Cortez case expected to blend PTSD and sanity

Cortez case expected to blend PTSD and sanity

It has been more than a year since Nikki Fix-Cortez was gunned down by a shotgun blast that killed her and her unborn child.



Fix-Cortez's friend, Sam Jantz, survived the attack, but not without sustaining a gunshot wound himself that put him in the hospital.



This Thursday, Ricardo Cortez, 25, will stand trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Fix-Cortez, and argue that he is not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the shooting.



According to court documents, Cortez has asserted he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which prevented the formation of the required culpable mental state necessary to be charged with first-degree murder.



It was Sept. 16, 2007, when Cortez entered a home in the 4400 block of 6th Street with a shotgun and killed Fix-Cortez, 21, according to police. Cortez turned himself into police shortly thereafter, and Greeley police discovered a shotgun on the back seat of his car.



An unusual case



What transpired in Cortez's mind that night may come to light next week in first-degree murder trial.



Former Weld District Attorney Al Dominguez said he has never seen a case like this before, where a defendant may use PTSD as an insanity plea.



"PTSD is usually not a reason for insanity," Dominguez said. "The only way they can prove that is to bring in doctors who say that, and those doctors outweigh whatever the prosecution says."



Cortez's mental health was evaluated at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo for six weeks this summer. The Tribune's request for those test results has been denied.



Dominguez said he suspects that Cortez was determined to be sane by the hospital since he is standing trial. If that's the case, Dominguez predicted the defense would bring in its own medical experts.



"It literally becomes a battle of the experts if that's what they are going to do," Dominguez said.



Court documents listing expert medical doctor testimony appears to support Dominguez's theory.



Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is brought on by a traumatic event that can be anything from a car accident, to a tour of duty in Iraq, said Dan Frantz, clinical specialist in psychological nursing at the Greeley Veterans Association clinic, who has worked with veterans suffering from PTSD for 21 years.



"PTSD that we may see in veterans may be similar to what civilians experience in civilian life, but it also may be very unique to what occurs in a combat situation," Frantz said.



Cortez served in the position of "hospital man" in the Navy from 2001-05, according to military records.



At the time of the killing, Cortez was facing other charges involving a domestic dispute with Fix-Cortez. Two months before the killing, his wife appealed to the judge to drop a restraining order against her husband. She claimed in a letter to the court that Cortez had PTSD.



Frantz listed nightmares, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, isolation and irritation as some symptoms of PTSD.



"Vivid flashbacks are where you feel physically, and physiologically, like you are back at the traumatic event," said Frantz, who would not address Cortez's specific case.



Dr. Robert Schwarz is a psychologist who has authored two books on PTSD. While unfamiliar with Cortez's specific case, Schwarz said he could see where someone with PTSD, under stress, who is traumatized, could shoot someone while having a flashback.



"They train to be good soldiers, but when they have to come home and let this go, it is hard," Schwarz said.



He said the bottom line is veterans' bodies still think they are at war when they return from overseas. Schwarz said it isn't just a cognitive process that veterans have to deal with.



"It's not like the computer where when you reboot and all is well," Schwarz said. "Most folks just do not understand what is going on in them."



According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition authored by the American Psychiatric Association, to diagnose someone with PTSD that person must have been exposed to a traumatic event that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. In addition, the person's response to the event involves intense fear, helplessness or horror.



The DMS-IV states in rare cases, the person experiences flashbacks, which last from a few seconds to a few hours, or even days, during which portions of the event are relived and the person behaves as though experiencing the event at that moment. Flashbacks can cause intense psychological distress or a physiological reaction often occurs when the person is exposed to "triggering" events that resemble or symbolize an aspect of the traumatic event, according to the DSM-IV.







Insanity parameters



This isn't Hollywood, and insanity isn't defined by straightjackets and imaginary voices. There is a specific definition of what makes a person insane under Colorado law.



According to Colorado's revised statutes, a person is insane if that person is so "diseased" or "defective" in mind at the time of the crime that the person is incapable of distinguishing right from wrong.



A person can also be deemed insane if that person suffers from a "condition of the mind" caused by a mental disease that prevented the person from forming a culpable mental state that is an essential element of the crime charged.



In either case, the jury is required not to confuse a mental disability with anger, revenge, hatred or other motives that could account for the crime, according to the statutes.



Under Colorado law the burden of proof in an insanity plea is on the people. That means the prosecution will be required to prove all the elements of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, including proving Cortez was not insane at the time of the shooting.



Todd Taylor, attorney with Taylor & Rapp LLP, said the state considers a defendant sane, but once a defense introduces evidence of insanity, the prosecution has to prove otherwise.



Taylor said if someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, the court is required to turn that person over to the state mental hospital where they reside until they are no longer dangerous to others or themselves. Depending on the mental illness, people typically spend six to 20 years in the hospital.



Other Cases



With Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the number of veterans returning home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is on the rise, and some veterans find themselves in court like Ricardo Cortez.



The Associated Press reports that 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with PTSD since 2003.



In September, the Los Angeles Times reported on a 25-year-old Iraq veteran from San Clemente, Calif., charged with murder on suspicion of beating his 19-year-old girlfriend to death.



According to the L.A. Times report, John Needham had been wounded in combat and returned home with mental problems that required medication and therapy.



On Sept. 1, authorities responded to Needham's home regarding a domestic dispute. A naked Needham had to be tasered, and his girlfriend, Jacqwelyn Joann Villagomez, was found severely beaten. She died the next morning, according to the L.A. Times.



This month, the KXRM Fox 21 television station in Colorado Springs reported that a Fort Carson task force had been assigned to investigate six soldiers accused of murder since 2005.



According to the station, the task force will look at any similarities in the cases, and could examine any mental or health screenings the soldiers received. Senator Ken Salazar was quoted by the station saying PTSD is a huge problem.



Other news articles around the country tell of similar tales as Cortez's case.



In February, The New York Times published a series on veterans of Iraq that have been charged with murder after returning home. The article details Sgt. Jon Trevino of Edwardsville, Ill., who shot his estranged wife five times before turning the gun on himself. The entire scene unfolded in front of the couple's 9-year-old son, according to the N.Y. Times.

Trevino's brother-in-law attributed the killing to combat trauma, and Trevino had previously been treated for PTSD, childhood abuse and marital problems, according to the N.Y. Times article.

What's next

The two-week trial of Ricardo Cortez, charged with first-degree murder, begins Thursday in Weld District Court with jury selection.

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I agree PTSD is a large problem, I am a 100% P&T from PTSD, but I can't see where I would ever use it as an excuse on why I killed someone, I know I have had fits of rage, that is my conduct and if I explode and do something wrong I fully expect to be held accountable for it, when things get bad I have meds the VA gives me to calm me down, there is no excuse for grabbing a gun or any other weapon to solve what you perceive to be a problem, as a disabled veteran with PTSD I look at this as this lawyer as grabbing at straws to try and defend his client, to the detriment of all veterans with PTSD this type of defense harms all veterans with PTSD, we are not crazy, we have issues, but to label us as deranged killers just waiting for an excuse to kill and then use the PTSD label as a justification, BS plead your client guilty and use the PTSD as a mitigating factor to keep him from being executed, you are harming all veterans with this tactic, and I don't appreciate it.

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