Psychiatrist: Nicole Finn was not insane when she killed Natalie Finn, confined siblings

LEE ROOD   | The Des Moines Register

Closing arguments will begin Wednesday in the murder and kidnapping trial of Nicole Finn.

The final witness in the Polk County case called Tuesday was a rebuttal witness called by the prosecution, who disputed testimony by a forensic psychologist who felt the mother of five suffered from dissociative thoughts.

The dispute is critical because mental illness can play a role in whether a defendant should bear full responsibility for criminal actions.

Dr. James Dennert, a former behavioral health medical director at Mercy Medical Center, said there’s nothing in Finn’s history to suggest she had dissociative thoughts, or thoughts that separated her from reality, before her adoptive daughter’s starvation death on Oct. 24, 2016.

Dissociative thoughts happen when someone finds an experience so overwhelming that the person compartmentalizes so the event isn’t incorporated into his or her regular life, Dennert said.

In extreme cases, people can develop multiple personalities to cope.

“There is nothing I found that would indicate that (her) condition prevented her from being able to perceive her surroundings accurately or to form intent or appreciate the consequences of her actions,” Dennert said.

Dennert said he reviewed a report by defense witness Dr. Carlo Giacomoni and other documents related to the case, as well as Nicole Finn’s medical history, and found no evidence she suffered from post-traumatic stress before Natalie’s death. He said he believes Nicole suffered from an adjustment disorder with depressive symptoms, not major depressive disorder, as Giacomoni testified.

The psychologist, who now lives in Arizona, said Nicole Finn also was not legally insane before Natalie's death, meaning she had no mental defect that caused her to fail to understand her actions, Dennert said.

Defense lawyer Thomas Augustine questioned how Dennert could make that conclusion, since Dennert did not question Finn about domestic violence she said she suffered prior to 2012.

“I’m trying to take into account the entire record and not that one simple piece” of what Nicole said after she was arrested, Dennert said.

The psychiatrist did acknowledge some of Nicole Finn’s testing indicated she had had dissociative states.

“But it would be exceptionally unusual to be dissociative for that long of a period of time,” he said.

Also Tuesday, a former Iowa Department of Human Services supervisor who was fired as a result of Natalie Finn's death spoke with defense lawyers, reducing her risk of her being held in contempt of court for refusing to testify.

The lawyers concluded after the morning call with Beth Avery and her attorney that Avery’s testimony would not be beneficial to Nicole Finn’s defense.

Avery was placed on leave from her job the day after Natalie Finn died and was later fired.

Nicole Finn has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and three counts of kidnapping. She is accused of confining three of her four adopted children in one bedroom for months, where all three slowly starved until Natalie died. A conviction on any of the charges could earn her life in prison.