And they cited the report of a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who examined Mr. El-Hage last year and found that he was so mentally devastated by the conditions of his imprisonment that he might not be able to assist meaningfully in his defense.
The lawyers would not disclose why they sought the evaluation, but given Mr. El-Hage's history, they may be preparing to argue that he was so mentally devastated by the restrictive jail conditions that he might not be able to assist meaningfully in his own defense.
As Dr. Craig Haney, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, testified during Tuesday's hearing, research consistently demonstrates that the psychological effects of such isolation, particularly among the mentally ill, are devastating.
An unexpected, unwanted pregnancy can be mentally, emotionally and physically devastating for a woman.
Mr. Green was one of thousands of New Yorkers — physically devastated, mentally depleted, without hope of recovery and without surrogates — for whom the prolongation of life at all costs was the only legally sanctioned course of treatment.
"I think that if I had not been able to finalize the divorce, it would have been pretty devastating to me mentally," he said.
It was mentally troubling and then musically devastating.
It was easier to shy away from my faith rather than deal with the mentally-devastating symptoms of the cancer that is America's unspoken war on Islam.
