Psychologists Dual Over Sanity OfCop-Killing CU Robber

WAUKESHA, Wis. - (05/16/05) -- A state psychologist testified lastweek that Ted Oswald, being retried for an 11-year-old crime spreethat include two credit union robberies and the shooting of apolice officer, suffers from a personality disorder but is notdelusional or mentally ill. The testimony from prosecution witnessKenneth Smail contrasted with that of a psychologist for thedefense who insisted Oswald was delusional during the notoriouscrime spree he committed with his father, and remains so today. ButSmail explained the traits exhibited by Oswald, such as his firmbelief in the science of numerology, were not expressions ofpsychosis. The defense argued that Oswald participated in the crimespree because he had delusional beliefs that his father passed onto him during years of physical and mental abuse. Oswald, then 19,and his father James, were convicted in 1995 of a violent string ofcrimes that included kidnappings, car theft and armed robberies atMedical Systems CU, in Waukesha, and Landmark CU, in Brookfield, inDecember 1993, before a robbery at a Bank One branch in April 1994that ended in the murder of Waukesha Police Capt. James Lutz. Theyounger Oswald, whose convictions were overturned in 2003, pleadedno contest to the charges and is hoping now to convince the jury hewas mentally insane when he committed the crimes.