Autism evidence not allowed:

Defence: Undiagnosed HFA person lured into rape and murder by psychopath

May soon be sentenced to death in Colorado

COLORADO SPRINGS - A person with high functioning autism, Lucas Salmon, may be sentenced to death within less than two months for his part in a rape and murder crime, in which the defence says he was manipulated, brainwashed and lured to participate by a psychopath, George Woldt.

Special Section Lucas Salmon Case

Lucas Salmon grew up, undiagnosed and unaware of his autistic disability, in a very Christian environment in which he could only function because it was very structured. However, he had no identity, no friends, and was desperate to fit in and get friends -- with the result that he mimicked whoever was around him. Because of his background he was a devout Bible student.

Thomas C. Thompson, Ph.D. of Las Cruces, New Mexico is a neuropsychiatrist who has been called by the defence to evaluate Lucas Salmon. "Quite frankly, I expected to find a psychopath," he said in a telephone interview with InternAUT writer Martijn Dekker.

"But when I came in to see Mr. Salmon, immediately after I sat down to try to talk with him, he could not make eye contact, he had very little facial expression, very little in the way of gestures, and if I quit asking questions, he did not know what to do. And it became very obvious to me, very quickly, that he was autistic," recalls Mr. Thompson.

This impression was subsequently confirmed by three separate and independent evaluations, by professionals from Los Angeles, Washington, and San Francisco.

Previously harmless

Before the crime, Lucas Salmon had a very clean track record; he never committed any offences, however minor. Thompson: "He never shoplifted, he was never involved in violence, he was never involved in gangs. He didn't have enough social skills. He basically lived his life going to bible study, and going to school, and doing work in church."

Then, Lucas went from his family to a small Christian college that was very structured. "And he probably did better there than he has ever done in his whole life. There was a routine, a predictability, by which everything was done," said Thompson.

But then, Lucas's father ran out of money at the end of the first year. Lucas had to leave the college, and his world fell apart. Depressed and desperate, he turned to George Woldt, whom he had previously met at high school. George Woldt promised Lucas that they would be friends forever, and he offered him a place to live.

Conditioning

Because of his desperation and lack of identity, Lucas Salmon again mimicked his environment around him to fit in. But now, his environment consisted of George Woldt, who introduced him to pornographic movies and the violent gang film Clockwork Orange.

"He really began to condition Lucas" Thompson said. "And in fact, people were able to tell us that within a month after Lucas came back to Colorado, coming from the Christian college in Los Angeles, he was suddenly doing 180 degrees. Every other word was a curse word, every other word in relationship to women was derogatory, and he sounded exactly like George Woldt. So he had begun to mimic George Woldt." This phase lasted four or five months.

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Woldt then began to condition him towards committing the rape and murder crime together with him. Thompson: "What happened was that Mr. Woldt, on the night in question, after they had gone out, was having Lucas play pool. He and Lucas had about five or six peers. Then, Mr. Woldt said: This is the girl that we are going to have sex with, this is the girl that we are going to get."

On April 29, 1997, Janice Gielinski died in a horrible way at the hands of both Woldt and Salmon, the latter following the former's lead.

As Thompson reports: "George Woldt had rehearsed his particular scenario with Lucas numerous times. They had rehearsed over and over and over. And Lucas, we believe, found himself in a position where he was unable to make higher-level judgements. He really did not understand Mr. Woldt's personality, nor did he really understand the consequences of what it is that Mr. Woldt was proposing. He believed, and in fact he said to the officers [who arrested him - Ed.], that maybe they were going to get a ticket or have to pay a fine."

"This is a tragedy," continues Dr. Thompson. "A very nice young woman's life was taken in a very horrible way. This young man [Lucas], if he had stayed in the bible college, they would probably be giving him awards; he'd be the assistant to a preacher. His life is [also] ruined."

Autism evidence not allowed

On March 14, 1999, Lucas Salmon was found guilty by a jury of his part of the crime, and was convicted on multiple counts. George Woldt has not yet been tried.

During an evaluation by the defence, Lucas Salmon has been diagnosed high functioning autistic by Dr. Thompson and three other psychiatrists, all working independently from each other.

But the diagnosis was not accepted as evidence in the trial, because a deadline was missed. "The majority of the interviews we had, we were never allowed to present," said Thompson. "Only after people had come up with diagnoses like schizo-something personality, all kinds of things that didn't make sense, they finally asked us to come and take a look at him. But because we were involved so late, they would not let us use the interviews."

But, Thompson adds, "they will let us use the interviews when it comes to the sentencing. We'll be able to use everything at that point of time."

Sentence: death?

The sentencing of Lucas Salmon is due in about one and a half month. In accordance to a law recently passed in Colorado, he will be sentenced by a three-judge panel, rather than a jury. The judges are elected by the public.

Unless the defence can convince the judges that the combination of Lucas Salmon's social disability and upbringing caused him to be a vulnerable target for George Woldt's exploitations, Lucas Salmon will most likely get the death penalty.

Dr. Thompson is now looking for scientific reports and first-hand accounts of autistic people who have been victimised by psychopaths into committing offences of any kind, even mild ones.

Speaking of the occurrance of autistic people committing crimes, Thompson says: "In fact, it is so rare that I cannot find anything in the literature. People tell me: We're sure that we can find cases where autistic people have been victimised by a very high functioning psychopath. But there is no research on this, absolutely none."

So now Dr. Thompson is setting his hopes on the Internet, hoping that the online autistic community can provide such accounts that could serve as evidence.