Evaluation to come at state’s expense

State taxpayers will pick up the tab for a hermaphrodite suspected of theft to be evaluated by a private psychologist, her attorney said Monday.

Storme Shannon Aerison, 43, is charged with theft, fraud and bond-jumping in a case that’s seven years old.

Her court-appointed attorney, Karin Bagn, told 4th Judicial District Judge Edward Colt via conference call from Canada that the state’s Alternate Defense Council office agreed to pick up the tab for another psychological evaluation.

Psychologists from the state mental hospital in Pueblo ruled Aerison competent to stand trial, determining she wasn’t insane at the time of the alleged crimes. Aerison has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Defense experts have previously testified that Aerison suffers from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. Colt has ruled in the past that Aerison is competent to stand trail, agreeing with doctors who said Aerison was “feigning cognitive impairment in an effort to avoid prosecution.”

A jury will ultimately have to decide if Aerison was sane at the time of the alleged crimes.

Bagn repeated Monday that Aerison is terrified of the prospect of having to serve time in a male prison.

According to previous court testimony, Aerison was born Charles Daugherty with male and female genitalia and never had sexassignment surgery. She is being held in isolation at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center.

Colorado Springs police investigators allege Aerison posed as a supermodel and defrauded photographers, calendar companies and overseas hotels out of money, airline tickets and rooms. In one case, Aerison convinced an Air Force Academy cadet, a Colorado State University student and a West Point cadet that she was a swimsuit model, conning them into paying for a photo shoot in Hawaii.

Aerison made national news in 1990 when, at the age of 26, she was arrested for criminal impersonation for enrolling at Coronado High School as a 17-year-old and joining the female cheerleading squad.

The next court date in the case is Sept. 12.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0110 or dennis.huspeni@gazette.com