Psychiatrist: Man accused of killing 6 controlled by voices
HOUSTON — A forensic psychiatrist tells jurors a man accused of fatally shooting six members of his ex-wife’s family in 2014 wasn’t responsible for his actions because severe mental illness made him believe voices in his head were telling him to carry out the killings.
Prosecutors allege Ronald Lee Haskell created a meticulous plot in which he traveled from California to suburban Houston and stalked his ex-wife’s family before killing six of them, including four children.
But Stephen Raffle, a forensic psychiatrist who examined Haskell, testified at his capital murder trial Monday that Haskell didn’t know what he did was wrong because the voices in his head “had basically taken control” of him.
Raffle was expected to be the final witness for the defense. Haskell’s trial began Aug. 26.
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