NEW YORK (AP) -- A fashion writer who sexually abused a co-worker while dressed as a firefighter has psychiatric problems, but not the kind that make him hear voices coming from a closet, a mental health professional said Thursday.
Dr. Jessica Pearson, a Bellevue Hospital psychologist, said that after meeting Peter Braunstein three times and giving him five tests she concluded that he ``sees things more negatively'' and ``has more difficulty coping'' than the average person.
Pearson, testifying for the prosecution at Braunstein's trial in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, said her "findings were that he was not malingering,'' trying to fake an illness, but that he does not have schizophrenia as his lawyers contend.
Defense lawyer Robert Gottlieb has argued that Braunstein's journal writings, which say he has spoken to God three times and was a "hit man'' for God, are delusions and classic signs of schizophrenia, the most serious mental illness.
In cross-examining Pearson, Gottlieb suggested that her tests had shown Braunstein was more mentally ill than she reported. He said some tests showed his client had schizophrenia, an illness that would distort his view of reality.
Braunstein, 43, is accused of igniting smoke bombs while wearing firefighter gear and tricking his way into a former co-worker's apartment, where he knocked her our with chloroform, tied her to a bed and sexually abused her for nearly 13 hours on Halloween night 2005.
Braunstein has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, burglary, sex abuse and robbery charges, although his lawyers concede he attacked the woman. They say their client, who would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted, is mentally ill and not criminally responsible for the attack.
Pearson said she gave Braunstein a test that examines the likelihood that a patient is experiencing auditory hallucinations.
"I actually thought he might experience these voices,'' the psychologist said, "but they didn't have to be because of schizophrenia. I interpreted them as aspects of personality disorder.''
"Mr. Braunstein was hearing voices inside his head,'' Pearson said, calling these "internal dialogue, ruminations.'' She also said, "A schizophrenic tends to hear voices outside his head as if someone else is speaking to him.''
Gottlieb asked Pearson about a computer-generated result of Braunstein's Rorschach test, the so-called inkblot test, which is used to examine personality traits and emotional functioning.
Pearson admitted the computer responded that Braunstein had "substantial'' impairment in viewing reality, not the "mild'' impairment she reported. She also admitted that another test showed Braunstein more likely had schizophrenia than any other mental illness.
Nevertheless, Pearson said, "All the pieces of information taken together did not add up to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.''
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