SLEEPWALKING MURDER TRIAL
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PHOENIX (Court TV) — The prosecutor seeking a murder conviction of Scott Falater, the man who claims he was sleepwalking when he killed his wife, accused a defense witness Monday of falsifying a psychological evaluation of the defendant.

Falater is on trial for allegedly murdering Yarmila, his wife of 20 years, on January 16, 1997. Falater stabbed his wife 44 times at the home, dragged her into their pool and then held her head under water.

Falater's defense attorney, Michael Kimerer, does not deny that his client killed Yarmila. But he insists Falater could not have committed murder because he was sleepwalking at the time and could not have formed the intent to kill.

Over the course of the trial, which began May 24, prosecutor Juan Martinez has tried to dismantle the defense's theory that Falater is a mild-mannered and loving husband, who would never have committed such a heinous crime had he been fully cognizant.

On Monday, Martinez attempted to cast doubt on Dr. Michael Bayless' claim that Falater was "not an explosive personality type" by suggesting that the witness had not visited the jailed defendant on January 27, 1997 as stated in court documents.

Martinez focused on the fact that Bayless' name did not appear on the jail sign-in sheet that day. But Bayless assured the prosecutor that he had visited Falater and had only neglected to sign-in.

"Many times I've been to jail without checking in," Bayless said. "There is no question in my mind [that I visited Falater.]"

Based on his jail house evaluation, Dr. Bayless testified Monday that Falater tended not to be "an aggressive personality type" and that he found Falater "very moral and ethical."

Martinez also attacked Bayless' methodology, noting that he based his evaluation on self-analysis or "self-reporting" by Falater himself. Bayless insisted that some of the tests he conducted were designed to prevent patients from giving self-serving answers.

Martinez continued to attack Bayless' credibility by suggesting that the psychologist had falsely inserted a date into a report submitted to the court. While prosecutors had an undated copy of the report, the court's copy was dated 1997. Bayless could not explain why one copy was dated while the other wasn't.

Defense attorney Michael Kimerer down played the difference by noting that the rest of the information on the two reports was the same.

Martinez's attack on Bayless was the second time he had accused a defense expert of doctoring tests and records. Last week, Martinez accused defense sleepwalking expert Janet Tatman of ordering a lab technician to rig the tests on Falater's brain waves to show the "slow wave" activity associated with sleepwalkers. Tatman denied the allegations and insisted his test procedures were proper.

Another defense witness, Andrea Patterson, who manages a sleep disorder lab in Minnesota, testified Monday that she found Tatman's tactics appropriate.

Falater is expected to testify later this week.

— Bryan Robinson