Ryan Petersen capital murder trial may not end before Christmas
By Jim Cook
The Dothan Eagle
District Attorney Doug Valeska sparred with an expert witness Tuesday concerning capital murder defendant Ryan Petersen’s mental state at the time of a shooting at Teasers nightclub that left three people dead.
Valeska bombarded Mark Cunningham, a forensic and clinical psychologist, with questions concerning inconsistencies by Petersen during an interrogation by police following the August 2012 shooting. In the statement, Petersen at times appeared to be aware of his actions and other times does not.
“If you remember something that didn’t happen, it’s not a memory, it’s a false construction of your own mind,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham has testified that Petersen had drug and alcohol problems, as well as mental illness and that these issues severely affected his capacity to understand his actions at the time of the shootings.
Under questioning from Valeska, Cunningham said Petersen did not appear to be impaired in a video that shows Petersen re-entering the club after being ejected. Cunningham also read from an interview with a witness who said Petersen “locked on” to his targets after re-entering the club.
Cunningham said that most observers questioned by police said that Petersen appeared to be incoherent and intoxicated when he interacted with them prior to the shooting.
“They described his conversation as being incoherent, he reintroduced himself several times and that he appeared to be a ‘whack job,’” Cunningham said.
Cunningham began testifying around 8:45 a.m. Tuesday and his testimony continued into the evening. It is doubtful that Petersen’s trial, now in its third week, will conclude by Christmas.
Petersen is charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of Tiffani Paige Grissett, 31, Cameron Eubanks, 20, and Thomas Robins Jr., 59. According to police, Petersen was kicked out of the nightclub after a dispute with an employee, went to his truck, shot Eubanks, the son of the owner, outside the club and then re-entered and shot Grissett and Robins to death. Petersen shot another man, who survived.
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