The State's Psychiatrist Reads the Bloody Sword Messages and Calls It Coercive Control | Pt 26

Fifteen hours of messages. A forensic psychiatrist read all of them. And he told this jury there is a clinical name for what Isaac Apodaca was doing to Kiara McCulley. Dr. Michael Welner is the State's forensic psychiatrist, and he is the last witness of the fifth day of the Bloody Sword murder trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Grace Jennings was twenty one years old and newly engaged when she was killed with a three foot sword in a detached garage on Jaguar Drive. Kiara McCulley swung it. She has already pleaded guilty. Isaac Apodaca never touched the weapon, and the State has charged him with first degree murder anyway, because they say he built the killing through his phone. Can text messages make you a murderer when someone else swings the sword? Everything in this trial has been circling that question. This is the witness the State brought to answer it. He was not asked about Isaac Apodaca's guilt. He was asked about the dynamics between two people, and he answered with the language of his field: coercive control, and gaslighting. Then he did the thing that makes this hour different from everything else in this trial. He read Isaac's own messages back to the jury and showed them what they were built to do. Watch the defense stand up. Their case against this witness is real and they land it: he never evaluated Isaac Apodaca, he never interviewed Kiara McCulley, he has diagnosed nobody, and he built his entire opinion out of a file the prosecution handed him. Both of those things are true at once, and twelve people have to hold them both. --- WATCH WITH JUSTICE 0:00:05 to 0:17:50 - He is sworn and qualified. Thirty years, a few hundred murder cases, board certified twice over. Notice what the defense does not do here, because they do not object to him at all. 0:17:51 to 0:25:15 - What he was actually hired to answer, and it is not what you would expect. Not guilt. Not the confession. The dynamics between Isaac and Kiara. Then he tells the jury the clinical name for it, and points at the sex work as the proof the pattern was already running. 0:25:16 to 0:36:10 - Gaslighting, defined by a doctor rather than by the internet. Listen to it carefully and then think about the rape video Isaac described to her and never showed her, the one she now says she is not even sure was real. 0:36:11 to 0:47:45 - This is the worst stretch of the trial for Isaac Apodaca, and it does not depend on Kiara's word at all. It comes out of the messages. The persuasions. The inducements. A soundproofed barn. And the last thing he ever sent her before she picked up the sword. 0:57:34 to 1:05:00 - The cross opens badly for the defense. They ask an open question and this witness answers it in a way they will regret. Then they change tactics, start forcing yes or no, and land the point that matters: he never met either of these people. 1:05:01 to 1:24:00 - The best exchange of the day. The defense goes after the assault charge that got dismissed, and his answer about why she dropped it will stay with you. Then they ask him whether he is claiming to know what was in Isaac Apodaca's mind. Listen to how carefully he says no. 1:38:00 to 1:44:20 - The redirect, and an answer that hands the defense something they have been chasing since nine o'clock this morning. Watch what he says about sitting in this courtroom and listening to Kiara McCulley testify. --- COMPLETE CASE COVERAGE justiceisaprocess.com SUBSCRIBE for daily trial coverage and hit the notification bell so you never miss testimony. JOIN to unlock the Case Notebook powered by NotebookLM, where you can chat with the evidence, ask questions about testimony, and go deeper than any comment section allows. CASE BACKGROUND REPORT: https://justiceisaprocess.com/nm-v-ap... Complete case overview: the charges, the timeline, the people at the center, the pretrial rulings that shaped this battlefield, and the legal questions that will decide it. Read this before you watch a minute of testimony. PLAYLISTS AND RESOURCES Website: https://justiceisaprocess.com/coverag... Full Trial Live Broadcasts:    • NM v. Isaac Apodaca - Live Broadcast   No Breaks Edition:    • NM v. Isaac Apodaca - No Breaks Edition   Trial Analysis Podcast:    • NM v. Isaac Apodaca - Case Story Trial Pod...   Key Moments and Testimony:    • NM v. Isaac Apodaca - Key Moments and Clips   Subscribe for Daily Coverage:    / @justiceisaprocess   FAIR USE AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE This content is produced under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. 107) for news reporting, criticism, and educational purposes. We provide transformative commentary on public court proceedings, advancing public understanding of the judicial process through timestamps, analysis, and educational context. #JusticeIsAProcess #SantaFeSwordMurder #Apodaca