Birmingham, Al (WIAT) There's no official word yet on results of a court ordered psychiatric review of accused killer Joran van Sloot...but that hasn't stopped the blogosphere from weighing in on the mental state of the Dutchman accused of murdering Stephany Flores in Lima, Peru. Van der Sloot is also the prime suspect in Mountain Brook teenager Natalee Holloway's disappearance on a graduation trip to Aruba five years ago.
On the website
Psychology Today blogger Cheryl Paradis raises the question: is van der Sloot's confession admissible in court?
"I was not surprised to learn that Joran Van der Sloot retracted his confession a few days after his arrest for the murder of Stephanie Flores. The transcripts include details about how and why he strangled and suffocated her in his hotel room. “There was blood everywhere,” he is reported to have said. “What am I going to do now? I had blood on my shirt. There was also blood on the bed, so, I took my shirt and put it on her face, pressing hard, until I killed Stephany.”
"There is so much evidence of Van der Sloot’s guilt that I expect he will use a psychiatric defense at trial. He certainly fits the criteria for antisocial personality disorder."
As Paradis points out, there's a lot riding on the confession although there's also plenty of physical evidence including security camera pictures. So far Peruvian courts have upheld the confession despite contentions by van der Sloot he was coerced and didn't have adequate legal representation.
