DA: Garrido Is 'Master Manipulator'

PLACERVILLE, Calif. - KCRA.com

In light of a new letter from kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido, the El Dorado County district attorney described the convicted rapist as a "master manipulator."

Garrido issued an apology "for what has taken place" and referenced "ending a sexual problem believed to be impossible"

in his third jailhouse letter to KCRA 3

.

"We see this as just another example of his attempt to control the situation around him and his prior victims -- he is a master manipulator," District Attorney Vern Pierson said in a statement.

Garrido is accused of kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard nearly two decades ago and holding her in a backyard compound at his Contra Costa County home. He's also believed to have fathered two children with her.

His letter, which KCRA 3 received Thursday, read in part, "First off I would like to apologize to every human being for what has taken place."

It continued, "People all over the world are hearing testimony that through the spirit of Christ a mental process took place ending a sexual problem believed to be impossible."

"Mr. Garrido is expressing genuine remorse. He would like people to consider the fact that he's a changed man and his story is best told all at one time, instead of in pieces. He presents obvious issues concerning whether or not he is competent to be a defendant, and we are looking into that," said his attorney, Public Defender Susan Gellman, in a telephone interview Thursday evening from St. Petersburg, Fla.

Pierson fired back, saying "these recent statements are eerily similar to what Mr. Garrido told the judge who sentenced him in 1977 and to the parole board when he duped them into releasing him from prison after serving only 11 years of a 50 year federal sentence and five-to-life Nevada State sentence."

Garrido remains in custody at the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville as he and wife Nancy Garrido await trial on multiple charges each. They've pleaded not guilty.

"It appears once again that Mr. Garrido seeks leniency due to claims of religious transformation and alleged personal change. Our office fully intends to hold Mr. Garrido legally accountable for his actions and see that he is punished to the full extent of the law," the district attorney's statement said.

Court documents show Garrido admitted to sexual disorders in a psychiatric analysis during the 1970s and

claimed he'd found religion

. He also blamed drugs for his "downfall" in a plea to reduce his prison sentence for abducting a woman from a South Lake Tahoe parking lot.

A report from Dr. Lynn B. Gerow, who evaluated Garrido for his competency, noted while analyzing Garrido in 1976 that he "made mention of recent increasing religiosity" and wrote that the suspect was "looking forward to going to court, found religion and feels his life will change for the better."

The doctor also noted in a brain-scan report that "LSD made him quite sexually aggressive which he realizes."

"He complained of hallucinations and called them by that term, but these complaints appeared to be the perceptual disturbances ... which are exceedingly common among people who have a history of LSD abuse," Gerow wrote.

Erik Schleuter spent 16 years as a deputy district attorney in El Dorado County. He said there's a long way to go with the case.

"We have to get to the point, can everything be proved beyond a reasonable doubt? And that's where you're going to have to get Jaycee in to actually testify in this case," Schleuter said.

UC Davis Law Professor Donna Shestowsky, who also has a doctorate in psychology, said Garrido isn't acknowledging that he may have caused harm to Dugard.

"But he's certainly not taking full responsibility for his actions," UC Davis Law Professor Donna Shestowsky said. "So he's not acknowledging at all the harm that he's caused the victim, her family, the community at large. And he's certainly not acknowledging what he did rises to the level of a crime."

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