A three-judge panel resumed the task on Friday of deciding whether convicted killer Anthony Garcia will be sent to death row or face life in prison.
Throughout the hearing Garcia has sat slumped over in a wheelchair with his eyes closed. In 2016 Garcia was convicted in the 2008 deaths of Thomas Hunter, the 11-year-old son of Creighton University Medical Center pathologist Dr. William Hunter and the family's housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, as well as the 2013 deaths of Creighton pathologist Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife Mary.
Prosecutors described the crimes as revenge killings against Creighton University doctors who fired Garcia more than a decade ago.
Doctors said Garcia grew up battling extreme obesity and struggled in school. Dr. Kirk Newring said this eventually led to severe depression by the time he graduated high school. Throughout medical school, experts said, Garcia was seen by numerous medical professionals. They said he often concealed his thoughts while in treatment.
"If people have a mental illness and they're not talking about it, we're not going to know about it,” Newring said.
The defense is working to present mitigating factors to help their client avoid the death penalty. They say Garcia suffered from severe depression long before the first murders in 2008. Garcia was admitted to an inpatient clinic for two weeks in 2003 where he was described as being angry and depressed.
Douglas County prosecutor Don Kleine said Garcia has been evaluated several times and found to be competent. The hearing continued Friday morning. A decision by the panel is not expected for weeks.