May 17, 2007--The second day of the penalty phase started with the court searching for a certified Spanish interpreter for Tao Rivera's mother to testify. The prosecution voiced their concerns that they don't know what Rivera family would say on the stand. The defense was told to limit the comments to positive aspects of the defendant's character. The jury was then brought into the courtroom.

The defense presented its closing arguments. Dominic Falsco said he had conversations with people about, why bother putting on a defense. He said he's an optimist, believes in the law, and has faith in the jurors. He outlined the unique opportunity the jurors have in deciding the punishment of the man who they found guilty. He said they need to be fair and impartial judges when it comes to this part of the trial. He said so far, the jurors have heard nothing but bad stuff about Rivera, but they hadn't heard much about who Tao Rivera the person is. Over the next few hours, they would hear from Rivera's family and from a psychological expert. Nothing would excuse what he did. The jurors would learn what happened early in Rivera's life. He said that context would allow the jurors to vote for a life senntnece.

The defense called their first witness to the stand. Dr. Abak Howsepian stepped forward. He is a widely used psychiatrist for trials. He testified for the prosecution in the Wesson trial. And more recently, he testified for the defense in the James Fagone trial. He told the court about his extensive education and experiene in the field of psychiatry. He has testified in court a total of 15 to 20 times. He told the court that to prepare for this case, he read documents and interviewed Rivera for a total of six hourrs. He also spoke to the defendant's family and friends by phone. Dr. Howspeian diagnosed Rivera with two primary defects. He found him to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Impulse Disorder. Working with veterans, Howsepian is familiar with PTSD. Although many of his clients have PTSD because of their experience in the military, many also have the disorder for other reasons. He described the disorder in Rivera, a series of events that were traumatising to him. In previous additions of a diagnostic manual, PTSD could be described as an eent that in some way elicits horror, helplessness or intense fear. They are several ways to detect the disorder, one, the victim is physically impacted by things such as a car accident or being shot, two, the person witnesses something aweful happen to someone else, three, the person is confronted by the trauma, for example, someone gets a call in the middle of the night that their child has been killed. In Rivera's case, Howesepian said he experienced mutliple traumatic events. At the age of three or four, children develop to achieve a trust in their caretaker and believe the world is a predictable place. That feeling is established in the first few years of life. If the child is traumatized during this stage, it derails them. They are more vulnerable to trauma. At the age of three or four, Rivera said he witnessed a person riding a motorcyle get into an accident and die. Howsepian said Rivera's mother and sister Nancy confirmed this inforation. Rivera took a part the first bycicle he was given, the doctor said, because he was afraid what might happen if he got on the bike. Avoidance is an important symptom in diagnosing PTSD. That's the first sign. The second is you don't want to think about the trauma but you do anyway. This can come in the form of flashbacks. Some people also can't sleep. In Rivera's case, this came in the form of the defendant not having a father growing up, so he attached on to anything that would fill that roll. He longed for a sense of security and love. Later in life, that feeling came from gang participation. Those with PTSD sometimes cling to those sources of security with wreckless abandonment. Howsepian said as a child, a father-figure came into his life. A step-father ultimately destroyed that sense of security, by attacking his mother. Rivera was 10-years-old when this happened. Rivera told the psychiatrist that he had to fight off his step-father. He skipped school at times to stay home and protect his mother. At one time the defendant told Howsepian that he threw his brother against a wall. His brother suffered from mental illness. The doctor also said as a child Rivera was regularly bullied. He was spat at and struck. His mother told him not to fight back. He came home bruised. He eventually started fighting back.

