By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News

Published March 21, 2008

GALVESTON — Testimony concluded Thursday in the trial of a man who burned his infant daughter in a microwave oven.

Joshua Royce Mauldin, 20, faces a charge of injury to a child. On May 15, he admitted to police that five days earlier he had placed his infant daughter in a hotel room’s microwave oven and turned it on for about 10 seconds.

However, an island psychiatrist testified Thursday that Mauldin had told him that amount of time may not be accurate.

“Mr. Mauldin said he wasn’t paying attention to how long the microwave oven was on,” said Michael Fuller, a University of Texas Medical Branch psychiatrist.

Fuller said that Mauldin could have been suffering from a neurological problem that left him not in control of his actions during the attack on 2-month-old daughter Ana. However, Beaumont-based forensic psychiatrist Edward Gripon said Mauldin knew what he was doing.

Judge Susan Criss appointed Fuller to examine Mauldin, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charge of injury to a child. State law defines insanity, for purposes of criminal defense, as a mental defect that prevents a person from knowing his or her actions were wrong at the time the offense is committed.

Fuller, on the witness stand since Tuesday afternoon, said Thursday morning that Mauldin had a “history of depression and something” since he was 10. Identifying that “something” would be difficult for a few years more, Fuller said.

Although Fuller’s report contained a conclusion that Mauldin did not “meet the statutory requirements for insanity,” Fuller testified Thursday that Mauldin described what could be physical signs of a neurological disorder that overtook him on May 10.

However, Gripon, hired as an expert witness for the prosecution, said he found no credible evidence that suggested Mauldin could be considered insane at the time of the attack, even taking into account Mauldin’s largely self-reported history of mental problems.

“I do not believe that any of his conditions rise to the level of not knowing what he did was wrong at the time of the alleged offense,” Gripon said.

Gripon also said Mauldin had a history of admitting to lying about mental problems to achieve certain ends, which “tells us he had used that before, for self-serving reasons, and it was not true.” However, Fuller said that a person who lied about suffering from an affliction could still suffer legitimately from that problem.

The child lost most of her left ear and had to have skin grafts on her left arm, in addition to second-degree burns on much of that arm and shoulder. She has recovered and is now in foster care with relatives who are sworn to have no contact with Joshua Mauldin or wife Eva.

Because of the severity of the child’s injuries, the charge carries a possible prison term of five to 99 years. But because Mauldin has no prior felony convictions, he would also be eligible for probation if the jury finds him guilty.

Although called as a defense witness, Fuller was testifying in his capacity as an independent examiner and was not employed by the defense.

Joanie Mauldin, the defendant’s mother, also testified Thursday. She said she ultimately coaxed the truth out of her son, who had first said he did not know how the child was burned, before telling a story of spilling scalding water on her.

Joanie Mauldin had paid for the multi-vehicle road trip that brought her and the defendant — as well as Joshua Mauldin’s wife, brother and infant daughter Ana — to Galveston. She testified that she had gone to get food shortly after the family arrived in Galveston and checked into the Seawall Boulevard hotel where the attack occurred.

When Joanie Mauldin came back to the hotel, she testified, Ana was on her way to the emergency room at a University of Texas Medical Branch hospital.

Mauldin told his mother and both doctors that he was under the influence of demonic possession, when he placed the child in the microwave and turned it on.

Jurors will hear closing arguments in the case Monday morning. Court is not open today because of the Good Friday holiday.

Emphasis added by H4K Editor