Mental health experts testify in Mark Becker trial

Mental health experts disagreed Monday on whether Mark Becker was legally insane when he killed Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas.

Psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick and psychologist Dan Rogers testified for the defense that Becker was insane and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia which resulted in delusions and hallucinations. They said Becker believed Thomas was Satan and had raped Becker and brainwashed him through telepathic messages.

Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Spodak, a prosecution rebuttal witness, agreed Becker was schizophrenic, but said that did not make him insane. Having delusions or believing someone is Satan doesn't make a person insane, Spodak said.

Becker, 24, is on trial in Butler County District Court for first-degree murder for shooting and killing Thomas on June 24. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense rested Monday, and the prosecution is expected to call another rebuttal witness today. Closing arguments are set for Wednesday.

Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist from Cleveland, said Becker fits the legal definition of insanity. “He wasn't capable of understanding the nature and quality of his act” and couldn't distinguish between right and wrong, said Resnick.

“He told an investigator it was the right thing to do and said he was free of guilt and shame, which a person would feel for killing a person,” Resnick said.

Rogers, a psychologist from Fort Dodge, said Becker thought he was doing something good by killing the “devil,” which was based on his delusions.

Rogers said Becker did not understand what he had done the day he killed Thomas and everything Becker did was based on his delusions.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown on cross examination aggressively challenged Resnick and Rogers by reviewing all the rational moves Becker made the day leading up to Thomas' shooting, including his choice to steal a gun from his parent's home and doing some target practice.

Rogers said Becker's planning wasn't unusual for a person with schizophrenia but it was made for “crazy reasons.“

Brown also asked Resnick if it was true that mental illness doesn't equal insanity.

Resnick agreed.

Spodak, the prosecution rebuttal witness, said Becker was capable of understanding what he did June 24 and could distinguish between right and wrong.

“If he understood shooting Thomas would stop the voices in his head, then he understood what he was doing,”

said Spodak, a forensic psychiatrist from Baltimore.

Resnick, Rogers and Spodak all testified they based their evaluations on Becker's records, police reports and interviews with Becker.