SAN DIEGO — Richard Tuite hears voices and has "a discomfort with reality," but he is still fit to face charges of killing Stephanie Crowe, a psychologist testified Tuesday, the first day of a hearing to determine whether the 34-year-old schizophrenic is mentally competent to stand trial.

Dr. Paul Mattiuzzi, a forensic psychologist hired by the prosecution, said that he interviewed Tuite for nearly four hours and ultimately concluded that the ignorance Tuite professed about everything from the color of the jail walls to the nature of the charges he faces was not a sign of mental problems, but a "passive-aggressive ... strategy."

"It almost seems a deliberative and purposeful effort not to provide information while seeming to cooperate," said Mattiuzzi. He added, "The 'I don't know why I am here' is not a symptom of schizophrenia ... it's volitional."

The psychologist stopped short of saying Tuite was faking illness, but told Superior Court Judge Frederic Link that Tuite met the definition of mental competence, meaning he is able to assist with his defense and understand the charges against him. Link must decide whether to let Tuite's trial proceed as scheduled in February or send him to a state mental hospital until he becomes mentally healthy enough to return to the legal system.

Stephanie Crowe

Tuite is accused of the fatal stabbing of 12-year-old Stephanie. The seventh-grader was discovered dead in the bedroom of her family's rural home Jan. 21, 1998. Suspicion originally focused on her 14-year-old brother Michael and two friends, but on the eve of the boys' murder trial, DNA tests revealed Stephanie's blood on a shirt belonging to Tuite, a homeless man spotted in the Crowes' neighborhood the night of the murder. He faces a life sentence if convicted.

Tuite, who takes antipsychotic medication to control his mental illness, sat at the witness table Tuesday in a white shirt and gray slacks. He stared at Mattiuzzi as he testified. Tuite's mother and sister were in court for the hearing, but he did not appear to acknowledge them. Also on hand for a portion of Mattiuzzi's testimony was Stephanie Crowe's mother Cheryl.

Mattiuzzi, one of three mental health professionals scheduled to testify during the hearing, said Tuite claimed to understand very little of his surroundings or circumstances but showed signs that he comprehended more than he was letting on.

He said, for example, that he didn't know what year it was, the president's name or what crime he was accused of committing. But he did offer terse answers to other questions, saying he had been in jail "a long time" and wanted to go home to his mother's house, and shaking his head no when asked if he was being harassed by corrections officers. He also told the psychologist that he heard voices and said of other inmates, "There's people trying to read my mind."

He was also neatly shaven and groomed, Mattiuzzi reported.

"It's highly unusual to see someone who was that divorced from reality be that clean," the psychologist said.

Mattiuzzi also said Tuite had no problem communicating to jail guards that he wanted to leave the psychological evaluation early.

"Did he say anything that was flat-out bizarre" such as "beam me up to the starship," asked Special Assistant Attorney General David Druliner.

"No, he didn't say anything like that," said Mattiuzzi.

On cross-examination by Tuite's lawyer, Brad Patton, the psychologist acknowledged that Tuite heard voices or "auditory hallucinations" that disturbed him, but denied that the voices alone meant he was unfit for trial.

"I don't see any way in which they are interfering with his ability to assist with counsel," he said.

In two previous cases, Tuite was sent to a state hospital for about six months and then returned to court. His lawyer says that, in spite of the incompetence claims, the defense is eager to get to trial, where he will contend that police were right the first time and Michael Crowe and his friends are the real culprits.

The hearing is to continue Wednesday morning with testimony from a defense psychiatrist who contends Tuite is incompetent.