Murder Trial Live Blog: Prosecution Presses Psychiatrist on Whether Fujita's Actions Were 'Purposeful'

Editor's Note: Wayland Patch will post regular updates from the courtroom at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. The most recent updates will be at the top of the story with a time stamp. For more about this case and trial, see "Wayland Murder: Nathaniel Fujita Trial."

1:04 p.m. -- Prosecutor Lisa McGovern began her cross examination at 11:46 a.m.

McGovern asked Myers how many tests he gave Fujita on July 25, 2011, and he responded that he gave three that first meeting.

Myers gave Fujita another test in November 2012.

McGovern pressed Myers about reading grand jury transcripts prior to that first meeting with Fujita, which she implied he couldn't have done because the grand jury testimony had not yet occurred.

McGovern pointed out that the doctor learned about Fujita's conversations with his cousin on July 4, his trip to the beach on July 2 and his interactions on that day.

Myers responded that he didn't know about those things, but learned them between his first meeting in July 2011 and his second meeting in November 2012 with Fujita.

McGovern then turned her attention to Myers' authorship of about a dozen papers, all of which related to sexually based crimes and rape, particulary as it relates to juveniles.

She asked specifically about Myers co-authoring a commentary last year titled, "The Perception of Remorse on Mock Jurors in a Homicide Trial."

"Dr. Myers, one of the first things you did when you wrote your report is you related the defendant's description to you of his relationship with Lauren Astley," McGovern said.

"You know from reading Dr. Fife's report ... that she found narcissitic traits in Mr. Fujita," McGovern asked, referencing the proseuction's expert witness.

Myers said he did not find narcissistic traits in Fujita.

"What is a narcissitic trait?" McGovern asked.

"A grandiose, overvalued sense of self-worth," Myers said.

"It can sometimes come off as arrogance or selfishness?" McGovern asked.

"It could, yes," Myers said.

McGovern asked about Fujita telling Myers that he hoped Astley would come back to him.

Myers said he didn't see narcissim in those comments, but rather saw "insecurity."

Myers testified that he believed Fujita was afraid of losing Astley, but McGovern pointed to Myers report and questioned whether a statement Fujita made indicated his anger toward Astley.

"She was dressing like a slut and touching other guys?" McGovern said Myers wrote in his report of interviewing Fujita.

"It shows how afraid he was of losing her," Myers replied.

McGovern asked whether his use of the word "slut" indicated he was angry with her.

"Sure he's angry at this point," Myers said. "He's probably jealous, he's angry, he's upset, he's scared. He's all those things."

Myers testified that irritability and anger are symptoms of depression.

In his report, McGovern said, Myers wrote that Fujita "didn't want to see [Astley] because she 'killed me' and his life and been 'flipped upside down.'"

Myers said that quote indicated "devastation" as well as hurt and anger.

Myers said that Fujita not responding to Astley's texts for 10 days in mid-June 2011 was him "trying to stay away."

McGovern then showed Myers a text in which Astley asked Fujita, "Why are you so hostile?"

"As someone looking into possible hostility ... that might have motivated Nathaniel Fujita to hurt Lauren Astley, did it strike you that you should ask him about that hostility going back and forth in those text messages?" McGovern said.

Myers responded that it wasn't hostility from Fujita's perspective.

"He can only take so much, he's afraid to go back around her," Myers said.

Myers said that Fujita replied to one of Astley's texts at last when he saw her or her vehicle.

"The part of him that loved her ... is what would prompt him to text her back," Myers said.

"He hadn't seen her in a long time, had he Dr. Myers?" McGovern asked. "Isn't it important for you to determine the context in which he saw her ... whether or not that was a trigger for how he responded later that day?"

Given that Fujita had derogatorily referred to Astley's appearance at an earlier time, McGovern asked whether the doctor had asked Fujita what Astley was wearing when he saw her and decided to respond to a text on July 3, 2011 -- just hours before he killed her.

McGovern began asking about where Astley parked her car on the day she came to the Fujita residence, and whether that decision was made by Astley, Fujita or both together.

McGovern asked specifically about Fujita's desire to hide Astley's visit from his mother's knowledge.

