Hinckley ‘has shrunken brain’

Press, 3 June 1982, Page 9

Hinckley ‘has shrunken brain’

NZPA-Reuter Washington A specialist in computerised X-rays of the brain yesterday told a jury that the man who shot President Reagan, John Hinckley, has a shrunken brain, suggestive of an organic brain disease.

- Dr Marjorie LeMay, a radiologist from the Harvard Medical School, told the jury that CAT scans of Hinckley’s brain show abnormally large folds between the tissues of the brain.

CAT scans are sophisticated X-ray pictures of the brain which are computer enhanced and allow a doctor to see a cross-section of the tissue.

Dr LeMay testified after District Court Judge Barrington Parker reversed his earlier ruling and allowed the evidence.

Hinckley’s lawyers have said they intend to show that, the enlarged folds and shrunken brain are commonly associated with schizophrenic patients, while rarely found in normal people. Hinckley, aged 27, has pleaded not guilty by reason

of insanity to charges arising out of the shooting in March 30 last year in which President Reagan and three others were seriously hurt. Three psychiatrist's and a psychologist already have given evidence that Hinckley was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the shooting and said he was living in a fantasy world. In evidence yesterday,. Dr LeMay referred to slides showing CAT-scan pictures of Hinckley’s brain and pointed out the widened folds.

“The reason we see them is because the brain is shrunken slightly,” she said. Dr LeMay, who has been in practice for 40 years, said this symptom “suggests this is organic.brain disease.”

Under cross-examination by the prosecutor, Roger Adelman, Dr LeMay said the widened folds were highly unusual in someone Hinckley's age. She said in two separate studies, one of 60 people and another of 115, no individual under 40 years of age had these widened folds.