Testimony on the brain activity of a convicted murderer may have saved him from the death penalty.
Earlier this month, a Miami jury rejected the death penalty and chose life in prison for Grady Nelson, who in 05 stabbed his wife 61 times, killing, and stabbed and raped his 11-year daughter with mental disabilities. A report in The Miami Herald last weekend suggests that measures of Nelson of brain activity have influenced some members of the jury who saw the results as proof of a brain injury that partly explain his behavior. But some scientists criticize the way this technology was used in the case. During the sentencing phase, the court heard the testimony of Robert Thatcher, a neuroscientist and president of Applied Neuroscience Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida. Company Thatcher Nelson examined using a method called quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG). As in the standard EEG, technicians place the electrodes on the skull to record the electrical activity in the brain. In QEEG, a computer program analyzes these records to locate the abnormal activity areas. In the case of Nelson, there was an obvious anomaly in the left frontal lobe, Thatcher said.
Thatcher also testified that Nelson had "sharp waves" from the region. These large peaks in the EEG traces are usually seen in people with epilepsy. Grady is not epileptic, but it has a history of three or traumatic brain injuries, Thatcher said yesterday in an interview.
In the courtyard, Thatcher said the injuries Nelson suffered head could cause this type of EEG abnormality. He also told the court that the frontal lobes are important for controlling behavior. "When the frontal lobes are damaged, people have difficulty removing actions ... and do not understand the consequences of their actions," said Thatcher ScienceInsider .
The data presented QEEG Thatcher were riddled with artifacts, and its analysis has been undermined by serious flaws statistics, said Charles Epstein, a neurologist at Emory University in Atlanta, who testified for the prosecution . Epstein added that the strong waves brought Thatcher looked more blips caused by the contraction of the muscles of the head. "I treat people with head trauma all the time," he said. "I see in people with a brain injury."
But at least some members of the jury may have been influenced by the testimony of Thatcher. Six jurors voted for the death penalty. But two of those who voted against him said the Miami Herald that the QEEG evidence was influential:
Delores Cannon, secretary of the hospital, said she leaned toward the death until the technology was introduced. "But then, when he entered, the facts about the QEEG, some of us have changed our minds," she said.
John Howard, a service of the airport worker fleet, he said, too, was prepared to recommend death. "It is my decision all around," said the QEEG Howard [sic]. "The technology really influenced me ... After seing the brain scans, I am convinced that this guy had some kind of brain problem."
Counsel for Nelson certainly think. "This may be the first time in a criminal courtroom in the United States where QEEG analysis has been deemed admissible and respected for its ability to provide vital information about brain injuries and disorders," said the attorney Terence Lenamon defense in a press release that appears to have been issued to Nelson.
This may be a stretch. in an affidavit filed with the court, Thatcher provided a "partial list" of 18 previous cases where QEEG was used to establish that someone had suffered a traumatic brain injury. (There are also cases where judges have ruled that the QEEG evidence is not eligible.)
in Nelson's case, however, QEEG was used to explain his behavior. This type of application is much more problematic than using it to establish an injury, said Andrew Leuchter, a neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the case.
Leuchter uses QEEG research and said it has several uses such as clinical valid distinguishing Alzheimer's disease from other types of dementia. "You can certainly say with a high degree of confidence in this type of test that a person's brain does not function properly, and you can sometimes tell what caused" says Leuchter. "The only thing you can not do is to link the actions of someone in their abnormal brain function. This is far beyond anything we can do right now."
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