Fujita was "giving in" to Astley's "insistence" to talk with him, Myers said.

"He didn't have expectations," Myers said. "He didn't think they were getting back together, he didn't expect any intimacy ... he didn't know what they were going to talk about."

McGovern questioned whether going to the garage would be a specific choice, rather than going to the house.

Myers said that Astley led Fujita into the garage, according to what Fujita told him, and McGovern questioned whether Myers took that "at face value."

In Myers' report, he wrote that there was a musical stand with two bungee cords on it. Myers testified that Fujita told him the cords were there and he didn't put them there himself.

Myers said he asked for Fujita's "recollection" of the day's events, and McGovern questioned whether Myers asked follow-up questions and "probed" to get more information than his initial responses revealed.

Myers said that he doesn't ask leading questions because he doesn't want to distort the person's memory.

Prior to strangling her, Myers said, Fujita said Astley asked about why he wasn't coming out anymore.

"He recalled having no feelings whatsoever except feeling emotionally numb," Myers said, adding that something took him over.

McGovern said that that "something that took over him, isn't that possible that that could have been rage?"

Myers agreed that was possible, but it wasn't consciously understood and processed.

"It was an expression of aggression, of rage, if you will," Myers said.

Myers said Fujita told him it took "a couple of minutes" to kill Astley.

"He was on top of her and pulling up," Myers said. "He wasn't sure if she was alive or not, but he knew she wasn't breathing anymore."

"He did something because he wasn't sure whether or not she was dead?" McGovern asked.

Myers replied Fujita recalled that Astley wasn't breathing.

"And he told you that he went into the house and armed himself with a kitchen knife and came back into the garage and inflicted further harm on Lauren Astley?" McGovern asked, to which Myers responded in the affirmative.

McGovern asked whether that trip to the house for a knife was "purposeful."

"Purposeful in the terms of acting in a state outside of reality," Myers said. "The words he used of being disconnected ... or being emotionally numb, not in any way experiencing feelings of anger or rage or revenge."

Myers testified that Fujita told him he closed the garage door after strangling Astley.

"He had the overwhelming impulse ... he had to kill her," Myers said. "As far as him acting in a reality-based way, no, I don't believe he was."

McGovern asked if Myers talked with Fujita about why he inflicted numerous wounds to Astley's throat.

Myers said Fujita couldn't remember how many wounds he had inflicted.

"One would agree that it would take more time and more effort to inflict multiple wounds than one cut across the throat?" McGovern asked.

Myers replied that Fujita didn't withhold details of what he had done.

"As someone who has written extensively about sadistic crime, did it occur to you to explore whether this man was trying to hurt and cause pain to Lauren Astley?" McGovern asked.

Myers said he did explore that to the degree that he was able, given Fujita's own recollection.

Myers said he didn't have anything that indicates there was purpose or planning related to this crime.

McGovern pointed out that the crime didn't occur in the Natick Mall or the street or at a family barbecue.

"We're talking about killing a former girlfriend who has broken up with you in the isolation of a garage with the garage doors down?" McGovern said. "Aren't we?"

Myers replied that the garage door was up at the time of the strangulation. He then said that a degree of psychosis lasted for several days.

Myers said that Fujita, however, told him that he didn't have auditory hallucinations and the doctor couldn't find any evidence of them even though a social worker said Fujita "vaguely mentioned" them.

"He's in a psychotic state for how long?" McGovern pressed.

Myers replied that there are various states, periods and degrees.

McGovern asked about a psychiatry manual that outlines criteria for diagnosing a psychotic episode.

McGovern read several of the criteria from the manual, including hallucinations, grossly disorganized speech, etc.

Myers testified that Fujita telling police, "It was awkward," of his conversation with Astley when she went missing on July 3, was an example his disorganized speech.

"He said that he was sure that he was going to be caught, it was just a matter of time," Myers said, adding that his dominant thought was putting off his mother finding out.

Myers said that he didn't believe that Fujita thought far enough ahead to consider people would look for Astley in Lake Cochituate after he parked her car at Wayland Town Beach.

