Patricia A. Zapf

“ Specifically, he appears to be incapacitated by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, stemming from die circumstances surrounding his time at die Brig, and, as a result of this incapacitation, is unable to assist his attorneys by providing relevant information to his defense.
As a forensic psychologist, I recognize that die determination of a defendant's competency to stand trial is a legal matter for die court to decide. Therefore, die opinions rendered above in regard to diis issue are of an advisory nature only. ”

“ Padilla may be suffering from some form of brain injury. He certainly appears to have impairment of concentration and attention, as evidenced by testing as well as his presentation during interview. There is a body of literature that describes the relation between PTSD and cognitive problems such that PTSD is related to impairments in concentration, memory, and learning and the impairments are proportional to the duration and severity of the trauma. ”

“ Mr. Padilla reports being suspicious of everyone, including his attorneys, and stated that he does not know who he can and cannot trust. He indicated that he was unsure of whether his attorneys might really be federal agents posing as his attorneys in an attempt to continue their interrogations of him. While this sounds delusional in nature, I do not believe mis to be the case. It appears as if Mr. Padilla is simply unable to fully trust anyone (save the few exceptions that he noted, which included his mother and his family members) after his experiences in die Brig. ”

“ He reported diat he would rather go back to die Brig than to have to testify in his own defense as he would have to "relive it all over again."
His attorneys have reported that they are unable to obtain relevant and important information from Mr. Padilla and that they often have the experience of "groundhog day" with Mr. Padilla—reliving the same situations and conversations over and over with him. They report the experience of "having to start over" every time they speak with him. These experiences appear to be consistent with the perseveration observed during interview and testing with Mr. ”

“ The visible distress diat he experienced when asked questions about sensitive topics appeared to be mainly physiological (in die form of facial ticks, sweaty palms, tense body posture, and rocking back and form) as he maintained little or no emotion throughout die interview.
Mr. Padilla asserted his belief diat he is being watched closely and diat he may be returned to die Brig at any time. He also reported his belief diat he would be killed upon his return to the Brig. Mr. ”

“ He denied any hallucinations, thought insertion or thought broadcasting and did not appear to be responding to internal stimuli. Although difficult to evaluate given the unusual circumstances surrounding this case and the fact that Mr. ”