Was It Hypnosis or Hype?

In the "Hillside Strangler"case, shrinks, as usual, differ

By the time his lawyer began plea-bargaining last October, the hard evidence was there. Kenneth Bianchi, 27, a Bellingham, Wash., security guard was in deed the Hillside Strangler, responsible for the murder of ten young women in Los Angeles from September 1977 to February 1978 -- as well as two later killings in Washington that resulted in his arrest.

Did Bianchi act cold-bloodedly? Or was he the victim of a Jekyll-and-Hyde dual personality? Psychologist John Watkins, recommended by the defense, put Bian chi under hypnosis and elicited a confession from a sneering Mr. Hyde character who called himself "Steve Walker." But the mystery of Bianchi's supposed multiple personality became irrelevant when he avoided the death sentence by pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against his cousin and alleged accomplice, Angelo Buono. That plea rendered Bianchi competent in the eyes of the law. It also earned him six concurrent and two consecutive life sentences.

Now a Los Angeles TV station has aired excerpts of video-taped sessions with Bianchi, involving Watkins and five psychiatrists (the judge picked all the experts, including two nominated by the defense, two by the prosecution). What the tapes made clear was that the shrinks were, as usual, divided. Two believed that Bianchi did indeed have a multiple personality, two were certain that he was lying, and two could not be sure. That raised further questions not only about Bianchi but about the role that psychiatrists should play in the courtroom.

In one of the tapes, Bianchi, under hypnosis, revealed his painful childhood: his adoptive mother, alternately seductive and sadistic, punished him by holding his hand over the stove, physically beating him and forcing him, at age 14, to pray over his dead adoptive father's body for a week as it lay in its coffin. Watkins feels that such experiences made Bianchi a multiple personality. So does Psychiatrist Ralph Allison, who says he has studied some 50 multiple-personality cases. When asked how he knew he had found the "Steve" personality in Bianchi, Allison said simply, "I met him."

Psychiatrist Donald Lunde, recommended by the defense, agrees that Bianchi clearly went through a repression of great hostility toward his adoptive mother. But a multiple personality? Lunde is uncertain. Part of his doubt stems from viewing the tapes. "At times," he says, "there are serious questions of whether hypnosis is really going on. There's a possibility that Watkins suggested the presence of other personalities. He asks questions early on that provide a kind of guidance. In one tape, he even says, 'If there is some other part of you that wants to talk to me, I'm here to talk to you.' "

One of the prosecution's choices, Psychiatrist Saul Faerstein, goes a step further; he sees the tapes as proof that the whole hypnosis was a hype. Says he: "Bianchi was almost a caricature of a hypnotized person, with eyes closed and head bobbing--a pseudo trance." The other prosecution choice. Psychiatrist Martin Orne, staged his own "double hallucination" test of Bianchi. After trying to hypnotize the killer, Orne asked him to shake hands with an imaginary figure that he identified as Bianchi's attorney Dean Brett. Then Orne had the real Brett enter the room. Confused, Bianchi asked if Brett could be in two places.

Orne: Well, you tell me, which one is real?

Bianchi (long pause): He's real (pointing to Brett).

Orne: How do you know?

Bianchi: 'Cause he's not here any more (motioning to where the imaginary Brett stood). How can I see him in two places?

That convinced Orne that Bianchi was faking. He contends that under hypnosis Bianchi should have remained calm and been able to accept the presence of two Bretts.

Angelo Buono goes to court in late March, and his attorney plans to use the taped reports to undermine Bianchi's testimony. His contention: the tapes show that Bianchi is hopelessly disturbed or a liar, either of which strains his credibility. The prosecution thinks it can win a conviction without using the tapes. But the issue of the value of psychiatric testimony in a court of law will not be settled so soon. Admits Lunde: "You get people who say you should keep psychiatrists out of courtrooms." But, he says, "the main reason we're there is that judges and lawyers want us there."

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