McGovern asked Myers whether it was important to him that Fujita was able to have three specific conversations with police on the night of Astley's murder, and that he answered those questions in a manner that deflected attention from himself.

Myers said he considered that, but that Fujita simply replied that he had seen Astley and their conversation had been awkward.

"There's some sort of naive attempts to deflect responsibility from himself, hours later," Myers said. "That fits, too, that he didn't try to run away."

McGovern asked what Fujita said he was doing at 8 a.m. on July 4, when he left his home.

"That wasn't to get away from where police would find him?" McGovern asked.

"In the long run, no," Myers replied.

McGovern questioned why Fujita took Astley's body seven miles away instead of in nearby water.

"If he was psychotic, he might have just put her in a street somewhere?" McGovenr asked.

"It wasn't so much disorganization at that point as much as a lack of understanding," Myers said.

"You're not comfortable saying that Nathaniel Fujita purposely went over five miles seeking the best place to hide Lauren Astley's body?" McGovern asked.

"He's looking for somewhere to put her body," Myers said. "His intention ... was to put the body somewhere to be away from it."

"How purposeful was that activity?" McGovern asked.

"He's a teenager who's never done something anywhere approaching this," Myers said. "He's out driving with a body in the car trying to find something to do."

McGovern pressed Myers on whether that activity was purposeful.

"It's a matter of degree," Myers said. "He's in a state of mental illness. It comes to his mind, 'I know where there's some water', so he went there because it was a place in his mind that came to the forefront."

Court adjourned for the day a few minutes after 1 p.m. We'll resume Monday at 9 a.m.

Judge Lauriat told jurors he expects to give the case to them after closing arguments on Tuesday.

11:46 a.m. -- Myers is the director of forensic psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital as well as a professor at Brown University. He also has a clinical practice and conducts research.

Sullivan asked Myers to explain "forensic psychiatry," and Myers replied that it is a sub-speciality of psychiatry and the focuses on "the application of mental health disorders as they would relate to legal issues."

Sullivan spent the first few minutes with Myers on the stand asking about the doctor's credentials and educational and professional history.

Myers is board certified in psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry.

[As a side note, the courtroom is packed today. Every bench is full.]

Myers said he consults for both prosecutors as well as defense attorneys and has been "fairly balanced" in his time spent working for each.

In 2011, Myers was asked to evaluate Nathaniel Fujita.

"I had asked for the background material, as much was available at that time, before seeing Nathaniel," Myers said. "My first interview with him was July 25, 2011."

Myers said it's best to see the person as soon as possible after the incident in question.

"You have a better opportunity to gain the best understanding you can of the person's mental state at the time of the action at issue," Myers said.

Myers' first interview with Fujita lasted for about four hours, and in August he spent about three hours with Fujita's parents. He spoke with Fujita's parents again in September and also met with Joyce Saba, Fujita's aunt. He met with Fujita again in November 2012.

Lauriat stopped the questioning to offer instructions to the jury about how to handle the testimony.

The judge told jurors that the rules of the Commonwealth allow for a qualified person to give this kind of mental health testimony. The jurors, however, cannot consider anything that the doctor says that wasn't contained within the context of the rest of the trial. Things that are not already in evidence from another source cannot be considered to make a determination of Fujita's guilt or innocence.

Myers reviewed police reports, grand jury testimony of witnesses, crime lab reports, and photos from the crime scene and autopsy as part of his evaluation. He also reviewed some of Fujita's medical records prior to July 2011, including a hospitalization for a football injury.

Additional medical records were reviewed from visits to a Dr. Ogar (spelling uncertain) in late 2010 and from June 15, 2011. He also reviewed records pertaining to whether Fujita had a learning disability.

Myers looked at various school records as well.

"In these meetings with Mr. Fujita, did you do what's called neuro-psychiatric testing?" Sullivan asked.

Myers replied that he did.

"It's the administration of different testing measures to get more of a quantified measure of someone's thinking abilities for mental illness symptoms or mood or behavior," Myers said. A score is obtained and that score is compared to the "norms."

Myers conducted seven different tests on Fujita, including a mini mental status exam, which is "a screening measure that assesses different areas of your cognitive function like attention, memory ..." Myers said.

