ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — A combination of depression, parental abuse and a sense that things would never improve drove a New Mexico teen "to the point of despair" the morning he shot and killed his parents and stepsister, a forensic psychologist testified Thursday.

Dr. Christine Johnson

Defense psychologist Christine Johnson testified in Cody Posey's first-degree murder trial that "stress factors" built up throughout the boy's life and "impaired" his judgment the morning of July 5, 2004, when he fatally shot his father, Paul Posey, stepmother, Tryone, and 13-year-old stepsister Marilea Schmid.

Even so, the witness conceded under cross-examination that the manner in which Cody planned the killings and carried them out indicated that he thought about what he was doing.

Though he is being tried as a juvenile, Cody faces a potential life sentence if 12^th District Judge James Waylon Counts decides to sentence him as an adult on three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of evidence tampering.

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First-degree murder requires a showing that the killings were premeditated. A jury could also convict Cody of second-degree murder if they find he acted without sufficient provocation. If the panel finds otherwise, they also have the option of manslaughter.

From his decision to kill his stepmother first so she could not call 911 to his burying the bodies in manure and tossing the gun in the river, the state argues that Cody knowingly formed the intent to kill and evade capture necessary for first-degree murder.

Signs of abuse

Throughout their six-day case, court-appointed lawyers for Cody, who is now 16, have called 37 relatives, friends and teachers to describe how his father, Paul, beat, humiliated and isolated his son with the help of his third wife, Tryone.

Johnson noted that, for Cody, the fragile emotional state typical in all adolescents was compounded by several factors, including the alleged abuse, signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the death of his mother.

In a line of questioning that seemed to underscore the defense strategy, lawyer Gary Mitchell asked Johnson about the effects of Cody's numerous traumas on his ability to form intent the morning of the shootings.

"I believe that his emotional condition at that time would have impaired or gotten in the way of his ability to reason," the Albuquerque-based psychologist testified. "I think such emotion impairs [self-] control and erodes, and makes less effective the thinking."

"Would it affect his ability to form the deliberate intention to take the lives of others?" asked the defense attorney, who was dressed in a gray scalloped Western suit and black leather cowboy boots.

"I believe it impaired his judgment in making that decision," Johnson testified.

Otero County children's court attorney Sandra Grisham's line of questioning also bolstered her strategy of casting the teen as a selfish psychopath who sought to escape the strict rule of disciplinarian parents and exaggerated the abuse claims to avoid punishment.

Grisham brought out the results of Cody's personality tests indicating tendencies toward over-reporting, exaggeration, self-pity, and "a grandiose sense of self-worth."

Johnson conceded that she checked Cody off for "serious criminal behavior," but only based on the fact that he was involved in "one event."

"Does it get any more serious than murder?" Grisham asked.

Johnson curtly replied that it did not.

Grisham also went through a list of abuse claims from Cody's testimony last week, among them time his father put his head through a wall and his practice of submerging his son's head in a water trough until he almost stopped breathing.

Johnson testified that by and large, Cody did not provide her with those examples in their meetings, but also said that that did not surprise her.

"He did not like talking to me. It was unpleasant for him," Johnson said. "Abused children often don't want to talk about the abuse."

She claimed that as a result of Cody's futile efforts to earn his father's affections and to prove himself "as a worthwhile person and a man," he was in the habit of pushing his emotions "underground."

On the morning of the shootings, however, they exploded onto the surface.

"Cody was struggling to feel good about himself and to prove himself to his father," Johnson said. "Meanwhile, the situation had been abusive for while and Cody was losing control of his anger."

The defense is expected to rest its case tomorrow. The proceedings are being streamed live on Court TV Extra.