Dr. Matthew Soulier

So my name is Dr. Matthew Soulier and I'm a child forensic psychiatrist.

I was hired by his attorney in 2013 to evaluate him as part of his original trial.

My job really was to kind of explore his life history, beginning with birth until the day I was meeting him, and try to get a sense of what his life story is, some of his more critical experiences and relationships, history of trauma.

And specifically, as it related to the defense, I needed him to tell me about what he did.

And I needed to try to figure out if, in fact, he was, if it was going to be my opinion that he was criminally responsible or not.

In 2013, I met him at the Yolo County Juvenile Hall, and he was dressed in typical juvenile hall attire.

He was a different kind of kid.

I mean, it does stick out to me that there was a coldness to him.

Despite even the number of hours that I spent with him, I didn't feel that, I mean, there was a heart or that there was a feeling in him.

In fact...

I asked him, what are you thinking about?

And he said, I'm thinking about killing you.

I'm thinking about taking that pen on your table right there and shoving it in your neck.

I'm thinking about taking your laptop and crushing it over your head.

It's my belief that Daniel wasn't born a bad seed.

I don't believe in that.

Daniel clearly changed around the age of 10.

By everybody's observation and what we could gather about him, he wasn't a terrible kid up until age 10.

But you don't think he was born that way?

No, no.