Guilty, but mentally ill.

A North Carolina surgeon was sent to prison Monday after pleading guilty to the kidnapping of his son, which ended in a shootout with police.

“I don’t think Dr. (Scott) Haddon has any idea of the trauma he’s put this family through, not a single clue,” Circuit Court Judge James Williams said.

“I, quite frankly, can’t recall a situation where I felt I could not protect society. I have a real question about being able to protect” the community, the judge added. Williams said the best protection is to keep Haddon away from his family.

Dr. Werner Scott Haddon, 49, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, first-degree burglary and assault of a high and aggravated nature.

Williams sentenced Haddon to 40 years for burglary, 30 for kidnapping and 10 for the assault charge. The sentences are to be served at the same time.

By law, Haddon must serve 85 percent of the combined sentences, which means he will be at least 82 years old before he is eligible for parole.

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe said, “Any man who would use his son as a shield and put a gun to his temple doesn’t deserve mercy, and he didn’t get it today.

“There’s millions out there who suffer from this same illness as Dr. Haddon, and they’re not committing these acts of violence.”

Defense attorney Dan Luginbill introduced medical testimony that suggests Haddon suffers from a mental illness affecting his ability to interact in a socially acceptable manner. Haddon suffers from a form of autism known as Asperger’s Syndrome, said Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts, a professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“There’s part of his brain that works incredibly well,” Schwartz-Watts said. “But there’s other parts of his mind that do not work well.”

Testifying as an expert in the field of psychiatry, Schwartz-Watts said Haddon is not able to “step outside of himself” and consider how his actions affect others.

“It’s a brain dysfunction,” she said. “I want to be clear: there is no cure.”

Pascoe said he agrees with the mental assessment but it didn’t justify the duct tape and night vision goggles found in Haddon’s rental car less than a mile from the scene.

“There is no doubt in my mind he was stalking that family,” Pascoe said.

Court documents indicate Haddon and his wife, Ginger Kearse-Haddon, divorced in 1996, resulting in a three-year custody battle over their then-infant son.

In June 2004, Haddon was charged by Orangeburg police with stalking his former wife and was ordered to undergo behavioral evaluations. He was ordered to have no contact with his son other than letters.

In spite of a month of incarceration in a physician’s care, Haddon threatened to return to kill everyone around his former wife to cause her suffering, family members say.

Haddon didn’t surface again until last year.

Virginia Kearse testified that she was alone on the gazebo at her Brookside Drive home around 6:20 a.m. on May 21. Her daughter, Ginger, had gone to work while her grandson, Nicholas, slept.

She was in the middle of her morning coffee when the ordeal with Haddon began.

“When I looked back up, I was looking at a tall man dressed in black,” she said. “He reached up with his right hand and pulled his hood off. I recognized him then.”

Kearse said she prayed to God she would be able to trigger an alarm as she was forced into her home.

Haddon became upset, she said, with her setting off the alarm. He wanted her to turn it off, but her efforts set it off three more times.

“And I saw two Department of Public Service (Safety) cruisers flying down the street on the other side of the creek,” Kearse said. “They pulled up at the end of the driveway, and they told me, ‘Get to the end of the driveway, get to the end of the driveway.’”

Just seconds later, four officers rushed toward the house where Haddon held Nicholas at gunpoint. A gun battle ensued.

“I heard two shots. I said, ‘He’s done shot Nicholas,’” Kearse said. “And then I heard Nicholas, then I heard one more shot. I knew he (Nicholas) was killed.”

What Kearse couldn’t see was that two officers confronted Haddon while a third was nearby. They ordered Haddon to surrender.

“He’s still got Nicholas around the neck area, holding the gun. He’s backing up on the driveway, and he’s saying, ‘I’m not going to jail,’” Pascoe said.

Pascoe said the officers attempted to use Tasers against Haddon. As they did, Haddon fired a .40-caliber Glock at the officers.

“Sgt. (Chris) Murdaugh, he testified he thought he had been shot,” Pascoe said of the exchange of gunfire at 10 feet. The Taser was used again, which allowed Nicholas to escape, he said.

With the child clear, an officer opened fire on the armed man, striking Haddon.

“When I saw him (Nicholas) running down the driveway, that was the most beautiful sight,” Kearse said.

Wounded by two gunshots in the lower back, Haddon was taken to the Regional Medical Center, where he was later released to attend his bond hearing.

Haddon’s mother and two sisters asked the court for a lenient sentence, saying their sibling had suffered illnesses, such as the measles, that may have affected his decisions as an adult. They said he also had a troubled early home life.

But Williams told the 49-year-old that his plea of guilty but mentally ill still holds him accountable.

“In the legal language, that means you knew right from wrong but that you lacked the ability to control your conduct,” the judge said.

Schwartz-Watts said Haddon will most likely need treatment for the balance of his life.

Luginbill said the May 21 shoot-out could have been avoided if certain measures had been taken four years ago.

“The system failed,” he said. “If he had of been diagnosed earlier with tests for it, we would of caught it, complied with Family Court.”

n T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

 

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