When Rivera was 16-years-old he had a confrontation with Officer Stephan Gray. The defendant got into a fight with another man. Rivera swung to hit the other man, but got Gray instead. Gray allegedly pushed him to the ground, allegedly causing a brain injury. Howsepian believes that injury caused a paranoia to develop regarding Gray. Rivera believed this was was one more person who was supposed to protect him, who ultimately disappointed him. True or not, Howsepian said, this is what Rivera believed. The defendant also heard rumors about Gray, including that he choked someone out to death. He also told the psychiatrist he heard that the officer was beating on hispanicc individuals. It didn't matter that the rumors were untrue, they fueld paranoia in Rivera, cultiating distrust and fear. Regarding the incident that brought Rivera to court, Rivera called his girlfriends parents as the couple was being pulled over by Gray, because Howsepian said, he wanted witnesses there in case something happenedd to him. Rivera does not have anti-social personality disorder early on, because he followed societal norms early in life. After the age of 15, he used the gang for a sense of belonging and protection. The psychiatrist said, Rivera does have Impulse Compulsion Disorder. He could go from zero to 60 in no time flat. Those with the disorder can be aggressive, violent and not under their control. They can't remember certain aspects of their behavior. Rivera is very calm, and then can suddenly explode. And then he can't remember. Howsepian believes Rivera called the Martins for protection. He ran away from Gray, because he felt threatened and acted irrationally. Howsepian said Rivera has adult anti-social behavior. He had a history of intense paranoia. He was detached from reality, with marajuana use, alcohol abuse and oppositional defiance disorder. Rivera would get easily annoyed. Howesepian said because of the head injury at the age of 16, the mild brain injury caused scalp swelling. The paranoia could be seen on the police interogation tape, where Rivera talks about the FBI investigating Gray. The claim was false, but Rivera was dilusional. He said Rivera had a heightened paranoia. He ran away for no good reason. It was out of character for him to leave his daughter behind. Although technically Rivera was not doing good on parole, he believed he was because he hadn't been caught by his parole officer. Howsepian believes Gray represented a two-fold threat to Rivera. He was a perceived physial threat, and he was a threat to Rivera's family, because Gray encouraged his girlfriend to leave him. Rivera had also been arrested by Gray before. Everything added up to Gray being someone who was trying to harm Rivera, in the defendant's mind. Howsepian told the court that he did not believe Rivera was lying to him, because the defendant was actually trying to minimize his mental defect. He did not want to appear mentally ill.

The prosecution then began asking the doctor questions. He was asked if there were any tests performed on Rivera. The prosecution asked him about Rivera's claim to be doing good on parole. Attorney Larry Morse asked him if Rivera told him lies, if that would skew his conclusions. The doctor did not feel that was true. Morse asked,"isn't it possible the real threat was that Tao Rivera was he was concerned he would be arrested." The attorney pointed out that Rivera had a gun on him which was the same gun used in a shooting several days earlier. Morse also pointed out that at the age of Rivera's alleged brain injury, was also the same time Rivera became a part of a criminal street gang. He suggested the paranoia of Gray was really about not wanting Gray to keep him from committing criminal acts in the gang. But Howsepian said the threat was specific to Gray, not other officers. The prosecutor also asked why Rivera would call up his girlfriend while he's on the run and threaten her life, after taking up with another man. He said there doesn't seem to be a real need to protect women in his life, like the doctor testified earlier. Howsepian told the court that the misinformatio he received is not, "garbage in, garbage out," but just a small peice of the puzzle.

The next witness to take the stand was Esperanza Yadira Rivera, the defendant's 15-year-old neice. She told the court that she had good memories with her uncle. He was the best. She said he was like a father-figure to her. He encouraged her to do well in school, get good grades and try hard. She's kept up with him by writing to him in jail. She said he doesn't want her to get involved with boys, and says the kinds of things a dad would say. She said his arrest has been hard on her family. When the defense attorney asked her if her uncle still has something positive to contribute with his life, she said he provided good advice. He wants her not to make the same mistakes that he made. They will continue to keep in contact.

The next witness to take the stand was Marcela Arroyo. She is Tao's sister. She told the court that she wants to become a probation officer. She's currently working at Applebees and attends Fresno City College. Her father is Jose Arroyo. She said she was close to her brother, and her brother was close to her father. She said Rivera would always tell her to stay in school. Rivera didn't graduate from high school. They have four neices and another one on the way. She said she was always like a tomboy. She'd rather hang out with Rivera than her sister Nancy. She didn't really like dolls. She enjoyed riding her bike and roller blading. She said since her brother's arrest it's been hard to talk to him. She visited him every Tuesday and Thursday. Her mom and sister are now able to visit while her brother is in the Colusa jail.