MILWAUKEE — A psychiatrist testifying in the trial of a Milwaukee man who fatally shot his teenage neighbor says the man once killed his daughter's kitten.
Dr. Basil Jackson testified Wednesday in the second phase of a trial for 76-year-old John Henry Spooner. The testimony came hours after a jury found Spooner guilty of fatally shooting his 13-year-old neighbor after accusing the boy of stealing from him.
The second phase is to determine Spooner's mental competence at the time of the 2012 shooting.
Jackson says Spooner once killed a kitten that his daughter brought home because he didn't want a cat. The psychiatrist, who was hired by the defense, says that sort of anger prompted Spooner to momentarily lose control during the several seconds that he fired two shots at the boy.
