Anglin claims brain damage in appeal

“Psychometric testing … suggested the Applicant was exaggerating, possibility fabricating the degree of PTSD symptoms.”

(CMR) Convicted murderer Devon Jermaine Anglin attended the courthouse to celebrate his mother being called to the bar on Monday. The following day he received confirmation that the Court of Appeal denied his most recent appeal, where he claimed a reduction in his sentence should be allowed because he suffered from brain damage and PTSD.

Anglin's appeal against his 30-year sentence for murder was denied by the three-judge panel after a December 2022 hearing after they concluded that the medical evidence did not support such a diagnosis and, in fact, there were clear signs that he was not genuinely suffering from PTSD.

He was originally convicted in January 2011 by retired Chief Justice Anthony Smellie.

Anglin was permitted by Her Majesty's Prison Service to attend his mother being admitted as an attorney-at-law in the Cayman Islands on Monday morning. The Acting Director of Prison, Daniel Greaves, shared with CMR that an important function of the Director's responsibilities is to provide opportunities for prisoners while they are in our custody.

He further noted that this forms part of the collective rehabilitation strategy. Some prisoners are permitted to make home visits and attend funerals and social ceremonies, including children's school activities for parents. He noted that prisoners go through a Prison Risk Assessment process to determine whether or not they pose a risk to the community and should receive such benefits.

According to Greaves, Anglin met the criteria. His mother, Kattina Masura Anglin, had an application for general admission moved by Chapmans Attorney-at-Law to have her admitted to the bar in the Cayman Islands. Anglin is now fully qualified as an attorney. Her family members attended the ceremony, and her Anglin, her only child, was decked out in a red suit with matching red and white shoes.

The following day, the Court of Appeal handed down its 23-page judgment denying his appeal against conviction in the 2009 nightclub killing of Carlo Webster. Anglin was convicted of shooting Webster three times at point-blank range in Next Level Nightclub on September 10, 2009. He was killed immediately from one gunshot wound to the head and two in his back.

Attorney Ben Tonner KC, instructed by Greg Burge of McGrath Tonner, claimed that Anglin was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”) and wanted leave from the court to submit fresh evidence from several doctors, including psychiatrist Dr. Marc Lockhart and psychologist Dr. Liezel Auguelova. The attorneys argued that after a machete attack in November 2005, he suffered from PTSD.

Dr. Lockhart supplied four reports claiming that he “lost control of his ability to restrain himself.” Lawyers also argued that his PTSD was so severe that it places his case into “the exceptional category and justify a reduction in the minimum term” of imprisonment. They also argued that he was subjected to an extreme degree of provocation that should also serve to reduce the sentence.

The court considered the medical evidence that he was attacked by several men outside a nightclub and noted:

“The background to the violence bore a striking similarity to the events leading to the shooting in the present case.”

However, the injuries sustained resulted in no intercranial bleeding and although he vomited, he did not lose consciousness. A follow-up CT scan two years later showed “no evidence of intercranial abnormality and healing of the … fracture.” An MRI review in October 2021 was normal, with no signs of remote traumatic brain injury.

Despite his complaints of frequent headaches, Assistant Clinical Professor Kaplan of NY Neurology Associates found there was no evidence of structural brain damage. Another Professor Myers that provided psychiatric evidence in the original trial, indicated that the primary diagnosis for Anglin was Anti-social Personality Disorder.

In January 2018, Professor Myers noted “a surge of information regarding the applicant having PTSD. Despite that, there were “indications that raised a doubt about PTSD” including the fact that he was not isolating himself but instead frequented the location of the so-called traumatic event. He also noted that people suffering from PTSD normally “look forward to treatment” but Anglin did not attend therapy sessions for it.

The judges ultimately found that a diagnosis of PTSD “substantially depends upon accurate and reliable self-reporting and concluded that:

“The evidence that the Applicant’s reporting was neither accurate nor reliable seems to us overwhelming. The psychometric test results speak for themselves.”

They found the arguments of Dr. Lockhard and Dr. Agnuelova in support of a PTSD diagnosis to be “circular” and the results unreliable. The judges also commented:

In turning down the second ground of provocation, the judges noted that “We cannot rely on any account the Applicant now gives as to the events leading to the murder.”