State rests; respondent calls its first witness

Attorney Suzanne Shaw rested the state’s case this morning in the Oconee Common Pleas Court, and the respondent’s attorney, Don Thompson, tried but failed to win a directed verdict for his client, Christopher Trent Wilder.  After Judge Sprouse ruling that the case should proceed further, Thompson called as his side’s first witness, Dr. Christopher Gillen, a psychologist employed by the Department of Mental Health in Columba.  The jury is being asked to evaluate the testimony of physicians as to whether Wilder, a former state prisoner, is likely to re-offender as a sexually violent predator.  The state’s case finished this morning with the direct and cross examination of its only witness, Dr. Emily Gottfried, director of the sexual behavior clinic and laboratory at MUSC, the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.  Outside the presence of the jury this morning, Wilder attorney Thompson told the judge that his client had sent a letter to the state Supreme Court requesting permission to terminate Thompson’s services.  Questioned by Sprouse, Wilder said, “I feel like I’m not being represented.”  Wilder also said he felt he and his lawyer had gotten off to a bad start in their pre-trial meetings.  But he allowed that his mother urged him to go forward with Thompson, and so day two of the trial proceeded with Thompson as Wilder’s lawyer.