[B]URLINGTON — A full day of court testimony Tuesday was not enough to hear arguments as to whether a city man is mentally competent to stand trial in the 2010 killing of a social worker.
The hearing was continued to Friday when psychiatric experts will complete testimony as to the mental competency of Jose Pazos, 51, who is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and other offenses related to the slaying of Kathleen Smith.
Pazos, a small man with salt-and-pepper hair and a large beard, appeared wholly uninterested in Tuesday’s proceedings, at times closing his eyes for long stretches and occasionally turning to gaze at those in the gallery.
It’s likely testimony will require a third day, according to the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s office. Then it will be up to Superior Court Judge James Crucitti to issue a decision on whether Pazos is competent to stand trial.
Members of the woman’s family, who had traveled from Canada and Pennsylvania hoping to learn whether, after seven years, the case would go to trial, were once again left without answers.
Among those present were Philip Smith and Jake Smith, Kathleen’s brother and son. Neither had attended a hearing before, and Jake Smith described the testimony as “stressful and tedious,” at times uncomfortable and at times interesting.
Both said they felt it was important to maintain a presence at the hearings in an effort to see the case resolved more quickly and give the family closure.
“Frankly, this case was left on the back burner a little bit, and so we decided collectively that we need to participate more actively, showing the pain and the hurt we’re still going through,” Jake Smith said.
“If there’s more attention brought to this case then perhaps it will speed up the process, and that is our hope,” Philip Smith said.
“Kathleen was a unique individual. She had a huge impact on her community as well as our family,” Philip Smith added, choking up as he spoke. “We have a large family, and we’ve always been really close, but Kathleen was like the glue that held us together.”
Smith, a social worker at Howard Center, was found bound by rope, face down and surrounded by a large amount of dried blood in the kitchen of her Burlington home in October 2010, according to a police affidavit.
Days later police found Pazos in a storage shed at the Middlebury Snow Bowl, where they said he was hiding. A source told police that Pazos had a grudge against Smith because she had taken a position against him in a child custody dispute.
Pazos pleaded not guilty to the charges in November of that year. Since then, the case has not progressed due to questions about the defendant’s mental competency.
In early 2014, Pazos was deemed incompetent to stand trial. He has been held in mental health facilities since that time and is regularly assessed to determine if his mental status has changed. Pazos is currently being held at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin.
A court-appointed forensic psychiatrist found in a report last year that Pazos was competent to stand trial, despite his refusal to participate in the evaluation. The report is based on those abortive evaluation attempts as well as extensive review of the medical and court record.
At a hearing in March, Pazos’ former defense attorney Brian Marsicovetere asked to withdraw from the case, because the forensic psychiatrist’s report suggested that Marsicovetere encouraged Pazos not to participate in the court ordered evaluation as part of a legal strategy. Mariscovertere said the suggestion would likely make him a witness in the case.
Judge Dennis Pearson, who was hearing the case at that time, agreed with Mariscovertere over objections from the state, finding that if he wasn’t allowed to step down there would be lingering questions as to whether Pazos received adequate legal representation.
At Tuesday’s hearing Dr. David Rosmarin, the court-appointed forensic psychiatrist who wrote the report, testified that Pazos was willfully uncooperative.
Pazos has previously been diagnosed with a persecutory delusional disorder and had told doctors that he believed there was a Jewish-led conspiracy against him that involved the courts and his former attorneys, several of whom withdrew before Mariscovetere.
Rosmarin testified that, while taking antipsychotics and being in the therapeutic setting of the psychiatric hospital, Pazos’ condition had improved.
While he may recall previous delusions, Rosmarin said they no longer impact his ability to understand the charges against him, participate in the court process and communicate rationally with his defense counsel — the basis for competency to stand trial.
“(Pazos) recounts the story of these people who were against him … because he remembers it, he remembers it strongly, and he may even believe those things were true, but they don’t have a nexus to his competency to stand trial,” Rosmarin said.
As evidence, Rosmarin cited Pazos’ reconciliation with the mother of one of his children, whom he had previously stated was part of the conspiracy against him. Being able to set that aside showed his delusions are not impacting his decision-making, Rosmarin said.
“My opinion is that he demonstrates capacities usually associated with judicial findings of competency to stand trial,” Rosmarin said.
Daniel Sedon, Pazos’ newly appointed defense counsel, cross-examined Rosmarin for several hours Tuesday, suggesting that the psychiatrist had operated more like an expert for the prosecution than a neutral expert appointed by the court.
The exchange got so heated at one point that the court security officer rose from his seat and Judge Crucitti ordered Sedon to step back from the witness box and return to his podium.
Sedon highlighted that Rosmarin had communicated at length about his report with Deputy State’s Attorney Justin Jiron, who is prosecuting the case, and relied heavily on the clinical notes of doctors at the psychiatric hospital.
The state’s attorney’s office wants Pazos to be found competent so he can stand trial, and hospital officials want Pazos to be found competent because he is “a resource intensive patient” taking up “a valuable bed,” Sedon said.
“Maybe you got confused and couldn’t remember whether you were the prosecution’s expert or the court-appointed expert,” Sedon said
“I reject that,” Rosmarin responded, “I knew that my testimony was favorable to the prosecution, but you’re suggesting something completely different, and I reject that.”
While Pazos refused to be evaluated by Rosmarin, he spoke with another psychiatrist for an extended period of time, according to the defense, and Rosmarin was able to review that interview with Pazos.
Defense attorney Sedon is expected to call an expert witness, Dr. Jonathan Weker, who interviewed Pazos for more than nine hours over three days.
Weker concluded that Pazos is still affected by delusions and is not competent to stand trial.
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