Thread by @alysanmati

We're back, Crown is asking about the definition of hyper-focus. The relevance of this is that Chauhan attributes Minassian's obsession with Elliot Rodger to hyper-focus.

Chauhan says she wasn't saying it had to be a focus "to the exclusion of everything else."

Crown asking about her use of the term "indoctrination" regarding Minassian and the Rodger manifesto. Chauhan is hesitant about it being the right term to use.

Crown: You don't now think he was indoctrinated?

Chauhan: In general I was speaking to that he was hyper-focused on these ideas without any external challenge to that view point or another view point.

Crown: What was he being indoctrinated to do? What did the manifesto indoctrinate him with.

Chauhan: Thinking about killing other people. Idea that loneliness, hatred towards women, focusing on killing the greatest number of people.

Crown: End result of indoctrination would killing the most people?

Chauhan: In general yes

Crown: Would suggest he said nothing about being indoctrinated by Rodger

Chauhan: He spoke about his plan, reading about mass murders. That's where I take that from.

Crown points to her report in which she wrote that Minassian became interested in mass shooting after the Virginia Polytech shooting. Would read lists of mass murders on Wikipedia. Fantasized about a mass killing when he was lonely, down.

Crown now quoting another report where Minassian talks about getting interested in mass murders around 2009. He mentions a couple of other names, but specifically said he related to Rodger.

In yet another report Minassian talks about the Virginia Tech shooting. Began following it on Wikipedia. Was interested because "it was very dangerous..." Looked up school shootings when he was depressed, looking at the "number of kills" a person got.

In last 2 yrs of high school thought about a school shooting. wanted revenge on two people specifically and wanted the attention. He never went through with it because he didn't know how to get a gun. He said he enjoyed the fantasies and would enjoy carrying it out.

He said he would kill people he didn't like, and random people but would avoid people he liked.

Crown: So he became interested in mass murders eleven years before the van attack in 2018.

Chauhan calls it a sort of "ritualized" behaviour.

Crown points out this was long before Elliot Rodger's mass killing in 2014 and before Minassian told her he read the manifesto in 2016

Chauhan agrees he was clearly interested in mass killings in high school. She says there was a change in the intensity in his focus on Elliot Rodger and the manifesto in Dec. 2017

Crown: How many times did he read the manifesto?
Chauhan: He said he was reading it daily
Crown: From January to April 2018? Did you ask him specifically how many times, for more details?
Chauhan: He said he was becoming focused on the manifesto in that time, reading it daily

Crown asks if he told her about anything he was doing during that time, how many hours he spent on the manifesto? Did she know his family said he was looking for jobs. Working on an app.

Chauhan said he was going to school but not sure about the rest.

The Crown asks if she heard the evidence of Minassian's dad (she didn't). He's going to read some of the testimony to her about the timeframe preceding the April 2018 mass killing.

Crown says Minassian's dad said his son was focused on schoolwork and applying for jobs. Didn't have much of a social life. He was "extremely busy" with school and jobs.

Defence objects, says Crown did not read the questions which were of the Crown challenging Minassian's dad about how much Minassian was socializing.

Crown says the point is that Minassian's dad made it clear that his son was really busy with school and work applications. Those are the answers he gave.

Judge says she doesn't really see where this line of questioning is going. The doctor based her opinion on what Minassian told her.

Crown says it's that Minassian's focus on the manifesto is exaggerated. Judge says point made.

Crown asks what Minassian understands of his diagnosis and says he's told other doctors more about his diagnosis and its impact on him.

Chauhan has said he doesn't seem to have much insight.

Crown notes that the things he's putting to Chauhan is part of the pending agreed statement of facts in terms of what can be considered evidence.

Looking at some more doctor notes (not sure whose notes). They are almost impossible to read. The point the Crown is making that he has insight into his social difficulties.

Crown says should he know how his autism affects his social skills? What did you expect from him?

Chauhan said she didn't think he had full insight. He didn't seem to understand his own emotional experiences though he did see a challenge with emotions of others.

Crown: With respect, what are you talking about.

Crown: He appears to have very good insight into how his autism disorder affects social skills and other aspects of his life.

Now looking at doctor notes scrawled in bright green marker.

Taking a break, defence wants to have a quick chat with the Crowns

Okay we are looking some other notes of Minassian talking about what he knows about his autism. In high school he exaggerated it, in college he tried to "act normal so I would fit in."

Apparently Minassian told assessors he made up talking to Elliot Rodger and the Halloween party rejection story. But hadn't said he wasn't influenced by incels.

Going to look at Dr. Bradford's notes again from August 2018. In the notes Minassian said he made up the Halloween rejection story (cited in the police interview as a key moment in his inceldom) . He calls it a reference to Rodger's manifesto. He denied being an incel

He denied being angry or enraged as he said in the police statement and denied really being in contact with Rodger and Harper-Mercer. He said denied being radicalized by the incel movement. He said it was really about job failure and anxiety

"I don't mind being labelled as an incel," he told Dr. Bradford. He preferred it to being labelled extremely anxious and worried about job failure.

He now maintains most of what he told the detective was a "fabrication" done because he had expected to die. The fabrication includes that someone told him they were going to something in Edmonton in November 2018, he said.

Dr. Bradford was worried about police resources looking into the Edmonton incident but Minassian was not concerned.

(We looked into whether anything happened in Edmonton and didn't come up with an answer either way).

Dr. Bradford said he challenged Minassian bc the detail and complexity of the interview made it hard to believe it was all made up. He maintained it was a lie.

He did say he was "energized" by the thought of the media identifying him as an incel killer on a list with Rodger.

"It does not bother me to be on the list," he said, even though he said the whole incel rebellion thing was made up.

Crown is asking if any of this changes Chauhan's view. Hard to say, only knows what he told her.

This stuff is from an interview a month before he spoke to Chauhan in which he talked about being obsessed with Rodger's manifesto. He also told her about the job anxiety.

Chauhan said he had an "all or nothing view" of things. That he got rejected once and thought he wouldn't have a girlfriend. That he'd fail totally at a job.

Crown: Did you ask about other courses of action with him

Chauhan: He uses 1 example to show he won't be successful ever

Crown says he doesn't see any of thing in the notes or report about her talking about alternate possibilities with him

Chauhan says it's from his examples he used with her.

Chauhan said this was her impression based on what he told her.

Crown: Impression that he was talking all these failures to the extreme. Why not ask him? If one girl said no, you thought they'd all say no?

Chauhan: The interview was meant to flow. She goes impact into how she came to her opinion.

Crown: Why didn't you ask him if he thought about another course of action?

Chauhan agrees she didn't ask him that.

Crown asking about her opinion on what he knew of the impact on his parents.

Chauhan: There was some understanding but not the magnitude.

Crown: If he described to another doc that it would be "devastating" would that show it

Chauhan agrees it would

And cross is done. We are coming back at 4 to do re-examination (Dr. Chauhan has some doctor work to do at 3).

Court is done for the day (nothing worth tweeting about). We are not going to hear evidence tomorrow so I'm not expecting to be tweeting. We are back on Monday with a key witness -- a defence forensic psychiatrist who will be explaining his opinion on if Minassian is NCR