(Testimony of Dr. William Robert Beavers)
Mr. Specter.
so far as the man's mental state, if he could have a chance to tell his story. The mixture of what I consider his delusional state surrounding the possible conspiracy that people thought that he had, and therefore this tremendous number of destructive actions, that were presumably going on, fitted to an extent with some published reports of people's opinions here and abroad. In short, there has been a mixture of the delusional and of the factual, a mixture of his confusion and a mixture of all other people's confusion, and he is aware of it and has been, because apparently he gets newspapers. Apparently he has access to what both reasoned and unreasoned statements that are made. Consequently, I felt that it would be useful, if anything, that be be allowed a chance for this. I haven't stated this to anybody, I don't think, because there were a lot of other things that I could not evaluate. I'm not in a position to evaluate the legal or other reasons that might not be useful.
Mr. Specter.
But with respect to his mental status, would it have been your expectation prior to the time that the polygraph examination started that it would have been beneficial rather than harmful to have it conducted?
Dr. BEAVERS. If anything, the odds are good that it actually wouldn't do much one way or the other in my opinion, but the feeling of getting out the catharsis or the getting his story before the people that he has felt, for example, including the State, that were involved in some kind of action against people he cared for, because they assumed erroneously there was some conspiracy, then this might have some beneficial effect.
Mr. Specter.
And what is your conclusion after being present during the course of the polygraphic examination as to whether it had beneficial effect or not?
Dr. BEAVERS. It's hard to say. I think he held up rather remarkably well. At least, this is my opinion. I haven't been present with polygraph interrogations, but he certainly did not show undue stress, either physical or emotional, and handled the questions better than I thought he would. It did seem like he was getting, in a sense, his day in court, which was by reasons of his, as I understand it, trial procedure and presumed defense tactics not allowed him in the first trial. This to me is what he kept coming back to during the course of the examination, that he wanted to get his story out, and during the times I have seen him.
Mr. Specter.
Is it your interpretation that the consequence during the course of this polygraph examination may have the ultimate consequence of benefiting him?
Dr. BEAVERS. i think it could. I would suspect, if I tried to look and see what would happen tomorrow, that he might be somewhat depressed. This usually is what happens with somebody who has been looking forward to something for a long, long time that's going to be solving all of his problems and it actually happens and nothing much is different, but I think he will be depressed.
Mr. Specter.
If he is depressed tomorrow, is that what you would think would be a temporary state?
Dr. BEAVERS. Yes; I think it.
Mr. Specter.
So that that would not necessarily characterize the long run effects of this examination?
Dr. BEAVERS. That's correct.
Mr. Specter.
When you characterized a few moments ago his situation as being fatigued, as we all were, do you think that he understood all the questions which were being put to him and then answered them responsively, or do you think that at some point his fatigue reached such a point that he was not responding understandably to the questions?
Dr. BEAVERS. I was impressed with the skill of the man giving the test. I felt the breaks were fairly well spaced. He didn't show an excessive amount of fatigue, in my view, except before the first break. He seemed to show more fatigue then than he did later on.
Mr. Specter.
Of course, you observed his interest in pursuing a great many topics and the difficulty really in bringing the examination to a close.
Dr. BEAVERS. Yes; which sort of fits with my feeling about the depression a little bit in that he was aware that, well, "the show is about over," that his day
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