NATION : Killings Linked to Combat Stress
A former crew member of the U.S. frigate Stark, charged with beating to death a Navy wife and her 3-year-old daughter, was suffering combat-related stress disorder after the ship was nearly sunk by an Iraqi missile, his lawyer said.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Walter Thomas Taylor, 22, charged with bludgeoning Paula Smits, 21, and her daughter, Amanda, with a hammer five days after the Stark limped home to its base at Mayport on Aug. 10, 1987.
At the opening of his trial Monday, Assistant Public Defender Ann Finnell said the May, 1987, missile attack left Taylor with post-traumatic distress syndrome, borderline personality disorder and psychosis that resulted in instances of hallucination and delusion.
Taylor was serving as a lookout aboard the guided-missile frigate when it was struck by an Exocet missile fired by an Iraqi warplane, killing 37 sailors.
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