Experts question mental capability of murder suspect

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.

Doctors on Monday presented dueling viewpoints on whether a Las Vegas man charged with killing a prostitute and running over a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper during a high-speed chase is mentally retarded.

Vornelius Phillips, 27, appeared attentive as defense and state witnesses discussed his mental state.

The outcome of the debate will determine whether Phillips will face the death penalty because a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year prevented the mentally retarded from being put to death.

Phillips faces multiple felony counts, including murder with a deadly weapon, robbery and several kidnapping charges, in the death of 40-year-old Ivy Shunstrom.

Police say Phillips killed Shunstrom in her room at the Budget Suites on Stardust Road on April 21, 2001. DNA evidence links Phillips to the slaying, prosecutors say.

After Shunstrom's killing, police allege, Phillips stole a taxi from McCarran International Airport with a Maryland tourist still inside and led police on a high-speed chase.

During the chase, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Robert "Bobby" Kintzel was struck and critically injured by the stolen taxi while he was setting up metal road spikes in an attempt to stop it.

Kintzel, who is still recovering from several brain surgeries, attended Monday's hearing.

Defense witness Dr. Thomas Kinsora, a clinical psychologist, testified that a battery of psychological tests he administered show Phillips is mentally retarded.

Phillips scored 66 on an overall IQ test, he said.

A person with an IQ of 70 or below is usually considered retarded.

"I believe that he does meet the criteria for mental retardation," Kinsora said.

In addition to IQ, mental retardation is determined by a person's ability to function and whether the onset of the proposed symptoms began during childhood.

But Dr. Martha Bernal Mahaffey, a clinical psychologist who also evaluated Phillips, said the defendant was not mentally retarded.

Phillips scored a cumulative IQ score of about 75 on her tests, she said.

Besides Phillips' IQ, Mahaffey said, several other things show Phillips is not mentally retarded, including his ability to care for himself, communicate and work.

"He is completely independent," she said. "He doesn't need any assistance, as people who are mildly or mentally retarded often do."

Phillips' eighth grade math level and sixth grade reading level also belied the assumption that he is mentally retarded, she said.

When Phillips detailed his prior criminal history for Mahaffey, he told her he sold cocaine from the age of 16 and often made $100 to $200 per day, Mahaffey said.

Phillips underscored for her that he was making more than 100 percent profit, Mahaffey said.

"People who are mentally retarded cannot talk about percentages and money as fluently as he did," she said.

Prosecutors also claim Phillips was faking psychosis during psychological testing done by staff at Lake's Crossing, a state facility for the mentally ill, and that several doctors at the facility had ruled out mental retardation.

Kinsora said while Phillips could be exaggerating his psychosis, he is not exaggerating his mental retardation.

Phillips has always had problems with learning and verbal skills and dropped out of school in the 10th grade, he said.

Though Phillips was initially "hostile and combative" when he was first evaluated, he showed a marked improvement when he was placed on medication, Kinsora said.

"He went from a gentleman who was very delusional and psychotic to someone who was very cooperative and gentle in a lot of ways," he said.

District Judge Lee Gates has not set a date for his ruling on Phillips' mental ability.