Competing portraits cast of the Townville shooter

A psychiatrist for the defense testified today that he thought 17-year-old Jesse Osborne could be rehabilitated. Another psychologist, testifying for the state, labeled Osborne “dangerous,” painting a portrait of a pathological liar who would always pose a threat to society. The competing views were the keynote of the second morning of testimony on the second day of the sentencing hearing for Osborne. The youth pleaded guilty last November to charges stemming from his September 2016 spree that saw him kill his father and open fire at the Townville Elementary School in Anderson County, killing six-year-old first grader Jacob Hall and wounding a teacher and another student.
Osborne was 14 at the time but would still have faced trial as an adult. He could receive a sentence up to life in prison without parole. The defense called forensic psychiatrist Ernest Martin, who had treated Osborne at the Greenville County Detention Center. Martin said he had treated Osborne with medications for depression and hallucinations and had noted improvements. In time, he said, he thought Osborne could be rehabilitated.
Clinical neuropsychologist Mark Wagner, testifying for the state, disagreed. Osborne, he said, exhibited “adolescent-onset conduct disorder” and a pattern of lying and shifting responsibility for his actions. Wagner disagreed that Osborne had shown any improvements during treatment in custody and said he knew of no treatments likely to work. Said Wagner, “I think he’s dangerous.” Testimony will resume in the afternoon session.