Another test looked at whether "someone might be malingering or making a poor effort on testing."

Another tested whether a person can "maintain attention and problem solve."

A behavior rating inventory test was given to Fujita's parents. "That's getting the review of Nathaniel's ability to do things like initiate tests, planning, organizing, from their perspective," Myers said.

The parents were given another test to fill out that looked "at different areas of psychopathology" in Fujita.

Fujita filled out a test that examined "different areas of personality and various mental illness symptoms."

Myers said there are validity scales so that a person's response style can be judged.

A final test, the psychopathy checklist, was administered, which is a rating scale that "looks at different aspects of, essentially, a criminal personality."

Some of these tests were given during Myers' first meeting with Fujita and some in his subsequent meeting.

The scoring of the tests was generally conducted later, Myers said, via computer or with a manual back at his office.

Myers also reviewed Fujita's "developmental history."

"That is looking at someone's development basically from the time they're a fetus, through birth and through their childhood," Myers said.

Sullivan asked what that test revealed.

"That up to about 2 or 3, he was developing normally," Myers began. "When he was around 4 or 5 or 6, the onset of some mental illness symptoms began to show."

He was clingy, had trouble separating from his mother, Myers said. Fujita had some "rigidity" -- meaning that "things had to be a certain way." His parents also noticed he had trouble expressing his feelings.

As he got into middle and high school, Myers said, "the inability to describe his inner emotional state, his feelings, continued. He was largely described as sort of a quiet, introverted youth."

Myers looked at the mental health history of Fujita's family, because there's a "very strong" inherited element in mental health..

"You see a family history that really loaded with mental illness through the generations," Myers said of Fujita. "He had two great uncles that had psychotic disorders."

Myers said he also found psychiatric illness in one of Fujita's aunts.

Both of Fujita's parents also suffer from "significant anxiety" and Beth Fujita, his mother, Myers said, suffers from bouts of depression.

In Fujita's own generation, Myers said, it was reported to him that Fujita has a cousin that possibly has bipolar disorder. Both of Fujita's siblings have been documented with depression, anxiety and suicidal thinking, Myers said.

"How would you characterize that amount of family mental illness history?" Sullivan asked.

"I would characterize it as very significant," Myers said. "There's serious mental illness in every generation, going back several generations."

Myers said Fujita's educational history didn't show any behavioral problems at school, but that he did show some concentration problems beginning in 10th grade.

"Particularly bothersome to him in 12th grade," Myers said. "It's a sign that can be related to a depressive condition, depressive illness."

It can also be a sign of "repeated mild traumatic brain injury."

"He was repeatedly documented in the pediatric record as coming in for various injuries," Myers said. "He was getting his head hit half a dozen times a season, pretty significantly."

Myers also looked at prior psychiatric records.

"You want to understand what could have caused this behavior," Myers said. "Is it a personality pattern ... or is this something that really comes out of the blue.

"Or is there some sort of organic brain problems."

Myers said Fujita's prior psychiatric record, a 2010 visit to Dr. Ogar, showed that Fujita was having "general symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression."

"He was diagnosed with having an adjustment disorder at that time."

Myers said Fujita's "social isolation" problem was more apparent in 2011. In comparing the notes from 2010 and 2011 psychiatric visits, Myers said there was a "pretty profound increase in the number of symptoms he was having."

The psychiatrist in June 2011 wanted to get him into counseling, and Fujita was showing biological symptoms of depression such as trouble sleeping, etc.

The June 15, 2011, psychiatric report showed that Fujita exhibited symptoms of "antidonia" -- losing the ability to get pleasure out of life.

Myers said that he also saw the presence of substance abuse in the June 2011.

"In June is when he began smoking marijuana every day to numb himself," Myers said. Fujita was also drinking more heavily.

"[Marijuana] might help temporarily numb the pain of the depression, but in the long run it's not going to end the depression," Myers said.

Fujita's "affect" (facial expression) was "blunted. It was very limited in range," Myers said of meeting Fujita on July 25, 2011.

During that July 25, 2011 meeting, Myers said Fujita said his mood was "fine," but that he didn't look "fine" or sound "fine."

