After 9 hours of arguments and cross-examination before county court judge Bill Harris, a jury has deemed Christian Sims fit to stand trial for the murder of his grandmother, Annie Sims.
Gary Young, prosecutor for the case and Lamar County District Attorney, along with Assistant County Attorney Laurie Pollard, argued in favor of trying Sims as an adult using arguments indicating Sims was highly aware of how the criminal justice system operated, such as understanding the definition of guilty, the roles of the jury and judge, and the differences between a felony and misdemeanor offense.
On the defense, attorney at law Jennifer Gibo countered Pollard and Young’s arguments with Sims’ background history. Gibo cited specific incidents within Sims’ history, including abuse from various ex-boyfriends of his mothers and a failed attempt to force Sims to overdose on morphine to get him to sleep.
During the arguments, two expert witnesses were called to the stand with backgrounds in forensic psychology. Dr. Randy Price, known for analyzing the murderer of Chris Kyle, was called as an adverse witness by Gibo, while Dr. Charles William Kenan was also called by the defense.
During the opening cross-examination, Dr. Price explained four different tests administered to Sims during his 3 and 1/2 hour session with him. Two tests directly conflicted each other; the test administered by paper and pencil said Sims was exaggerating the symptoms found in a personality inventory, and the other test- a face-to-face interview between Price and Sims- concluded Sims did not exaggerate his symptoms. Price then drew his conclusion that Sims was fit for trial, citing stories told to him by Sims that were often grotesque in nature.
“I believe he told those stories in a way to present himself as a dangerous individual and that he was trained to kill to shock people,” Price stated. Other stories cited by Price, Kenan, and both the prosecution and defense had Sims making several claims. These claims included being taken in by a gang of murderers, stuffing drugs into the cavities of the bodies of murder victims to smuggle aforementioned drugs through Paris, and killing a man at a young age who “messed with his sister”.
Price stressed the lack of a link between mental illness and fitness for trial, saying a mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder could lead to a person being declared unfit for trial, but not in every case. Price did reaffirm he believes Sims has “a serious personality disturbance”. Price also drew his conclusion from conversations with Sims in which Sims proved an expansive knowledge of the criminal justice system, saying Sims is both fit for trial and “can still aid in his own defense”. Price determined this by asking questions such as what Sims is charged with, the name of the charge in the legal system, and the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor offense.
The defense then called to the stand Dr. Kenan as their expert witness. Kenan didn’t use the same tests as Price, instead using the 4th Edition of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory 2, or WAIS and MMPI 2 respectively. According to Kenan, Sims’ result from the WAIS indicated a “high average” IQ and scored well in everything but processing speed. The MMPI 2 showed no symptom exaggeration, but that Sims’ results were consistent with “psychotic disturbance”.
During cross-examination from Young, Kenan came under fire for not turning in the proper paperwork prior to the trial as well as for being “fooled” by other defendants in the past regarding their own mental fitness for trial. Young and Pollard also called Lamar County Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Darrell Bruce and Hunt County Detention Superintendent Janet Moss as witnesses based on their interactions with Sims.
During closing arguments, Young was afforded the first argument by waiver from Gibo.
“I just think the evidence is overwhelming that he (Sims) is fit to proceed,” said Young. “He knows what to do. He knows more about the criminal justice system than most of our defendants.”
Gibo, however, attempted to counter Young’s argument with claims that Sims suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Gibo also reminded the jury that Kenan spent more time with Sims than Price, totaling 11 hours over the course of a few days.
“It’s a tragedy across the board,” said Gibo, “there are problems with this young man. Is it right to throw the baby out with the bath water?”
Gibo also argued that “a factual understanding is not the same as a rational understanding” of the criminal justice system, reinforcing earlier arguments that Sims only repeated what he was told and didn’t have a truly deep understanding of the system. Gibo also stated the defense wasn’t trying to stop the process or delay the actual trial, but attempted to appeal to the jury saying “Send him off to a hospital, get him medication, get him fit for trial.”
Article by Matthew Ablon, eParisExtra.com