Urged Youth to Commit Self Before Holdup, Doctor Says

On the day before Michael Morrison allegedly robbed a bank, a psychiatrist recommended that he voluntarily commit himself to a mental hospital, the psychiatrist testified Monday at the long-delayed hearing to determine whether Morrison should be tried as an adult or a juvenile.

Morrison, who was 16 at the time, allegedly had robbed one bank already when he saw Dr. Noel Lustig on May 22 for evaluation.

The boy did not talk about having committed any crimes, but the psychiatrist concluded he was “very agitated, very disoriented . . . he had the features of someone in a manic episode at the time,” Lustig testified in Sylmar Juvenile Court. He said that Morrison has the psychological maturity of a 12-year-old and has trouble “integrating his fantasy with reality.”

“I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Lustig testified. “I thought it might be a suicide attempt or he might break up the house.”

Morrison is accused of joining Mark Berman, then 16 years old, in the armed robbery of Encino Savings & Loan the following day. Morrison also is charged with robbing Barclays Bank of California on Jan. 3 and with stealing two cars at gunpoint.

At the request of Lustig, another psychiatrist and a psychologist who testified for the defense about Morrison’s emotional state, the youth did not sit in on the proceedings. Morrison has been confined at Sylmar Juvenile Hall since his arrest in May.

Berman, who admitted participating in the robbery of the Encino bank and stealing three cars, was sentenced last month to California Youth Authority. Both youths are now 17.

Morrison’s case was delayed after Juvenile Court Judge Burton S. Katz ruled the hearing closed to the public, and an attorney for the Daily News appealed the closure. The state Court of Appeal subsequently ordered the hearing opened.