Case Studies

Automatism or Not?

A criminal defendant claimed he had automatism related to the crime. Dr. Denison performed a Clinical Forensic Psychological Evaluation to determine if the Automatism was legitimate or not.

Automatism: The subject does not act voluntarily and is not fully aware of his/her actions while in a state of automatism.

In this case, the defendant allegedly performed criminal acts while which he/she was not aware of what they were doing, and then did not remember the incident(s), allegedly suffering from Automatism. The defendant used a variety of psychotropic medications, including Ambien. The forensic evaluation included collaboration with a psychiatric expert.

These types of evaluations for Automatism require an outstanding combination of knowledge and skill, such as those of Dr. Denison.

Several of these cases involving Dr. Denison’s Automatism Clinical Forensic Psychological Evaluations are still pending.

Contractual Compentency

A family member sues to gain control of the family’s Wyoming ranch, on the grounds the patriarch is contractually incompetent.

Dr. Denison evaluated the patriarch for contractual competency.

In this case, a family was raised by a father on their Wyoming ranch. The ranch was extremely successful with a vast amount of land. There were several children in the family. One of those children filed suit against the father to attempt to gain control over the family estate and the ranch.

Dr. Denison was brought into the case to evaluate the contractual competency of the patriarch – was he capable of making decisions related to the ranch and the family estate.

Dr. Denison evaluated the rancher and found the man was in fact competent to determine the fate of the ranch and the estate. The child who sued did not financially gain over his/her siblings as a result of filing the suit.

False Allegations

In this case, a young man was accused of a criminal act, which also carried significant social sigma. If convicted, his future would be significantly impacted.

FBS provided a clinical forensic psychologist and a polygraph examiner, to evaluate witnesses as to their factual nature of their statements and how they connected to the case. Charges were dismissed!

Dr. Denison is expert at evaluating witnesses, and then providing his professional opinion on the truthfulness and reasoning of the statements given by those witnesses.

When in doubt about the validity of a witness statement, including prior recorded interviews and complaints, the FBS team can provide clarity in the legal matter.

Litigation Support

Litigation Support (new) Civil & Criminal Cases

With the FBS Litigation Support professionals, attorneys are better able to understand the case against their clients and how to defend against the charges.

Our professional team provides a unique combination of skills, knowledge and professionalism for Litigation Support, including:
√ Discovery Analysis including numerous media formats: Video, Audio, Wiretaps, Photographs, Computer Forensics, and more…
√ Document Review including Report Analysis from DEA, DCI, IRS, DOJ, FBI, and other government agencies
√ Witness Interviews and Preparation/Depositions
√ Exhibits for Courtroom Use
√ Defendant-Specific Summaries – what is the government’s case
√ Creating sophisticated time lines of events, persons, etc.
√ Research of legal precedents and creating legal chronologies
√ Hearing and Trial Preparation
√ Jury Selection using Psychological Factors
√ Direct and Cross-Examination Strategy and Preparation
√ Strategies to Address Opposing Side’s Expert Witness(s)
√ and more…

We have experience with complex multiple-defendant federal criminal cases, and single-defendant cases. We have supported cases with voluminous discovery, with the equivalent to 1000’s of boxes of data.

We have experience with supporting complex Civil cases, with multiple plaintiffs and/or multiple defendants, involving multiple jurisdictions.

Our professionals have testified in state and federal court.

Malingering

In this case, a law enforcement professional committed very “out of character” criminal actions. Then he claimed he had specific mental illnesses.

Dr. Denison performed a Forensic Psychological Evaluation of an officer. Dr. Denison’s evaluation was to determine if the officer did in fact suffer from any form of mental illness or disability.

The result was Dr. Denison determined the officer had malingered and faked mental illness and the officer was denied a downward departure at a sentencing based on mental illness.

Over the years, Dr. Denison has performed many evaluations of persons to determine if they are Malingering, for both the defense and the prosecution.

Product Liability

A scalpel blade broke off during a surgical procedure… causing issues.

Dr. Denison performed a Clinic Forensic Psychological Evaluation of the patient for possible affects due to the faulty product.

In this case, a patient had a surgical procedure where a faulty product was used, a scalpel blade broke off during the surgery. This caused issues for the patient.

Dr. Denison was brought in to perform a Forensic Psychological Evaluation of the patient to determine if he/she did in fact suffer trauma or other problems as a result of the faulty product.

The evaluation confirmed the patient did in fact suffer as a result of the faulty product. The patient received a monetary settlement from the product manufacturer.

Without Dr. Denison’s evaluation, the patient would have had a much more difficult time proving his/her case.

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

A person claims to have PTSD from a workplace incident and sues her employer.

Dr. Denison performs a Forensic Psychological Evaluation to determine if PTSD is in fact involved.

In this case, an employee had a liaison with her manager. The situation occurred multiple times in the workplace, and then the affair ended. After it ended, the woman then claimed to have PTSD as a consequence of events related to the workplace circumstances.

Dr. Denison was brought in to evaluate the employee’s claims. Using forensic methodology, he was able to demonstrate that the employee did not in fact suffer from PTSD. Her multi-million dollar claim was denied.

Because of FBS’s commitment to the facts, professional ethics, and years of administering psychological evaluations, our evaluations are not driven by what the client and their attorney may desire, but by the facts in the case.

Workplace Injury

Industrial environments such as modern coal mines are extremely dangerous places by their nature.

At a western U.S. coal mine, there was an incident where an employee was injured.

Dr. Denison was brought into the case to determine if the employee was liable in any way for the incident, as well as the extent of any psychological injury.

The employee received a monetary award as a result of this civil case.

FBS has performed many workplace incident evaluations over the years. Because of our factual, ethical and professional methods, we have been retained by both plaintiff(s) or the defendant(s) in civil cases.

Ms. Hulse has also supported civil litigation, providing factual analysis, case chronologies, and other details for multi-party civil litigations.