Man Too Confused For Trial, Experts Say Competency Hearing Will End Today For Dying Jeffrey Walker

Putting Jeffrey Walker on trial for attempted murder would be a sham because AIDS has robbed him of his memory and powers of concentration, defense experts said Tuesday.

Two psychologists testified that Walker is too brain-damaged to stand trial this fall.

One said the 28-year-old Spokane Valley construction worker would “space out.” The other said Walker would be “easily confused.”

The competency hearing ends today in Spokane County Superior Court. Following three days of testimony, Judge Richard Schroeder will decide whether the trial, currently set for Oct. 30, should be called off.

Walker is accused of deliberately exposing his former girlfriend to the deadly virus in 1992.

Susan Wyatt, 43, claims he kept his medical condition a secret until it was too late - after they had unprotected sex. She has since tested HIV-positive.

Walker insists Wyatt knew about his HIV status and was willing to risk her life by having sex without a condom.

Facing a possible 20-year prison sentence, Walker is the first person in Washington to be charged with attempted murder for exposing someone to AIDS.

He has prior convictions for burglaries, cocaine possession and heroin trafficking.

Sweetser called two expert witnesses Monday.

Dr. Verne Cressey, Eastern State Hospital psychiatrist, said Walker suffers from AIDS dementia but is still “barely” competent to stand trial.

Post Falls psychologist Karen Sheppard went further, accusing Walker of fabricating answers to questions in order to appear more brain-damaged than he is.

On Tuesday, Walker’s attorneys, L. Neil Axtell and Dana Kelley countered with experts of their own.

Eastern State Hospital psychologist Charles McIlroy, who examined Walker in June 1994 and last April, portrayed Walker as slow-witted, “apathetic” and incapable of testifying in his own defense.

Spokane psychologist John Lloyd reached a similar conclusion.

He examined Walker in June 1989 after he had been injured in a construction accident and found him to be “essentially normal.”

But after re-examining Walker last January, Lloyd reported finding a serious “drop in intellectual skills” due to AIDS dementia.

Asked by Axtell whether Walker poses a danger to society, Lloyd answered: “He’s not dangerous. He’s got a disease that keeps him totally crippled.”

Walker’s mother, Barbara Bies, testified that she has been caring for her son since September 1993.

His mental and physical health have deteriorated over the past year, she said, making him virtually helpless.

He must be fed a protein formula through a tube and he must take medicine through a surgically implanted IV in his arm, she said.

Bies, a nurse at Valley Hospital and Medical Center, said her son can’t drive a car because he becomes confused too easily. “He couldn’t find his way home,” she said.

On cross-examination, Sweetser asked why Walker was capable of giving intelligent responses to questions in an interview last week with The Spokesman-Review.

“Sometimes, he has a little bit better day,” Bies replied.

In other testimony, Lloyd attacked Sheppard’s opinion that Walker had lied his way through psychological tests.

Walker’s IQ consistently has been placed in the mildly mentally retarded range, Lloyd said.

“If Jeffrey Walker is malingering, I would say he’s the most brilliant man of our time.”

, DataTimes