Going back to the individual tests Myers gave Fujita, Sullivan asked about the individual findings.

Myers said that his tests revealed Fujita had good cognitive ability and that another test showed Fujita wasn't malingering or "feigning" a mental illness.

A behavior rating test, Myers said, looked at "executive functioning," and Fujita's parents indicated on that test that their son was having trouble initiating things.

"People who may be developing an illness like schizophrenia can have symptoms like that," Myers said, adding that its also consistent with a major depressive disorder or being hit in the head repeatedly.

Fujita was in the "clinical range for areas such as mood problems, that is depression and anxiety also. It would reflect that he has some confused thinking and trouble organizing his thoughts," Myers said of another test his parents took.

In another test, "He had elevations on that test that were strong for depression and anxiety symptoms. He had signs on the schizophrenia scale," Myers reported.

Myers said Fujita did tell him about his relationship with Lauren Astley.

He said the relationship began in 10th grade and Astley was the "one and only girlfriend he had ever had."

It became serious, and Fujita "Thought this was the one and only girl that he possibly would spend the rest of his life with."

After the first breakup, Myers said, Fujita realized how important she was and he made a "concerted effort" to get back together with her.

Myers said that, in May, Fujita and Astley got back together officially, but that lasted only about a week.

"To him it was sort of out of the blue," Myers said. He added that Fujita thought she possibly felt smothered by all the time they spent together, and he thought they could possibly get back together later, after college.

"His mood was terrible," Myers said. "Very depressed. He felt hopeless. He was having feelings of helplessness.

"He felt basically abandoned by his friends," Myers said. "He said he 'just kind of gave up,' because no one was responding to him."

Myers said Fujita was focusing on the future and the fall ahead by working out.

"He was having thoughts of suicide, feeling hopeless, but trying to focus on football to try and raise his mood," Myers said. Fujita didn't want to take any medication because he was afraid of "being stigmatized" and perhaps had a fear of devleoping a mental illness like his ancestors -- the medication was a symbol that would happen.

Fujita told Myers about the events of July 3, 2011.

Fujita told Myers that Astley parked by the fence because "neither Nathaniel nor Lauren wanted Nathaniel's mother to know she was there."

Fujita told Myers that Astley got out of her car and they walked into the garage.

"He said he wasn't looking forward to getting back together with her," Myers said. "She said something like, 'It's strange that you don't come out and hang out with anyone anymore.'

"He had this feeling like his mind was no longer controlling his body. He was able to describe in detail that he grabbed this bungee cord, put it around her neck and began to strangle her," Myers continued.

"He held the cord on her neck for a bit and she quit moving. He said he went into the house and got a knife and came back and cut her neck," Myers said Fujita told him.

Myers said Fujita was "Aware of it, but no emotional connection to what was happening, just numbness."

After the murder, Myers said, "he began to realize the enormity of what had happened."

"And his thought was, 'I can't let my mother find out what has happened.'"

Therefore, he took Astley's car up to Wayland Town Beach. "He felt like he had to get away from Lauren's body, so he put her in the car and drove her and tried to find a place to put her body."

He went to Water Row where he put her body in a marsh.

When he got home, Myers said, he took a shower, went downstairs and watched a movie with his parents. He smoked marijuana for the first time that day when he got back to the house, Myers added.

"Taking all the factors that you've told us about -- the testing, the statements, the records that you reviewed, were you able to come to an opinion within a reasonable degree of medical certainty regarding a diagnosis of Nathaniel Fujita on July 3, 2011?" Sullivan asked.

"That he had several diagnoses that were all active at that time," Myers replied. "That he had been in a major depressive episode for weeks, if not even months. In the days up to this event, he was on the verge of a brief psychotic episode, which he did have a full-blown episode of at the time of his attack on Lauren. Playing into this was what I believe may have been a cognitive disorder from repeated head injuries from playing football for all those years."

A major depressive disorder, is a "mental illness that is a biologically based depression that is manifested by a depressed mood most of the time." It's often accompanied by suicidal thoughts, trouble sleeping, and difficulty getting pleasure out of life, Myers explained.

