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KENNEWICK -- An incompetent Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong is being forced to stand trial in the death of a pregnant Pasco mother all because of an unqualified state psychologist, a defense lawyer claimed Thursday.
When Superior Court Judge Robert Swisher decided in April that Sisouvanh Synhavong has the mental abilities to assist in her defense and go before a jury, he relied on the observations of Eastern State Hospital staff and the findings of Randall Strandquist following a 15-day inpatient evaluation.
What Swisher didn't consider was Strand-quist's "fundamental lack of cultural competency" and the clinical psychologist's failure to look at the troubling first 15 years of Sisouvanh Synhavong's life, said lawyer Michael Iaria.
"This person just simply was flat out not the person to do this job ... and this was to my client's prejudice," he said.
Iaria wants the Washington Supreme Court to reverse Swisher's ruling and order another evaluation for his client with a qualified expert who can address her past as a refugee from Southeast Asia.
Iaria contends that Sisouvanh Synhavong suffers from mental illness and needs to be treated with appropriate medications for competency restoration before her Benton County murder case can proceed.
On Thursday, Supreme Court Commissioner Steven Goff in Olympia heard arguments and asked questions on the issue via conference call.
Iaria called in through his Seattle office, and Prosecutor Andy Miller and Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor used a speakerphone in a prosecutor's office conference room.
The hearing, which lasted 32 minutes, was scheduled after the defense filed the notice for discretionary review directly to the state's highest court, bypassing the Court of Appeals.
Bloor told Goff that under the Washington statute, the court must appoint a qualified expert or a professional person to perform the competency evaluation. If a professional person meets the grounds of the law's interpretation, then there is "no wiggle room," Bloor said.
"The statute is clear and it's unambiguous; the court did the right thing," he argued. "Strandquist is a qualified person."
At the conclusion of arguments, Goff said, "I will not suggest what my ruling is going to be." Instead, he said he planned to issue a written ruling and would "get it out soon."
Goff either can send the matter for consideration by the full court or deny direct review.
Sisouvanh Synhavong, 25, is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Araceli Camacho Gomez.
The trial is set for Sept. 14. If convicted of fatally stabbing the 27-year-old mother, Sisouvanh Synhavong will spend the rest of her life in prison.
Camacho Gomez was killed after meeting up with Sisouvanh Synhavong to get baby clothes, according to prosecutors. The victim reportedly got into the back seat of her killer's car, only to be stabbed along the highway and her baby cut from the womb before being dumped in Kennewick's Columbia Park, Miller has said.
Camacho Gomez was found dead early June 28, 2008.
Hours before, Sisouvanh Synhavong called 911 saying she had just given birth and "her baby was in distress," according to testimony from her competency hearings. It was at the hospital that authorities discovered she was not the baby's mother.
Strandquist determined that Sisouvanh Synhavong was exaggerating or feigning psychological symptoms to avoid a trial.
During her stay at the state facility, Sisouvanh Synhavong carried around a rolled up blanket she said was her 2 1/2-year-old son and told people she had been kidnapped by police and her baby stolen from her. When she thought doctors and facility staff weren't watching, she would laugh and tell jokes with other patients -- particularly men -- and participate in card games, Strandquist said.
A Seattle psychiatrist hired by the defense testified before the court that Sisouvanh Synhavong suffers from dissociative disorder, delusional disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Richard Adler explained that Sisouvanh Synhavong's alleged actions that night in June 2008 appear "to be the planning of a disordered mind."
Adler first evaluated Sisouvanh Synhavong in December 2008 when the defense was preparing a packet of information to help sway prosecutors against seeking the death penalty. Adler then did not address competency.
This March, Iaria and co-counsel Dan Arnold of Richland asked Adler to again run some tests on their client, and that was when he decided "with reasonable medical certainty" that she was not competent for trial.
Swisher questioned why defense lawyers waited nearly 11/2 years into the case to raise doubts about Sisouvanh Synhavong's ability to assist in the case because of mental health concerns.
Swisher also noted that after listening to the testimony and watching Sisouvanh Synhavong in court, he believed she knew when it was appropriate to "slip into a delusional mode."
However, Iaria argued Thursday that he made it very clear to Swisher during the competency hearing that he didn't consider Strandquist a qualified expert and wanted a "redo" for his client at Eastern State Hospital. Strandquist's finding that his client was feigning her delusions was a "gross error of professional judgment."
Sisouvanh Synhavong's incompetency continues, Iaria said, and "she is being forced to trial in that stage. There is reason to doubt her competency."
-- Kristin M. Kraemer: 582-1531; kkraemer@tricityherald.com
