Jeanette Sliwinski, the Morton Grove woman charged with murder in a 2005 auto crash that killed three musicians, showed no psychotic symptoms in the weeks leading up to the collision, a psychiatrist said Tuesday.
Dr. Lucyna Puszkarska testified in a Skokie courtroom that she had been treating Sliwinski since May 2005, about two months before the crash on Dempster Street in Skokie that killed Michael Dahlquist, 39, John Glick, 35, and Douglas Meis, 29.
The doctor said her last session with Sliwinski was July 8, six days before the accident.
“I didn’t see any psychotic symptoms at that time,” Puszkarska said during the bench trial before Cook County Circuit Judge Garritt Howard.
Prosecutors say Sliwinski, 25, drove her Ford Mustang at 87 m.p.h. into a Honda Civic stopped at an intersection on July 14, killing the men, who were we on their lunch break.
She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The former trade-show model faces life in prison if convicted of three counts of first-degree murder.
Puszkarska’s testimony came a day after a psychiatrist called by the defense said that he had diagnosed bipolar disorder in Sliwinski when he met with her in April 2006. The psychiatrist concluded she was insane at the time of the crash. Last week, Sliwinski’s mother, Ursula, testified that her daughter acted depressed and told her that people on television were talking to her.
On Tuesday, Puszkarska said that she saw signs of depression in Sliwinski, but that the defendant never complained of auditory and visual hallucinations or expressed suicidal thoughts. The psychiatrist also testified that she thought Sliwinski had a substance-abuse problem, including heavy use of alcohol and past use of cocaine and ecstasy, and suffered from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Puszkarska testified that on May 30, 2005, she asked Sliwinski to admit herself to St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago after the defendant complained that her medication was not working and she felt anxious and restless.
“I was very concerned about her bizarre behavior,” said Puszkarska, adding that she thought some of the behavior could have been caused by prescription medications Sliwinski was taking, including anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs.
Later, a psychiatrist called by the defense reaffirmed Sliwinski’s attorneys’ contention that she was insane.
Dr. Lisa Rone, who testified that she evaluated the defendant about a year ago, said she deemed Sliwinski psychotic based on her medical records. She said some of the drugs that Sliwinski was given could have exacerbated those symptoms.
Rone also said that Sliwinski didn’t get the right psychiatric care in the months before July 14 and that her mental condition could have been worsening until the day of the crash.
“She never got appropriate treatment,” Rone said. Her condition “never got stabilized.”
Sliwinski should not have been released from St. Mary after her overnight stay, the psychiatrist testified, but she didn’t have insurance.
Rone testified that in an interview, Sliwinski told her “she wanted to leave the hospital because she didn’t want to be a burden to her parents.”
Testimony is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
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skuczka@tribune.com
