I have always been drawn to understanding other peoples’ behaviors. Or, more to the point, I have always been curious about why people do the things they do, even when those things are unhealthy, ill-advised, or otherwise counterintuitive. That was my initial interest in psychology, fostered by observations on the playground, in church, at parties, in the workplace…anywhere people gather, behaviors happened that left me trying to understand what I was seeing, making sense of the “why.”

That curiosity is put to good use in my forensic work. Conducting a quality, thorough, useful mitigation investigation begins with that basic question of “why.” Why is this person here? How did this person come to be a part of the criminal justice system? What things happened in this person’s life that led them here? Understanding the biopsychosocial history of an accused to identify potential mitigating factors is how I answer that “why” so that defense attorneys are better prepared for the adversarial nature of the trial process.

In two decades of working in the forensic mental health arena in various capacities, I have assisted in hundreds of criminal matters at the county, state, and federal level. My work has included psychodiagnostic evaluations and treatment recommendations, risk assessments, mitigation investigations (misdemeanor and felony), death penalty mitigation, witness preparation, expert witness testimony, and various types of trial consultation.