Mentally unfit report initially doubted

A psychologist testified Thursday he doubted Paul Olsson was mentally unfit for trial soon after Olsson was ordered into his care.

Nonetheless, Michael Watrous said, he and his staff initially accepted the diagnosis of a Lake County court system psychologist who originally found Olsson unfit.

Olsson, 20, of Kildeer, is charged with molesting four young boys in 2005 while working as a coach at the Lincolnshire Bath and Tennis Club.

Karen Chantry, a psychologist for Lake County courts, found Olsson unfit for trial last October. She said he was suffering from depression and detachment from reality.

But Watrous, the chief forensic psychologist at the Elgin Mental Health Center where Olsson was sent for treatment, said Olsson exhibited none of the classic symptoms of depression.

"He was courteous and polite and engaged in a number of different things," Watrous testified Thursday. "He would go to the library and work on his cases and he completed his GED while at the hospital."

Watrous said he accepted Chantry's diagnosis when he wrote his original report for the court. He said he agreed Olsson was unfit because he had only two weeks to observe him.

On Dec. 19, Watrous filed a second report with the court saying Olsson had been restored to fitness and could be taken to trial.

Olsson's work on his cases while in Elgin may be critical to the jury charged with determining if he is competent for trial.

To meet the legal standard for fitness, Olsson must understand the charges against him, have basic knowledge of court functions and be able to assist in his defense.

Watrous said the fact Olsson continued to work on his cases and sent documents containing sophisticated legal research and language helped him to conclude Olsson was fit.

Olsson has demonstrated some understanding of the legal process in several court appearances since his arrest in September 2005.

After firing his first attorney in the case in January 2007, Olsson has clashed repeatedly with judges and attorneys over his right to choose a lawyer on his own terms.

The county's public defender's office was appointed to represent him. Olsson has responded by filing a series of lawsuits against the office and refusing to speak to its attorneys.

In various motions he has filed in his criminal case, Olsson characterizes himself as a victim of a conspiracy involving prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys.

It was that thinking that Lake County Assistant Public Defender Kathleen McGee focused on in her cross-examination of Olsson.

She quoted passages from Watrous' original report on Olsson; Watrous confirmed they were accurate.

"His understanding of his due process rights are so idiosyncratic as to make it impossible to convince him otherwise," Watrous wrote. "His beliefs have solidified into absolute facts in his mind."

Watrous said such beliefs may demonstrate Olsson's thinking is still detached from reality, as Chantry claimed in a second evaluation of him earlier this year.

Testimony is expected to continue today.