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Grigson James Biography

Texas forensic psychiatrist, dubbed "Doctor Death" by parts of the media, who testified in 167 capital trials, nearly all of which resulted in death sentences. In capital crime cases, Grigson, throughout his career, was typically a testifying expert for the prosecution. Under Texas law, for death to be imposed the jury must believe the defendant not only to be guilty of the crime charged, but certain to commit additional violent crimes if not put to death. In almost every case, Grigson testified (often after meeting the defendant for just a few minutes, or not at all) that the defendant was an "incurable" sociopath who was "one hundred per cent certain" to kill again. One of the most notable, at least after the fact, appearances of Grigson in court occurred in the 1977 case of Randall Dale Adams, who was accused of murdering police officer Robert W. Wood. Adams was found guilty, and, on the basis of Grigsons testimony, was given the death penalty. Grigson told the jury that Adams would be an ongoing menace if kept alive. Adams conviction was unanimously upheld by the Texas Appellate Court. His death sentence, as a result of a 1980 United States Supreme Court decision, was commuted to life in prison by Texas Governor Bill Clements. The case is profiled in the 1988 documentary film The Thin Blue Line. In 1989 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex parte Adams overturned Adams conviction on the grounds of malfeasance by the prosecutor and inconsistencies in the testimony of a key witness. The prosecution in Texas declined to go to a new trial, and Adams was eventually freed, after having spent approximately 12 years in prison. In 1995, Grigson was expelled by the American Psychiatric Association and the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians for unethical conduct. He officially retired from the psychiatric profession in 2003, dying on 3 June 2004 from lung cancer. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less