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- The most difficult challenge for prosecutors may be persuading the jury that Sarah's ailment is genuine. MPD is so difficult to diagnose that estimates of the number of U.S. cases vary wildly, from 7,000 to as many as 16,000. The American Psychiatric Association did not recognize the disorder as a legitimate mental illness until 1980. "Multiple-personality disorder is a very, very rare condition. Because of TV talk shows, it has become the disease of the month and the plea of the year," says Dr. Darold Treffert, director of the Fond du Lac County Health Care Center, who is expected to testify for the defense. "It's a condition that's fairly easily induced in a very suggestible patient."
Therein lies the core of Peterson's defense. "I'm not convinced that ((Sarah's)) mentally ill or deficient," says his lawyer, Edward Salzsieder. As to the issue of consent, he argues, "If she appears to be perfectly normal and we have sexual contact between consenting adults, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it." Salzsieder maintains that the defendant had no idea that Sarah was mentally ill. At the time of his arrest, though, Peterson admitted to the police that he knew Sarah had several personalities and said that young Emily was "peeking" during their sexual activities.
Winnebago County district attorney Joe Paulus believes he can demonstrate that Sarah was mentally ill and therefore victimized. Peterson, he charges, "learned about her disease, then called upon the personality that most wanted to have sex. He even told the manipulative personality ((Jennifer)) to keep it their little secret."
While the testimony of Sarah and her various personalities promises to be riveting, Salzsieder may attack her credibility as a witness. That issue is causing considerable debate among experts. Within the legal system, says John Parry, director of the American Bar Association's Commission on the Mentally Disabled, "there's a great deal of disbelief about this disorder, a concern that people are faking."
Dr. Frank Putnam of the Maryland-based National Institute of Mental Health counters that people with the disorder are no less honest than anyone else. But, he warns, "they may have trouble with memory of some facts, since amnesia is one of the complications of this condition." Peterson's trial, however, is one that no one else is likely to forget.