A forensic psychiatrist who assessed Alek Minassian on behalf of the Crown is being cross-examined by Minassian’s defence lawyer Monday.
Dr. Scott Woodside, a long-time forensic psychiatrist based at the Centre for Mental Health and Addictions in Toronto, has said he does not think Minassian meets the test to be found not criminally responsible for Toronto’s worst mass killing.
Minassian clearly understood what he was doing was morally wrong because that was part of his motivation for carrying out his plan, Woodside testified Friday.
“That, in fact, is part of the calculation. He was going to morally outrage people. This is part of how he become famous, by doing something that people will recognize as a horrible, horrific act,” said Dr. Scott Woodside, explaining his opinion that Minassian is criminally responsible. “You have to do the worst thing, the most pain... his degree of infamy depends on that.”
Minassian had been fantasizing about mass murder for years, and when he could no longer see hope for his future, he rented a van and weeks later set out to run down many people as possible and then be killed by police, Woodside said. On April 23, 2018, Minassian killed 10 people, injured 16 more and sent waves of trauma through Toronto.
Minassian, 28, is seeking to be found not criminally responsible for the murder and attempted murder of 26 people. He is arguing that his autism spectrum disorder rendered him unable to know what he did was morally wrong. There are no Canadian cases in which a not criminally responsible defence has been raised involving the sole diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
The key defence witness, Yale-based forensic psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Westphal testified that Minassian’s autism spectrum disorder has caused him to have a “substantial defect in social development” and lack of empathy, which in turn means his ability to morally reason and understand moral wrongfulness is affected by his inability to take the perspectives of other people. Westphal concluded Minassian saw other people as “objects.”
Woodside, however, said this is a high-level view of moral reasoning that most people don’t normally do — in day-to-day life we just follow the rules and laws automatically, including the most universal rule: don’t kill other people.
And while Minassian does lack empathy and some ability to feel the emotions of other people, he has the intellectual capacity to work through moral decisions and has shown some ability to take the perspectives of other people, Woodside said. Minassian himself said he consciously chose to block out thoughts that would have stopped him from carrying out the attack — selfishly focusing only on his own goal and ignoring the consequences to anyone else, Woodside said.
And this was “not a complex moral dilemma,” Woodside said, nor were his actions impulsive.
Via a pre-written Facebook post sent during the attack, Minassian deliberately set a narrative — a connection to the misogynistic incel ideology and mass killer Elliot Rodger — to ensure maximum media attention and chose tactics to cause maximum carnage, Woodside said.
“I think it would require you to ignore everything Mr. Minassian has actually said when asked about his knowledge of what he did and whether it was wrong,” Woodside said, referring to the opposing view that Minassian didn’t know what he was doing was morally wrong.
Woodside also took issue with a central tenet of defence expert Westphal’s conclusion: that Minassian’s stated motives are incoherent and therefore the only explanation is that he had no comprehension of the impact his actions would have on other people.
Woodside said frequently fantasizing about mass murder and reading positive reinforcement of those ideas can lead to dehumanizing potential victims as a means to an end. But Minassian repeatedly said “this is something he really, really wanted to do,” and he provided a number of motivations behind that, Woodside said.
“Whether they represent the full picture of what really led him to act in this way, I’m not sure, but I think it would be dangerous to discount everything he actually says about why he commits this act,” Woodside said.
He pointed to Minassian feeling lonely, rejected and most importantly not feeling hopeful about his future — where he saw himself failing at a new job, disappointing his family and being unemployed. He also said he wanted to “make his mark” and have his name live forever.
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“Those are expressions to some extent of narcissism and grandiosity but they come from a place of, you know, loss and loneliness and rejection and a desire I think at least a bit of revenge on people... and society at large (who prevented him) from achieving the things he thinks are his due and that most of us do expect to achieve in life,” Woodside said.
Woodside said he saw no indication that Minassian had lost touch with reality or that his thinking was distorted in the way Dr. Westphal argued. He also said that while Minassian has trouble expressing emotion, it does not mean he is “devoid of emotion” internally, Woodside said.
Woodside also said that while some of Minassian’s social challenges are linked to his autism spectrum disorder, that does not explain all of it. Minassian was also very worried about failure, Woodside said.
Woodside also disputed the idea that Minassian was obsessed with mass murder, the incel ideology and the writings of another mass killer to the point that he was delusional or indoctrinated. Minassian was able to understand that incel ideology was flawed and was not, as with some people with autism who have extremely focused interests, able to only discuss that one subject, Woodside said.
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2020-12-14 17:38:22Z
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