"The benefit in this case is that we actually have a psychiatrist who saw him very shortly before this happened," Myers said. Fujita was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder shortly before Astley's murder.

"The more family members you have with mental illness ... the more likely you are to experience depression," Myers said.

Myers then said that a "loss of contact with reality" is a "simple way to think about psychosis."

In Fujita's case, Myers said, "he had this psychotic episode in which he's acting but his mind is disconnected from his body."

The behavior isn't logical or rational, Myers said.

"We know that preceding this event ... that [Fujita] was having trouble with his judgement, his insight," Myers said. "He was having guilt feelings, even though he didn't really have anything to feel guilty about.

"There was no real logic or reason to kill Lauren from a logic standpoint," Myers said.

Jail records show that he experienced "auditory hallucinations" three days after the murder, Myers said.

"What we know about Nathaniel is that he has essentially never been able to open up about his mental health symptoms," Myers said.

"There's no evidence of any sort of planning. It's spontaneous," Myers added.

Myers said that the "intensity" of these behaviors can come and go quickly, but that Fujita exhibited signs in the weeks before and after with a "crescendo" at the event of Astley's murder.

In the weeks prior to the murder, Myers said, Fujita wasn't functioning normally.

"Would somebody in this state be able to go to a barbecue and talk to people?" Sullivan asked.

Myers said that people wouldn't have known a psychotic episode was coming.

The doctor continued that there was evidence of dissociative behavior, meaning that "there was a loss of integration in the brain. Your behavior is not connected to your reasoning."

Myers testified that the "stressor" of the breakup with Astley deeply affected Fujita. He said the diagnosis of "brief psychotic episode" has been known in the past as "reactive psychosis."

Sullivan then turned to the repeated hits to the head that Fujita sustained in football.

"Chronic, traumatic encephalopathy, [CTE]" is something that can "predispose you to this sort of break with reality," Myers said. Fujita showed increasing signs of problems with his brain working properly.

Myers said that a brain scan might show something, but the only way to definitively diagnosis CTE is to look at your brain tissue under a microscope.

Early signs of CTE are headaches and depression, but it can progress to full brain disease such as Alzheimer's.

Myers said that someone who plays high school football can "certainly" develop CTE. 

"The earlier stages in [Fujita] ... may have contributed to him having problems with anxiety ... trouble with concentration ..." Myers said, going on to concur that later stages could result in "explosivity" and "loss of control."

Sullivan asked next about the "prodromal phase."

"It's a period of time in which someone goes from a normal state of mental health to what would typically be schizophrenia," Myers said. "A group of symptoms you see in someone who is on their way to developing schizophrenia, but they haven't gotten there yet."

Myers viewed a booking video, as well. "While he's sitting there he had some bizarre posturing of his right arm," Myers said.

"He would lift his hand up ... and assume this bizarre posturing," Myers continued, demonstrating for jurors what he meant by twisting his arm down and toward his back.

"It stood out at me," he continued. "It's something that you would certainly not typically see in a booking video of a defendant."

Returning to the idea of "malingering," Myers explained, that term describes "Someone that is intentionally producing false mental health symptoms for personal gain, like not being held responsible for some sort of a crime."

Myers said he found "really the opposite" of malingering Fujita.

"He was bluntly honest with me about every step of the interactions he had with the victim, which would be inconsistent with malingering," Myers testified.

"Do you have an opinion .. as to whether or not on July 3, 2011, Nathaniel Fujita lacked the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct.

"He did lack the ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions," Myers said. "The combined effect of his major depressive disorder, his brief psychotic disorder, what may be chronic traumatic encephalitis and the [neurological] effects of daily marijuana use."

Myers continued to say that Fujita "lacked the capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."

Sullivan concluded his questioning and we moved into a morning recess.

9:46 a.m. -- The jury has arrived and we're getting started for the day.

Judge Peter Lauriat said he hopes to have a better understanding of the schedule by the end of the day. The defense called Dr. Wade Myers to begin the day.

9:13 a.m. -- The jury was asked to report today at 9:30 a.m., so we'll begin testimony soon after that.

For now, the courtroom is quiet as people wait to get started.