With Permission
Lishan Wang File Photo
Superior Court Judge Roland D. Fasano agreed Monday to a defense request for an outside expert psychiatric examination of Dr. Lishan Wang, who is charged with gunning down Yale Doctor Vajinder Toor outside his Branford Condo on Blueberry Lane in April.
The judge granted Dr. Wang’s public defender Scott Jones a two-week hearing postponement to permit the as yet unnamed expert to evaluate Dr. Wang to determine if he is capable of assisting in his own defense. A unique aspect of this case is that Dr. Wang has insisted that he be allowed to represent himself. He has not cooperated with his own defense team. Should he get his wish it is likely the court will assign an attorney to him in any case. The judge has not yet ruled on Dr. Wang’s request.
“We are requesting a continuance,” Jones told the judge as Dr.Wang sat at the defense table next to a Mandarin interpreter. After the ten-minute hearing in Connecticut Superior Court on Church Street in New Haven, the judge gave the defense two weeks, setting Dec. 20 as the date for a hearing on whether Wang’s competency has been restored.
Two months ago Judge Fasano ruled that at this juncture Dr. Wang was not competent to stand trial. Under Connecticut law, a defendant is not competent to stand trial if he is unable to understand the proceedings against him or is unable to assist in his own defense.
The primary issue, both sides agree, is not whether Dr. Wang’s understands the charges and procedures against him. It is whether he can assist his attorneys. So far he has not cooperated with his public defenders.
Police say Dr. Wang methodically set out to seek revenge against Dr. Toor, his former supervisor at a Brooklyn hospital, and two other physicians whom he blamed for ending his medical career. Dr. Wang was fired from the hospital after a confrontation between the two men on May 15, 2008.His medical career came to an end.
Since late September, Dr. Wang, 44, has been a patient at the Connecticut Valley Hospital, a facility in Middletown. He has undergone a psychiatric evaluation while at the hospital but its results have not yet been disclosed.
Dr. Wang arrived in court at 2 p.m. His hands were cuffed; his feet were chained. He was not in a traditional orange prison jump suit. Instead he wore a blue sweatshirt, black pants and white sneakers. He said nothing.
Jones said it was the defense’s position that the psychiatric evaluation thus far did not focus on Wang’s “inability to help in his defense. That has not been dealt with yet,” he said. He did not elaborate.
A psychiatrist who previously interviewed Dr. Wang reported at the September hearing that Dr. Wang did not trust the legal system and did not want to provide his public defenders with any information. The psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Shebairo, who questioned Dr. Wang in August and September, told the court in September that Dr. Wang had a “master plan” but he refused to outline it. .
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Eugene Calistro, Jr., did not comment yesterday on whether the psychiatric evaluations thus far dealt with the defendant’s ability to assist in his own defense or to what degree. Calistro’s position at the prior hearing was the Dr. Wang was competent to stand trial.
Dr. Wang was educated, knew the way the criminal and civil justice systems work, and could relate to the concepts of bail and the role of judge. But when it came to his own defense, Calistro said Dr. Wang was selectively silent, refusing to answer questions or talk about his own case. His arrest warrant shows he virtually confessed to the murder. Police found a photograph of Dr. Toor and Google directions to his home when Dr. Wang was arrested. He drove from Marietta, Ga. to Branford.
During Monday’s hearing Calistro said “the state is prepared to move forward.” The prosecution has the burden to prove Dr. Wang is competent to stand trial. Calistro told the court he planned to call Dr. Mark Cotterell, a staff psychiatrist and an expert in legal medicine at the Connecticut Valley Hospital where Wang is a patient. Dr.Cotterell’s report is now under seal. He will testify for the state at the Dec. 20th hearing, Calistro said.
The one thing the judge said he did not want to happen was a “bi-furcated hearing,” that is, separating the psychiatric evidence as it relates to each prong of the competency statute — understanding the criminal charges and assisting in one’s defense.
Evidence relating to both issues had to be presented at one hearing, the judge said. “It will all be together on December 20,” the judge told the attorneys. The Dec. 20th hearing will determine if Dr. Wang has been restored to competency on both mental issues. “Restored” is the word the judge used in court.
If he is not restored, then he will be returned to the hospital. If he has, his case will continue on the criminal docket. If a further extension is needed, that might also occur. However, Calistro pointed out that the statute requires a hearing in 90 days.
“We are 60 days today, “Calistro said.
###