Fazel said Stanford's brain trauma and psychological impairments leave him incapable of assisting his lawyers or testifying in his own defense.
"Mr. Stanford isn't running away from anything," Fazel said. "He wants to fight." Fazel said.
Desire to Help
Stanford was assaulted and over-medicated while in government custody and wanted the "opportunity to get better and help his counsel," Fazel argued.
The defense put on testimony from three psychiatrists or neuropsychologists who all said the former billionaire is incompetent.
"He says it's like there's a blackboard with all his life written on it, but there are clouds that obscure it," Victor Scarano, a forensic psychiatrist who examined Stanford for the defense, testified Dec. 21. "Every once in a while, a cloud opens up and he can connect with the memory, and then the clouds comes back."
Scarano testified Stanford can't recall some of his children, romantic encounters or business details. He retains "partial pieces" of memory, Scarano said.
Ralph Lilly, a neurologist for Stanford's defense, testified Dec. 21 that the ex-financier's brain damage and health problems, including depression, heart and liver disease, have put him "at risk for suicide."
All-Night Observation
Based on news media reports of that testimony, Stanford was placed under psychiatric watch Wednesday at the federal lockup in Houston. He arrived in court yesterday morning complaining heatedly to his attorneys of having been kept awake and under observation in the jail's "psyche hole" all night.