Doctor: Woldt unimpaired/ Neurologist says alleged killer could

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 16, 2000 | by Bill Hethcock

EDITOR'S NOTE: The 1997 slaying of Jacine Gielinski was among the most brutal in city history. Readers may find some details in this story unsettling.

No medical evidence exists to prove that a lesion in George Woldt's brain hampered his judgment the night Jacine Gielinski was kidnapped, raped and murdered, a neurologist testified Wednesday.

Woldt has a lesion on the thalamus, which serves as a gatekeeper in the brain, said Dr. Helen Mayberg, a Toronto neurologist who specializes in the relationship between the brain and behavior. But lesions in the brain are relatively common and are not widely believed to affect behavior and judgment, she said.

"There is no way to link that brain lesion to the acts in this case," she said. "One cannot link this brain lesion to an inability to deliberate."

Woldt could face the death penalty if he is convicted in the April 1997 crimes against Gielinski. He and his roommate, Lucas Salmon, wrote detailed confessions to Gielinski's death, but Woldt's attorneys argue a brain lesion prevented him from deliberating the crimes against Gielinski. Salmon is serving a life sentence.

Woldt passed tests that most people would have failed if parts of the brain that control judgment were affected, Mayberg said.

He also wrote a detailed confession to the crimes within hours of their occurrence, indicating he was capable of thinking and remembering what he did, she said.

"The crime itself, as documented in the confessions, is the best evidence that there is not damage in the orbital frontal cortex," Mayberg said.

The confessions tell how Woldt and Salmon allegedly passed a kitchen knife back and forth as they took turns slitting Gielinski's throat, stabbing her in the chest and slashing her wrists. When she didn't die, Woldt stood on her to force the air out while Salmon smothered her with her own clothes.

"They stopped in between to deliberate," Mayberg said. "They were stabbing her in the neck and said 'Gee, that didn't work, let's try stabbing her in the chest. ...'"

After Woldt was jailed on April 30, 1997, he showed no signs of mental illness or brain dysfunction until after a psychiatrist hired by his defense team interviewed him, said Mayberg, who based her statement on jail records.

Her testimony contradicted that of a neuropsychologist who testified Tuesday that the lesion would almost certainly cause an inability to use judgment, especially in stressful situations.

- Bill Hethcock covers legal affairs and may be reached at 636- 0232 or hethcock@gazette.com Edited by Mike Braham. Headline by Barry Noreen

The case George Woldt is charged in the April 1997 kidnapping, rape and slaying of 22-year-old Jacine Gielinski. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Wednesday in court: Dr. Helen Mayberg, a neurologist, said there is no medical evidence that a lesion in Woldt's brain affected his ability to act voluntarily in the crimes against Gielinski.