Sausage Maker Kills 3 Meat Inspecters

[bloodrayne]

Did Diminutive Brain Play Role In Killings?

'Sausage king' jurors hear of defendant's shrunken cerebrum

OAKLAND -- San Leandro's former "sausage king" has a shrunken brain, jurors at his triple murder trial were told Thursday.
If 43-year-old Stuart Alexander's cerebrum were being graded by size along a bell curve, it would get an "F," a Utah neuro-image expert said during daylong testimony before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Vern Nakahara.

Erin Bigler stepped to an easel next to the jury box and drew a standard bell curve to illustrate how an analysis of MRI scans taken in December 2003 showed about 99 percent of people Alexander's age have more brain tissue than he does. Bigler is a Brigham Young University professor who specializes in neuropsychology.

"His brain is atrophied," Bigler replied to questioning by Assistant Public Defender Michael Ogul, who called him as a witness. "It is far away from what would be considered a normal brain."

Defense attorneys Jason Clay and Ogul have spent weeks trying to bolster their argument that Alexander is a brain-damaged linguisa factory heir who acted in unreasoned rage when he shot dead three meat inspectors he felt were harassing him.

Alexander has a history of blows to the head stretching from his childhood to a 1997 pickup truck crash on Interstate 880, according to the defense case. Brain scars, along with shrinkage, can impair the ability to process information and control impulse, experts have testified.

"We have proven what I said in my opening statement," Ogul said Thursday when asked how the size of Alexander's brain backed his argument that Alexander shouldn't be convicted of capital murder.

Ogul said Alexander was impulsive because of organic brain damage, and he fixated on his hatred of the meat inspectors.

Prosecutors Jack Laettner and Paul Hora contend Alexander is a lifelong bully who boasted to friends he intended to kill the meat inspectors, dodge accountability by using a mental health defense and then cash in on his story through a book or film.

"Atrophy does not equate to dysfunction," Laettner concluded after Bigler finished testifying for the day.

Laettner noted in court that defense experts hadn't ruled out psychiatric or emotional disorders might be at issue with Alexander instead of brain damage. Laettner had Bigler review the diagnostic criteria for an antisocial personality, which seemed to fit things the jury has learned about Alexander.

"Do you look for hateful ...or just plain mean?" Laettner asked Bigler about the way he studies patients.

"We don't have a meanness test," Bigler replied.

Bigler agreed with Laettner that a "sophisticated malingerer" could intentionally score poorly on neuropsychology tests without being exposed by safeguards crafted into exams.

Bigler's testimony capped a week that included an associate of Alexander who told how they both shared "conservative, Republican" values such as the tenet "you are responsible for your actions."

"Stuart Alexander was a law-and-order person, such as myself," said Douglas Smith, who worked for a sign company that dealt with Alexander.

Smith described being frustrated by San Leandro city planning employees during the permit process for a Santos Linguisa Factory sign, and recalled how Alexander maintained local officials were getting back at him for once having run for mayor.

After being arrested for shooting dead federal and state meat inspectors Jean Hillery of Alameda, Tom Quadros and Bill Shaline in the Santos retail room on June 21, 2000, Alexander wrote Smith a letter thanking him for his friendship. The letter was signed "Love, Stuart The Sausage King."

[TheHitchiker]

My family's always been in meat....:D

[Sistinas]

BR, I love your true crime threads!I know I dont usually post in them, but I love them!:)

[massacre man]

i did the exact same thing on a story i wrote called "i know who you ate last tuesday" but it was a health inspector who gave him an F

[bloodrayne]

Originally posted by Sistinas
BR, I love your true crime threads!I know I dont usually post in them, but I love them!:)

Aww...Thank you, Sis...That's very sweet of you...I'll post more today, just for you ;) :D