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Psychiatrist seesmg as act ofhomosexual fearikBy VINT RfADERStaff Writerr., Don James Meyers suffered from a disorder known as “acute homosexual panic” in heating Hollis Voas, 57, whom Meyers isaccused of murdering in 1973, a psychiatristtestified Thursday in Long Beach Superior Court*Psychiatrist Gerald Nemeth said that in his opinion the defendant overtly exhibits “excessive masculine behavior but subconsciously is afflicted with “passive, submissive feelings.”Dr. Nemeth has been a defense psychiatrist in both the original trial, in which a jury convicted Meyers, 23, of first-degree murder, and in the current retrial ordered by an appellate court.In the retrial, being heard by Judge D. Sterry Fagan without a jury, Meyers testified that he remembers Voas made a homosexual advance and he struck him, but does not remember binding the victim or taking his Cadillac and quantities of clothing.Voas’ body, tied with bedclothes, was found April 18,1973, in his townhouse apartment at 740 Orizaba Ave.Dr. Kemeth said, on direct examination by Meyers' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Joel Peek, that if the defendant loosely tied an unconscious victim with bedding-the act would be “an inappropriate, ineffectual attempt to cope with an overwhelming threat that really wasn’t too rational.Under cross-examination by Dep. Dist. Atty. Greg-son A. Somes, the psychiatrist said that when he reinter-viewed Meyers Monday in preparation for testifying as a defense expert witness the defendant spoke of being alert to homosexual attack in prison.Nemeth said the defendant does not fear violent attack because “he can take care of that,” but “the danger is a seductive, affectionate, loving approach that scares him.The trial is in recess today, with cross-examination of the psychiatrist scheduled to continue Monday.
Newspaper Details
Press Telegram
Long Beach, California, US
Fri, Oct 31, 1975
Page 15
Full Page
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USA 10 Nov 2019
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