In Denver, Colorado this week, a man is standing trial for the kidnapping and rape of an eight-year-old girl.

While there’s usually the matter of criminal guilt needing to be proven, in this case the defendant, Bret Lee Luckett Thompson, freely admits his role in the molestion of the unnamed girl; his defense team instead arguing he be found not guilty by reason of insanity. An argument bolstered by the claim that Thompson suffers from the rare condition Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

Luckily for us, reporter Lance Hernandez of local ABC affiliate 7News has been keeping a steady eye on the trial proceedings and broadcasting developments via Twitter. And though the case has now gone to the jury for deliberation, there’s some revealing bits from Hernandez’s observations that I figured might deserve some greater attention.

First off, he points out the testimony of clinical psychologist Dr. Peter Maves on behalf of Thompson. Given Maves’ membership in the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), it’s not hard to imagine which side of the argument he came down on. What isn’t mentioned by Hernandez is that Maves also testified in the murder trial of Edward Romero, who was successfully convicted for the first degree murder (and dismemberment) of Alicia Martinez in 2010. Now as then, Maves served as an expert on DID, supporting the defense’s arguments that Romero suffered from blackouts in which he was later unable to remember anything. Clearly, it was an unsuccessful defense. Unfortunately there aren’t any specifics of Maves’ testimony this go-around from Hernandez, though Thompson himself spoke of hearing demons and falling into trances since the age of four.

Later in the trial, Hernandez pulls out some direct quotes from the prosecution’s expert witnesses, in particular Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, Richard Martinez.

— Lance Hernandez (@lancehernandez7) March 8, 2013

Martinez says there is criticism about Dissociative Identy Disorder that therapy encourages patients to take on these symptoms.

Says he has concerns about the cottage industry surrounding Dissociative Identity Disorder that has sprung up in the last couple of decades.

— Lance Hernandez (@lancehernandez7) March 8, 2013

Later tweets go on to mention contradictions in Thompson’s testimony that run counter to the defense’s argument of DID. Clear memories of what he did to the girl that only become unclear 15 months after the fact, steps he took before and after to avoid getting caught, and an obsession with child pornography. At one point, it’s brought up that doctors in the state hospital he visited after being arrested believed he was malingering, which is a fancy way of saying ‘faking it’. In other words, that Thompson knew exactly what he was doing the entire time.

For their part, the defense’s closing argument focused around the well-documented abuse Thompson suffered in his youth and the expert testimony of Maves, his defense attorney boasting that if there’s anyone who can diagnose DID, it’s him.

Seeing as I’m not a member of the Colorado jury, I’m going to refrain from cheerfully declaring Thompson wholly guilty and deserving of any and all anguish he gets throughout the course of his likely lengthy prison sentence. Mostly. But what I will leave with is this.

There’s something that deserves to be shouted out from the rooftops every time out when it comes to DID; most of its defenders have a very vested interest in its continued public acceptance, financially and professionally. DID, even in its heyday in the 80′s, was only ever diagnosed a few thousand people at a time, and the experts eager to treat potential patients have always been a very small group. That’s a problem. It’s a problem when such a suspicious and uncritically supported condition is protected by a group of individuals whose livelihood depends on it remaining legitimate.

It’s absolutely a cottage industry as Professor Martinez puts it and the fact that very few mental health professionals have even ever encountered DID in the field is likely why it’s been so easy to ignore.

Least until someone tries to pull a ‘Primal Fear’ and use the diagnosis to get away with a hideous crime.

[Credit Orphia Nay for the heads-up on the case]

Update: Bret Lee Luckett Thompson was found guilty of kidnapping and rape. His sentence will be determined sometime in May.

Corrections: Girl’s age was originally identified as eleven. She is now actually ten and she was eight at the time of the rape.

DID, featured