white” thinking.
Yeager said she gave an Autism Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, test to Ramos, and he scored a 33 of 50, indicating clinically significant levels of autistic traits.
As for Ramos’ obsessive-compulsive disorder, Yeager said the shooter had developed a fear for what he described as “human filth and germs.” He also compulsively organized things like video games and music CDs, and had a rigid adherence to the rules of games and sports.
The trial resumes Wednesday at 9 a.m., when the defense begins its sixth day of calling witnesses.
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