Since the Oscar winning film, “A Beautfiul Mind” was released, people across the country have gained some exposure to the realities of mental illness. We’ve also learned that those with severe mental illnesses can sometimes be helped enough to lead functional, independent and responsible lives.
So, it’s disappointing to see that a man who apparently has used the horrors of mental illness as a cloak for his criminal behavior is continuing to manipulate our justice system.
Convicted sex offender William Bergen Greene, 48, recently won another round in his legal battle to get a second trial so jurors can hear that one of his 24 personalities – not actually Greene – committed a 1994 crime. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California decided in a 2-1 decision last month that Greene deserves a second shot at a trial. Greene was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting his therapist when she came to check on him at his home in 1994. He held the woman there for hours, touching her sexually before finally tying her up and running off in her car. Greene insists his 3- or 4-year-old alter-personality, Tyrone, is guilty of the crime. And his therapist/victim is, oddly enough, one of his biggest supporters.
Greene already has five previous felony convictions, including sexual assaults, sodomy and indecent liberties. He received a life sentence under our state’s “three strikes” law following the 1994 conviction. The timing of his legal “strike-out” and attempted multiple personality defense seems a little too convenient to be coincidence.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Thorpe wisely ruled that kind of information couldn’t be admitted in the trial and wouldn’t have helped jurors because there is no consensus in the scientific community about how to determine whether a person with multiple personalities can be held criminally responsible. And what kind of ridiculous precedent would it set if all a defendant had to do was blame his crime on another personality without having to back it up with any scientific proof?
Even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges said that a defendant or a victim can’t be allowed to present just any defense, “no matter how bizarre or far-fetched.” Yet, somehow, two of the judges found Greene’s case unique enough to warrant an exception.
The only unique thing we can find is that he’s gotten away with this much. He even appeared on a TV news magazine which filmed him slipping in and out of his personalities.
Fortunately, the most recent ruling will probably be challenged before a larger 9th Circuit Court panel or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hopefully, someone will realize that, as Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Seth Fine said, “there is only one Mr. Greene, no matter how many names he chooses to call himself.”
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