Officer's killer terrorized his girlfriend, court told
A psychiatrist testifies that domestic abuse made Paula Gutierrez her less resistant to helping in a bank robbery.
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
Published May 20, 2003
TAMPA - Nestor DeJesus so brutalized girlfriend Paula Gutierrez that she lived in a state of constant fear, willing to do anything to avoid his rage, a defense psychiatrist testified Monday.
During their "sick" eight-year relationship, DeJesus terrorized her physically and dominated her psychologically, making her feel she had no escape, Dr. Michael Maher testified.
"This is a deeply pathological relationship," Maher said.
When DeJesus and Gutierrez robbed a MacDill Avenue flower shop on July 3, 2001, it represented an escalation of his demands, the psychiatrist said.
It also made her less resistant, he added, to participating in the robbery of a Bank of America with DeJesus three days later.
As they fled the bank robbery, DeJesus gunned down pursuing Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero and then killed himself. Gutierrez now faces a charge of first-degree murder for the officer's death, on the argument that she participated in the robbery that gave rise to the murder.
On Monday, as the third week of her trial began, Maher, the defense psychiatrist, said he has met with Gutierrez nine times since her arrest. He said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of DeJesus' domestic abuse.
"It is like being exposed to poison, and eventually a person will get sick," Maher said.
Even after DeJesus was dead, even after he had tried to persuade her to kill herself, Gutierrez spoke lovingly of him, Maher said.
During his cross-examination of Maher, prosecutor Jay Pruner noted that Gutierrez had repeatedly rebuffed DeJesus' proposals of marriage. Didn't that show she retained an ability to make some independent decisions? The psychiatrist agreed.
On the stand Monday, Gutierrez said she robbed the flower shop because she feared what DeJesus would do to her if she didn't. She said the robbery netted them just $45.
