[CNI News thanks G. Coleman of UFOIA for this story, which appeared in mid-October, 1995 in the Arizona Daily Star, written by Hipolito R. Corella. Note also a second story attached below.]
Accused killer Robert J. Moody continued his space alien defense yesterday, asking psychiatrists to repeat his claim that extraterrestrials made him kill two women in 1993.
The defense witnesses, however, also said Moody was a deceitful cocaine addict who faked symptoms of mental illness and exaggerated his belief in space aliens.
Moody, 36, is representing himself in a three-week trial in Pima County Superior Court. He faces the death penalty if convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.
Although Moody began calling his witnesses two days ago, their testimony so far has revealed little of his defense strategy.
Instead of aggressively cross-examining witnesses, Moody just shakes his head, smirks and at times clicks his tongue when he disagrees with testimony. His animated expressions led to a reprimand yesterday from the judge during a bench conference.
While being questioned by Moody, three psychiatrists testified they believe he is faking symptoms of mental illness to help his case. Dr. Jack Potts, a psychiatrist who examined Moody over three months, said Moody's reading material in jail made him suspicious. In his jail cell, Moody had books on extraterrestrials, copies of state law regarding competency and a medical manual that defined mental illnesses and disorders, Potts said.
Dr. Barry Morenz, a psychiatrist at University Medical Center, testified that he also didn't believe Moody, because the murder defendant suggested he suffered from multiple personalities.
And Dr. John LaWall said he became convinced Moody wasn't mentally ill after examining him and watching video tapes of his behavior in court.
LaWall testified that Moody's stated mission involving space aliens kept changing. Moody's mission expanded from proving the existence of aliens to serving as the aliens' "messiah" to solve the world's environmental problems, said LaWall.
"And you find that totally implausible?" Moody asked LaWall, before the psychiatrist answered, "Yes."
Moody then said LaWall would probably think he was crazy if he had told someone in the 1920s that a man would land on the moon.
"I believe that space travel was not widely thought to be possible in the 1920s," LaWall responded.
In other testimony yesterday, Moody's second wife, Lauren Bennett, called Moody a "master of deception." And his ex-girlfriend, Dora Lee King, read from a statement she gave police shortly after the slayings in which she said Moody was "whacked out of his brain."
She said Moody, a financial planner, was using crack cocaine and selling his belongings to support his habit in the weeks before Michelle Malone, 33, and Patricia Magda, 56, were slain in November 1993.
King said she and Moody often bought their cocaine from Malone, and noted Moody once became angry when Malone refused to let him pay for cocaine with a personal check.
Moody was arrested five weeks after the killings in Los Angeles when he walked into a police station saying he did not know who he was. His fingerprints showed he was wanted for the killings.
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"E.T. MADE ME" KILLER FOUND GUILTY
[Oct 27, 1995] -- In Tuscon, Arizona, the jury took only two hours to convict Robert Moody of murder.
Moody had claimed that aliens made him do it. He dropped his lawyer and became his own.
Among the witnesses Moody wanted to call in his defense, he included noted UFO researcher Jacques Vallee, former president Jimmy Carter (who once filed a UFO sighting report), conspiracy theorist John Lear, and others who may be related to the UFO field. The judge allowed none of these witnesses to be called.
Moody has now been convicted of murder and awaits sentencing. He has claimed that he wants to be put to death so aliens can bring him back to life and prove their existence to a doubting world.
The story isn't over yet.
Original file name: .CNI - "ET Made Me" trial 10.26
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