Kolodziej Described as Out of Touch With Reality 3 Days After Stabbing : Courts: A psychiatrist calls him a schizophrenic but testifies that the drifter may have been lucid when the killing occurred.

Kevin Kolodziej appeared to be out of touch with reality three days after he stabbed a 90-year-old Ventura woman to death in January, a jail psychiatrist testified Monday.

The Virginia drifter talked to a wall, was withdrawn and said he couldn’t remember the murder that occurred the morning of Jan. 17, testified Ralph Armstrong, a county psychiatrist who first visited Kolodziej in jail Jan. 20.

Kolodziej’s symptoms led Armstrong to diagnose him as a schizophrenic, the psychiatrist said. During cross-examination, however, Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris got Armstrong to agree that Kolodziej may have been lucid at the time of the crime and that he may be lying in saying he can’t remember the murder.

Armstrong is one of several doctors expected to testify in the murder and burglary trial this week.

Although defense attorneys have acknowledged that the mental patient killed Velasta Johnson after escaping from the Ventura County Medical Center, they reject the prosecution’s allegation that he was attempting to commit a burglary. If the burglary charge is proven, Kolodziej could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Testimony on Kolodziej’s mental state also can be used in a second trial phase, where the judge will determine whether the 25-year-old is not guilty by reason of insanity.

During Monday’s questioning by Deputy Public Defender Neil B. Quinn, Armstrong said he determined Kolodziej to be a schizophrenic because of his bizarre behavior.

Kolodziej asked if the other inmates carried knives and denied that he was mentally ill, Armstrong said. He also was reluctant to discuss any of his prior hospitalizations for mental illness, Armstrong said.

Those are all classic symptoms of schizophrenia, the psychiatrist said. Armstrong also testified that the illness, if left untreated, impairs an individual’s ability to understand reality.

On cross-examination by Kossoris, Armstrong agreed that Kolodziej may have been lying when he said he didn’t recall the crime. Kossoris also attempted to establish that Kolodziej may have been lucid at the time of the murder and lapsed into a psychotic episode upon his arrest.

In other testimony Monday, Kolodziej’s physician at the county medical center said he repeatedly pulled intravenous tubes and a tracheotomy collar from his body while receiving care for self-inflicted stab wounds before Johnson’s slaying. After consulting with a psychiatrist, the physician recommended that Kolodziej be tied to his bed with restraints and placed on powerful drugs to calm him.

Kolodziej broke out of his restraints and walked away from the hospital Jan. 17, eventually entering Johnson’s home.