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BRITTANY PILKINGTON |
Defense team wants judge to reconsider tossing her confession
A neuropsychologist and a psychologist have filed affidavits stating they believe Brittany Pilkington’s brain damage and mental illness was so extensive that she could not fully comprehend the police interrogation she endured Aug. 18, 2015.
The affidavits are part of a motion asking Logan County Common Pleas Acting Judge Mark S. O’Connor to reconsider throwing out her confession and any evidence gathered as result of the interrogation.
Pilkington, 25, faces three counts of capital murder for killing her three sons over a 13-month period starting in July 2014. She faces the possibility of a death sentence, but her trial has been delayed as Judge O’Connor has waded through dozens of motions.
GAVIN, NIALL, NOAH PILKINGTON
Authorities say she admitted smothering the boys as they slept starting with infant Niall in July 2014 followed by Gavin, 4, on April 6, 2015 and infant Noah on Aug. 18, 2015.
The accused has been in the Logan County Jail in solitary confinement since.
Defense attorneys Kort Gotterdam and Marc S. Triplett urged Judge O’Connor to reconsider his November decision allowing the Logan County Prosecutor’s Office to use her confession at trial.
Judge O’Connor, the attorneys argue, did not have access to an adequate assessment of her mental health in the first consideration.
In his November ruling, the judge found coercive police activity occurred and a final session with then Bellefontaine Police Det. Scott Sebring and Chief Brandon Standley was overly confrontational and included Det. Sebring yelling at her.
Regardless of the confrontational manner and the mistreatment of the defendant by the omission of food and water (she was offered both repeatedly throughout the day, but she refused the offers), Judge O’Connor ruled she gave the statements voluntarily.
Since then, neuropyschologist Dr. Jeffrey Madden and psychologist Dr. Howard Fradkin have completed their assessments of Pilkington and the hours of interrogation.
Their assessments came after a clinic psychologist disclosed the need for more specialized evaluations.
According to the doctors, Pilkington endured a high level of trauma to the right side of her brain at an early age and was diagnosed with lead poisoning as an infant. She told them she would unknowingly bang her head into the floor of her bedroom at night and would stop only when awakened by her mother or other adults.
Dr. Madden said Pilkington’s brain trauma limited her ability to quickly evaluate and process what was happening during the interrogations. It is his opinion she was overcome by the questioning.
She also lacks the ability to show emotion which leads to an apparent “flat” expressionless response to tragedy or stresses.
He spent more than 10 hours with her administering tests to evaluate her ability to function. Overall, her cognitive abilities were rated as mildly impaired compared to normally functioning adults.
He rated her IQ at 78.
Dr. Fradkin conducted several interviews with Pilkington in which she finally retold the abuse she endured from childhood into adulthood.
In his affidavit, the psychologist said the defendant suffered from every kind of abuse including physical abuse; emotional abuse and neglect; sexual abuse; witnessed abuse of her mother; living with an alcoholic and/or drug addict; and abandonment.
He scored her life as nine out of 10 on the adverse childhood experience matrix. Only 15.2 percent of all women score higher than four, he states, and those women are vastly more likely to suffer depression and commit suicide.
Dr. Fradkin believes Pilkington developed the ability to disassociate with adverse events and take herself mentally elsewhere.
She told him that she would envision herself in a field flowers with trees and sunny skies as she was raped by her former husband, Joe Pilkington. She related, for the first time to anyone, that the abuse started when she was nine.
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JOE PILKINGTON |
Joe Pilkington, who was then her babysitter before transitioning into her mother’s boyfriend, would show Pilkington pornographic videos and explain in detail what was happening in the video, she told Dr. Fradkin.
The acts of “classic pedophile grooming,” Dr. Fradkin said, progressed to fondling, vaginal penetration and then forced vaginal and anal intercourse in her early teen years and continued into her adult years.
Dr. Fradkin believes she used a similar coping mechanism to handle the stress of the interrogation.
Logan County Prosecutor Eric Stewart, who is familiar with Logan County Children’s Services investigations into allegations sexual abuse involving the defendant, said she was never forthcoming with details of her abuse.
“It wasn’t for a lack of trying,” Stewart said. “We tried, children’s services tried and law enforcement tried, but she wouldn’t say who it was. Her story has always been that nothing happened between her and Joe until she got pregnant at age 17 and they got married.
“Without her telling us that, there wasn’t much we could do with Joe. But who’s to say she isn’t making it up now.”
Joe Pilkington, 45, was charged with third-degree sexual battery in 2015. In September, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sexual imposition and was classified as a Tier I sex offender.
The motion to reconsider was filed July 10. On July 18, Judge O’Connor held a status hearing.
He then set a deadline of Monday for the prosecutors to respond and rebuttal from the defense team by Aug. 7.
Once all of the memorandums are filed, he will decide if a hearing is necessary and set a date for arguments.