Psychiatric Evaluation Outside Prison Sought for Spy Suspect

A defense lawyer for accused spy Thomas Patrick Cavanagh asked a federal judge Monday for permission to have his client taken from the federal prison at Terminal Island to the office of a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills.

Manuel Araujo said the request was made because of the difficulties faced by psychiatrists in making house calls for federal prisoners.

“It’s just a matter of convenience for the doctor,” Araujo told reporters. “It’s a little more relaxing and comfortable in the doctor’s office than in the prison.”

U.S. District Judge Matthew Byrne Jr. took the request under advisement pending a report by U.S. marshals on the possible security risk of taking Cavanagh to the office of Dr. Saul J. Faerstein.

“We’re not talking convenience; we’re talking security,” Byrne said.

Faerstein, who frequently serves as a government psychiatrist in major cases, has been retained by the defense to examine Cavanagh before his scheduled March 5 espionage trial to determine if there are grounds for a defense by reason of insanity.

Cavanagh, 40, a former Northrop Corp. aerospace engineer, was arrested Dec. 18 by undercover FBI agents after allegedly trying to sell secrets about the U.S. “stealth” bomber program to the Soviet Union.

“He is in a great deal of emotional trauma,” Araujo said. “He’s depressed. He is very distraught over his present situation.”

Federal prisoners occasionally have been escorted from Terminal Island to Faerstein’s office to be examined, according to government officials. But they said they doubt that a judge would take a chance of anything happening with an accused Soviet spy.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Percy Anderson told Byrne that while he could not speak for the U.S. marshals, he thought it might be best if Cavanagh was taken instead to the U.S. Court House in Los Angeles to be examined by Faerstein.

Faerstein admitted that he would prefer seeing Cavanagh in his office, but he denied that it had anything to do with his own convenience.

“It’s not my convenience,” he said. “In my office there’s a great comfort and a greater privacy. In Terminal Island, you never know what room you’re going to be assigned. Also, you seem to have inordinate waiting periods at Terminal Island.”

Faerstein added that he also examines prisoners regularly at the U.S. Court House and prefers that location to Terminal Island.

“It’s better at the court house,” he said. “They have some cells there with a table and chairs, and the marshals don’t interrupt me.”

Faerstein also is serving as a court-appointed psychiatrist for accused Soviet spy Svetlana Ogorodnikova in another espionage case, and he has been authorized to examine her at the Sybil Brand Institute. He also recently examined accused Nazi war criminal Andrija Artukovic at the Long Beach Naval Hospital in connection with a Yugoslav extradition request.