Jurors continue deliberations today in the trial of Teon Brummell who is accused of murdering and mutilating his girlfriend, the Ink’s Ceylan Yeginsu reports.
Brummell, 33, is charged with second-degree murder for beating and stabbing Natasha Southerland, 21, with a dumbbell and knife in their basement apartment on Hemlock Street on September 20, 2004. Brummell was later found in his car that he crashed after taking an overdose of Tylenol. He confessed to the police saying he killed Southerland because he was upset that she was seeing another man.
Two hours into its deliberations Wednesday, the jury requested a reading of the psychological report that the defense hopes might reduce his sentence.
The defense has argued that Brummell suffered from was Extreme Emotional Distress, or EED. A psychiatrist, Sanford L. Drob, testified that Brummell suffered from borderline personality disorder, which he suggested resulted in his severe loss of control during the murder.
“If these patients are offended they can react extremely badly and can show psychotic types of symptoms as Brummell did in this case,” Drob said in his testimony, “although his disorder is not psychotic and will not result in the need for long-term hospitalization.”
The clerk read Drob’s testimony, which noted that Brummell had a disruptive and abusive childhood, which correlates to the disorder. Brummel sat opposite Judge Deborah Dowling, occasionally yawning as he followed the transcript of the testimony.
Prosecution witness and psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Bardney’s testimony was also read out, criticizing Brummell for not showing remorse towards his actions. He disagreed with Drob, saying Brummell suffered from a less serious personality disorder.
Drob had conceded that Brummell could have been dramatizing some of the symptoms but believed that he suffered from delusions and therefore might not remember the details of the killing. Bardney, however, referred to the defendant’s selective memory as “suspicious.”
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