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Prosecutors win new mental check of accused killer By Chris Bristol Over defense objections, prosecutors won a court order Thursday for a new mental evaluation of accused killer Mark Fernandez, who has been diagnosed as insane by the state�s own psychiatric expert. The issue is not whether Fernandez killed Jaime Fernandez. The 27-year-old Prospect man already has confessed that he bludgeoned his 18-year-old cousin with a paving stone last year and buried the body near Lost Creek Lake. Instead, the issue is whether he was insane at the time. Two experts � one hired by Fernandez�s defense attorney, the other a psychiatrist at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem � have said he was. Concerned the defendant is exaggerating or faking illness, prosecutor Judi Harper argued in court Thursday that Oregon law allows another mental evaluation by a different state psychiatrist at the state�s request. "If ever the state has a case for a second look, this is it," Harper told Jackson County Judge Ray White. The fact that Fernandez tried to conceal his crime by hiding his cousin�s body undermines any argument that he did not know what he was doing, Harper added. "His actions do not scream mental illness," Harper told the judge. But defense attorney Gary Berlant countered that a third opinion is unnecessary, and he accused the state of shopping around for a friendly expert. "The state is not happy with ... the opinion of their own expert," Berlant said. "There is no new information here that warrants another evaluation." Despite Berlant�s objections, White granted the state�s motion. When Berlant complained that the state already has lined up a new expert who is "a little less than objective," the judge told counsel to work it out. Sheriff�s deputies arrested Fernandez last October after he led them to his cousin�s body in a remote area near Lost Creek Lake. Jaime Fernandez was still recovering from a near-fatal car wreck in 1998 and had been missing from his home in Eagle Point for several days. To date, prosecutors have not offered a motive for the crime. Berlant said rumors that his client acted out a bizarre "mercy killing" are off the mark. "He did what he did," Berlant said. "Why (he did it) is an act of insanity. There�s no good explanation for it." Attending the hearing was a large contingent of the victim�s family, who became visibly agitated as Berlant told the court that his client is sorry about what happened. "He accepts responsibility and wants to be punished," Berlant said. "But he needs treatment," not prison. The defendant�s father and sister also attended the hearing. A murder conviction in Oregon carries an automatic penalty of 25 years in prison without parole. A rare finding of "guilty but insane" would put Fernandez in the lifetime custody of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board, which could release him at any point from the state hospital. Fernandez waived his right to a jury trial in July, putting his future in the hands of Judge White. A three-day trial is set for December. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA