THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270422
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DEDHAM, MASS. LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Prosecutors cited passages Wednesday from a book by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson to show that beliefs John C. Salvi III has espoused are widely held and not delusional as psychiatrists have said.
Salvi is charged with shooting two Boston-area abortion clinic workers to death and wounding five others. He was arrested on Dec. 31 in Virginia Beach after firing a rifle into the doorway of an abortion clinic.
Hearings are being held this week to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.
Prosecutor Marianne Hinkle read from the 1991 book ``The New World Order'' by Robertson, a former presidential candidate, and said that some of Salvi's references were similar to Robertson's.
Salvi has used biblical allusions to current-day political and social issues to support his argument that there is a conspiracy against Roman Catholics, the basis for psychiatrists' testimony that he has a mental illness.
``Are you suggesting that Pat Robertson might be delusional?'' Hinkle asked a psychiatrist called by the defense, Dr. Ronald Schouten.
``No, I am not suggesting that,'' responded Schouten, director of the law and psychiatric service at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Gene Kapp, a spokesman at Robertson's headquarters in Virginia Beach, said the evangelist has condemned violence in the abortion debate and does not believe there is a conspiracy against Catholics.
``One would easily make the mistake (from the prosecutor's questions) that Pat Robertson's words in that book led Salvi to do what he did or think what he thought,'' Kapp said. ``There is no connection whatsoever.''
Under questioning from prosecutors, who claim Salvi is competent to stand trial, Schouten admitted that some of Salvi's beliefs had logic to them, and therefore may not be delusions.
For example, asked whether Salvi was wrong to say that Catholics would increase their political power if they banded together, Schouten said: ``That limited idea is not necessarily a delusion, no.''
A prosecution psychologist, Dr. Joel Haycock of Bridgewater State Hospital, said he had examined Salvi and found nothing to suggest that he could not consult with his attorneys in preparing his defense, or was unable to understand the proceedings against him.
Salvi, 24, came to the courtroom in the bulletproof vest and blue blazer he has worn on previous days, but also sporting glasses and the stubble of a beard.
The former hairdresser from Hampton, N.H., is charged in the Dec. 30 shootings at two women's clinics in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Killed were Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols, receptionists in their respective clinics.
If the judge decides Salvi is incompetent, he will be committed to a state psychiatric hospital until he is considered able to stand trial.
Salvi insists he is competent to stand trial and would accept the death penalty if convicted. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
John C. Salvi III, 24, wearing a bulletproof vest and blue blazer,
but also sporting glasses, enters Norfolk Superior Court Wednesday
in Dedham, Mass. Salvi insists he is competent to stand trial and
would accept the death penalty if convicted.
KEYWORDS: ABORTION CLINIC SHOOTING MURDER TRIAL JOHN C. SALVI by CNB