Developments

The AP wire story below came out last night about Nicole's killer. My dear friend, MT, said that he'd give anything to wish her a happy Valentine's Day. He's not alone in that wish. Reading that broke my heart. She meant more than most to him. She had a profound affect on him (as she did to almost everyone) and I'm glad every time I see him go after something he wouldn't normally have pursued, to see him come out of his shell a little and be a bit bolder than he would have before. When I see him do this I know that it's Nicole's influence. She made him see himself as he really is and that's the mark of a true friend. It makes me smile every time.

Gladly, it seems that Rudy Fleming has proven once and for all that he's lying about his mental illness. Let's hope that the judge has been convinced of this and his trial will be scheduled soon. Nicole deserves for Rudy Fleming to go to trial, to be put before a jury and have his punishment for murdering her be handed down. Nothing will be sufficient, but a conviction is what we all need.

Psychiatrist says Nicole duFresne slay suspect is fit for trial

February 14, 2006, 6:15 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) _ The man accused of fatally shooting actress Nicole duFresne during a street robbery is faking mental illness by claiming to see a "giant marshmallow man" and other visions but is fit for trial, a psychiatrist testified Tuesday.

Dr. Steven Ciric, a forensic psychiatrist at Bellevue Hospital Center, said at a hearing in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that he concluded Rudy Fleming, 20, was faking after interviewing him in December and reviewing his hospital records.

Justice Daniel FitzGerald will issue a decision on Fleming's fitness to stand trial in duFresne's killing after the hearings finish this week.

Fleming is one of six people, including two juveniles, charged in a 31-count indictment with murder, robbery and other crimes related to the slaying of duFresne in January 2005 on the Lower East Side. The 28-year-old actress, her fiance and another couple were accosted moments after they left a bar.

Witnesses told police Fleming's group demanded money but duFresne and her friends refused to give them any (this isn't true, but hey, it's an AP story *UPDATE: the NY Times didn't get the details right, either, nor did the NY Post, although that's way less surprising*). They said duFresne challenged Fleming, asking, "What are you going to do, shoot us?"

Ciric said Fleming reported visual hallucinations that included seeing the marshmallow man, a big red man and a black and white cat skulking about in his room.

Fleming also claimed he heard a voice from someone named Bobby telling him to hang himself and another from someone calling him stupid, the psychiatrist said.

"He reported visual and auditory hallucinations, seeing a giant marshmallow man, a big red man," Ciric said.

However, Ciric said, he found that the symptoms Fleming described were inconsistent, were vague and lacked details, which is characteristic of stories told by "malingerers" _ fakers. He said he believed Fleming was malingering.

"My opinion was that he was fit to stand trial at that time," Ciric said, adding that Fleming had no mental problems that would prevent his understanding the charges against him or helping his own defense.

Fleming has pleaded not guilty.

DuFresne, a native of Wayzata, Minn., who lived in Brooklyn, also was a playwright and producer. She co-wrote a play called "Burning Cage," about two women in an asylum who are targeted for brainwashing experiments with LSD. It toured in 2002 at fringe theater festivals in Canada and the United States.