Fort Walton Beach Defense Lawyer Profiled in The Brain Defense by Kevin Davis

News provided by

Feb 28, 2017, 21:31 ET

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla., Feb. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- * Local criminal defense lawyer makes national news with neuroscientific defense.

* Stephen G. Cobb has used SPECT brain imaging in criminal cases since 2005.

* Cobb has been profiled in Kevin Davis' The Brain Defense: MURDER IN MANHATTAN AND THE DAWN OF NEUROSCIENCE IN AMERICA'S COURTROOMS - released February 28, 2017.

* Cobb is the nation's leading legal expert in the use of SPECT brain imaging in criminal cases. http://cobblawfirm.com

Okaloosa County criminal defense attorney, Stephen G. Cobb, was profiled in The Brain Defense, by author Kevin Davis, for his use of brain SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography). Davis visited the area and observed Cobb at the Fort Walton Beach courthouse annex in 2014.

Released today, The Brain Defense: MURDER IN MANHATTAN AND THE DAWN OF NEUROSCIENCE IN AMERICA'S COURTROOMS, profiles Cobb's work extensively in chapter 14.

Cobb pioneered the use of SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) in Northwest Florida and has utilized SPECT brain imaging since 2005. He has had more clients undergo psychiatric evaluations with SPECT brain imaging than any other lawyer nationally, even though he limits his practice to Florida criminal law cases.

"We get a lot of families who are really struggling with the idea of helping a family member 'get off', if they are guilty. But, they are excited to learn that we can help them solve two problems at the same time," Cobb asserted, "the legal problem and the brain disorder that led to the arrest in the first place."

The goal of a SPECT based neuroscience defense is not to prove innocence, according to Cobb. Instead, he uses normal brain images in comparison and contrast to his client's brain images. A psychiatric imaging specialist is available to offer testimony when needed to explain the images, but the comparison and contrast is usually quite dramatic.

Even more striking is the consistent results Cobb has seen since 2005: not a single normal brain scan has been obtained from guilty criminal defendants. This is the theme of Chapter 14 in the The Brain Defense.

"Once we have diagnostic evaluation completed, it fills a three-ring binder with information and a treatment recommendation," Cobb said. The images are a key part of his strategy to explain brain impairment to prosecutors and judges: "You can literally see what the criminal brain actually looks like."

SPECT brain imaging technology literally empowers a defense attorney to show prosecutors and judges what Cobb calls a "Rule 3.992(b) Specialized Treatment Departure" ground, a legal reason for someone to get a treatment-based sentence rather than jail or prison. The end result can be a probation instead of jail or prison, reductions or substitutions of charge and even a negotiated dismissal.

While most defense attorneys are unfamiliar with advanced brain imaging technology, Cobb feels right at home with using it in and out of the courtroom: "We have all of these veterans up and down the coast who were deployed to war zones, survived being in a blast radius or ten, and then they come back and suddenly they want to have sex with a fourteen year old girl. They didn't leave with unusual sexual desires, drug abuse problems or alcohol abuse disorder. They came back with those medical problems. Crime is a medical disorder, and our veterans are one of the most at risk groups out there."

Contact: http://cobblawfirm.com

Photo(s):
https://www.prlog.org/12623141

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Cobb Law Firm, P.A.