Word: chestere
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...jurors never heard that Yoder had been given multiple, seemingly haphazard diagnoses. For instance, bipolar disorder was diagnosed in 1991, but that diagnosis vanished from his records in 1998--even though Yoder never took part in treatment. Jurors also never heard from one of Unsell's potential witnesses, a Chester employee who wouldn't testify for fear of losing his job. That employee, who retired not long ago from his position as a guard supervisor but still fears retribution if identified, told me that Chester staff members sometimes provoke Yoder in hopes that he will become violent and provide grist...
Nonetheless, the jury sent Yoder back to Chester. Cuneo, the state psychologist, had testified that Yoder was bipolar and delusional and that he had a history of violence. Given a choice between two competing experts, the jury played it safe. Who wants to be responsible for loosing a madman? Yoder repeatedly faced this conundrum in court--convincing jurors he was sane from inside an asylum. The state had a strong case: jurors heard about Yoder's battery of women. They heard about the time he got into a scuffle with a guard and bit him. They heard about incidents when...
After a while, Yoder all but gave up on the courts--and then got creative. A decade earlier, he had been transferred out of Chester to federal custody to be prosecuted for sending threatening mail. So now he tried the same tactic. He says the letters weren't sincere and were intended only to get him sent to federal prison. That strategy may seem silly--or nuts--but a Chester psychologist wrote a report in 1993, before most of the letters were sent, that clearly outlined what Yoder expected from the letters and the consequent trip to federal prison...
...people, Yoder says. He says he often wrote them with a carbon sheet underneath and sent copies to prosecutors. In 1996, Yoder even sued a prosecutor for not charging him; a judge had to remind Yoder that he "has no constitutional right to be prosecuted." He stayed at Chester...
...then, the relationship between him and the facility was poisoned--and not only because Yoder never cooperated with treatment. Equip for Equality, a Chicago-based nonprofit for the disabled, has twice accused Chester of making false entries in Yoder's records; Chester staff allegedly lied in the 1999 reports by saying Yoder had called an Equip for Equality office and threatened violence. At the time, Chester director Hardy stood by the first report. He never responded to the second and now says he doesn't recall the incident...