Defense attorney suggests possible PTSD defense in killings

Defense attorney suggests possible PTSD defense in killings
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post

A defense attorney for an accused killer who admitted slashing and shooting two people to death in a remote home in Douglas County today raised the possibility that he was suffering from a psychological condition and under great stress.

Public defender Kathleen McGuire indicated through questioning of Sgt. Jason Weaver that she may be planning a defense to establish that her client Josiah Sher, 27, was taking medications for post traumatic stress disorder.

She asked Weaver whether it was true that Sher, one of four suspects in the double homicide of Amara Wells, 39, and Bob Rafferty, 49, had served several tours in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq between 2005 and 2009.

The sergeant confirmed that and also said that Sher told him he had been institutionalized for severe PTSD, was still taking medications for the condition and had called a suicide hotline on Feb. 4, less than three weeks before the Feb. 23 murders.
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