For the first time in history, the scanner of the activity of thebrainof aalleged murderer, obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging, has been used as evidence in a trial. Defense attorneys for Brian Dugan, accused of abducting and killing a 10-year-old girl in 1983, used theneuroimágenes to show that your client had apsychopathythat prevented him from controlling his behavior, thus trying to avoid the death penalty.
The neuroscientist Kent Kiehl, from the University of New Mexico, was in charge of carrying out the investigation in the prison, where the alleged murderer was subjected to several brain activity scans while performing different tasks, including some tests that assessed his ability of moral reasoning. Despite the fact that his brain showed abnormalities similar to those detected in otherpsychopaths, Kiehl says the scan “does not prove that Duan committed the crimes as a result of a brain abnormality.” “We only know thathis brain is different“He points out. To this must be added that, according to Jonathan Brodie, a New York psychiatrist who was called as a witness during the trial,” an MRI done in September 2009 to clarify a mental process that occurred in 1983 makes little sense. “.
Although Dugan was eventually sentenced todeath penalty, experts assure that the scan had repercussions, since the jury deliberated for more than ten hours before reaching a unanimous verdict. “Without the brain image they would have returned in an hour,” said defense attorney Steve Greenberg.
