By ALAIN GAILLARD
A psychiatrist testifying for the prosecution Thursday at the Manhattan trial of the alleged killer of actor Morgan Freeman’s step-granddaughter declared that the defendant had a moral understanding of what he was doing when he stabbed the victim 25 times in the chest, back, and arm, ending not only their rickety relationship but also her life.
The testimony by Dr. Jason Hershberger, a board-certified New York psychiatrist, thus undercut the defense argument that Lamar Alexander, the ex-boyfriend of E’Dena Hines, committed the act while under the influence of PCP-induced psychosis. Hines contradicted this view by pointing out that the defendant stopped stabbing Hines when she stopped moving.
The victim, then 33 years old, was killed outside her Washington Heights apartment on August 16, 2015.
Davenport’s lawyer, who entered a plea of not guilty, argued that her client was under the influence of a drug and, thus, was not criminally responsible for her death. “His state of mind at the time of the offense was undeniably psychotic,” said Beth Unger. To support their case, the defense introduced the 9-1-1 call in which the defendant was heard screaming in the background, “I love you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Bless you, Lord,”
Unable to contain her emotions, the victim’s mother rushed out of the court before the recording even started, while the defendant, flanked by his two lawyers, showed no sign of emotion.
Unger has introduced a salacious sidelight to the already sensational trial by making an unsubstantiated allegation that the victim had been carrying on “a sexually inappropriate relationship” with her famous 80-year-old step-grandfather. Freeman has denied the allegation
The defense also banked on Dr. Jeremy Colley’s testimony, an associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine and associate chief of psychiatry and director of forensic psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center, who told the court Davenport was delusional, and Davenport killed Hines to release demons from her body.
Prosecutor Christopher Prevost suggested that Davenport intended to kill his partner and used drugs to better carry out his horrifying deed. Detailing a battery of common law cases, he argued that intoxication had never been successfully used as a plea for claiming insanity.
Claiming insanity is a tough gambit in New York State. Two recent cases in which defendants entered a plea of not guilty for reasons of insanity—Yoselyn Ortega, who worked as a nanny for a Manhattan family and butchered two of the children she cared for, and Daniel St. Hubert, who stabbed two children in an elevator in East New York—ended with them both being convicted of murder.
The decision to release or convict Davenport rests with Judge Biben since the defendant chose a bench trial. If convicted, Davenport,33, faces 25 years behind bars.
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