Analysis
by Barbara Kirwin, Ph.D.
Calif.
v. Wilson
Interrupting
the judge at his arraignment, 19-year-old Brandon Wilson proclaimed,
"Im guilty, I did it. I killed him. I killed the little
boy." As he spoke, an eerie almost triumphant smile flickered
across his face. Brandon Wilson had confessed to the vicious stabbing
of 9-year-old Matthew Cecchi in a playground bathroom. That shocking
admission was merely a postscript to the 2 1/2 hours of graphic
confession that Wilson had already given to police. Without benefit
of counsel, Wilson had regaled detectives with horrific details
about the murder including a chilling re-enactment of sneaking
up behind the boy and slitting his throat. Seasoned detectives
were astonished by his revelations, remarking that he differed
from ordinary criminals in his utter enthusiasm for disclosing
"anything and everything". Wilsons confession
seemed a paragon of police interrogation techniques and a veritable
roadmap for the prosecutions case. But to some of the psychiatrists
and psychologists who examined him, it was instead a primer of
psychosis, a page ripped directly from the DSM-IV (the Diagnostic
& Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association)
under 295.70 Schizoaffective Disorder. Nevertheless, Wilsons
Psychotic Delusion Confession, although more clinical
than criminal, was the most persuasive argument for his sanity
and the death penalty.
Wilsons videotaped confession is a case study in psychotic
symptoms. Throughout his rambling monologue, Wilson often laughs
inappropriately, evades eye contact, stares off into space, and
manifests odd body language and mannerisms like rocking and peculiar
hand gestures. He is extremely suggestible to leading questions
by the interrogator, latching on to descriptions like "hunting"
and "rush" which were inconsistent with the
general tone of his spontaneous expressions. Wilson makes bizarrely
and gratuitously self-condemning statements answering that he
would kill as many as he could - "Anyone and Everyone."
An evil, cunning thrill killer does not respond in such a recklessly
incriminating fashion.
According
to his former teachers, Brandon Wilson had been a sweet and loving
little boy much like his innocent victim. After his parents
bitter divorce when he was 13, he became so hostile and withdrawn
that his mother took him to a psychiatrist. This doctor described
him as the angriest young man he had ever seen. Wilson admitted
to having impulses to kill people, especially his mother, starting
at about this time. Despite this, Wilson continued to get straight
As in school, score brilliantly on his SATs and gain
admission to a first rate college. After graduation from high
school, a restless Wilson withdrew his savings and roamed aimlessly
west through Washington, Oregon and Colorado. This is a typical
schizophrenic scenario: the onset of symptoms in adolescence,
the increasing agitation and withdrawal from people and ultimately
the downward drift through the cracks of society. The fact that
Brandon Wilson was highly intelligent does not preclude mental
illness.
The
primary diagnostic feature of Wilsons psychosis is his well-articulated
delusional system. He believes that he was "created"
to contribute to the destruction of the world. Religious delusions
or preoccupations are very prevalent among paranoid psychotics
who commit violent crimes. The fact that Wilson believes he is
a special emissary of God is an example of his paranoid religiosity
and grandiosity.
During
the murder re-enactment, Wilson looked like the very epitome of
what previous generations called a "homicidal maniac".
The officer said that he had to pull Wilson off his interrogator:
he was losing control right in police custody and under
the watchful eye of the video camera! Wilsons behavior during
this confession typifies the profile of the psychotic killer.
Delusions, hallucinations and other signs of irrationality preceded
the murder. Wilson exhibited no remorse and freely confessed to
the killing in gory detail. Why shouldnt he? In his mind,
he was a man who had succeeded in a God-given mission and now
he was prepared to die for his beliefs. Wilsons motive,
which was so compelling and real to him, seemed to jurors like
a grotesque attempt at getting away with murder. His crime was
superfluously brutal (stabbing the boy five times after slitting
his throat watching the blood spurt out with each heart
beat). It was more the result of impulse than planning. He acted
in full view of witnesses without any accomplices and with no
motive of revenge or personal gain.
The
jurors deliberated for several days before adjudicating Brandon
Wilson sane and sentencing him to death for the 1998 murder of
Matthew Cecchi. They firmly believed that Wilson was faking insanity
and got the verdict he deserved. From my analysis of his confession,
Brandon Wilson was an acutely disturbed psychotic who was controlled
by his religious delusions. The flat, matter of fact way that
Wilson explained his motivation and his chilling pantomime of
the murderous act itself, was more the work of a deluded psychotic
trying to fake sanity. Ironically, Wilson got what in a final
testimony to his deluded state, he wanted, "Execute me".
While on death row Brandon Wilson has denied all treatment and
medication and refuses to believe that he is mentally ill. In
his unbalanced mind, Wilson will die a hero and a martyr.