NORTHAMPTON – The Forensic psychologist who diagnosed Bryan Johnston with paranoid schizophrenia continued answering prosecutor’s questions Friday, denying suggestions that Johnston is “faking it.”

“Mr. Johnston is not lingering in my opinion,” said Dr. Carol Feldman, a forensic psychologist from Boston. “He suffers from paranoid schizophrenia; he’s not playing to the camera at all.”

Feldman believed Johnston to be suffering from the illness after her first evaluation six days after the shooting. Feldman didn’t officially diagnose Johnston until Feb. 4, 2005. Johnston is on trial for the Dec. 7, 2004 murder of David “Sully” Sullivan, a University of Massachusetts student and friend of Johnston.

Feldman said the diagnosis was the result of numerous interviews.

Prosecutor Renee Steese focused on the fact that Feldman’s interviews each lasted only a little over an hour, which she said could allow for Johnston to more easily fake the illness. Steese said longer interviews would make it more difficult.

“Sustained amphetamine and cocaine use could allow for visual hallucinations such as those in paranoid schizophrenia,” said Steese.

While Feldman says she is aware of Johnston’s history of drug abuse, when asked if she had researched the drugs while conducting her evaluation, she said she hadn’t. Johnston said his drug use stopped after a sexual assault in Hawaii that he believes Sullivan arranged. However, Feldman said she was aware of his cocaine and alcohol abuse upon moving back to Massachusetts.

When Steese asked Feldman why she hadn’t conducted a follow-up interview regarding the drug abuse in Massachusetts, she said it wasn’t necessary due to corroborating testimony from several friends and family.

“Whenever Bryan did cocaine and alcohol, the episodes seemed to come out,” Feldman said while reading a statement from Johnston’s friend.

Feldman also read an excerpt from her report regarding Johnston’s steroid use. In the interview, Johnston had said about his steroid use, “it wasn’t to get as big as possible but as a self defense because there were a lot of people out to get me.” Johnston told Feldman that those people included the mafia and the IRA.

Steese was critical of Feldman’s diagnosis, believing Johnston was indeed aware of the severity of the crime due to the 4 a.m. telephone call he made to his mother just hours after the murder.

Johnston allegedly told his mother he “had to flee the country because the mob was after him” and that “the police might find the body.”

When Steese asked, “Does Johnston’s claim to need to get out of the country show appreciation of the severity of the murder?” Feldman denied the suggestion saying, “It would indicate that David Sullivan was part of the mob and that they’d now be after him.”

Johnston believes cameras and microphones were set up in his Hawaii apartment, his parent’s home, as well as in a shower when he was in Albany, N.Y. Feldman says Johnston believes Sullivan said to him, “we paid to have you raped” and that was when Sullivan became the focus of Johnston’s delusion.

Steese explained to the court multiple incidents when Johnston exhibited reckless and careless behavior that often involved alcohol use. Steese pointed out that, at times, Johnston would brandish a gun at a bar over something as trivial as someone being in his way. She also stated he shot a gun out the window while driving with friends in Leverett, and during a separate incident, shooting across the lanes at street signs into oncoming traffic on Interstate 91.

Johnston claimed he hadn’t spoken to Sullivan since he made a comment towards his girlfriend while attending a June 2004 wedding of mutual friends until the fateful night of Dec. 7, 2004.

“I felt uncontrollable rage that I hadn’t felt before,” Johnston said about the last time they spoke when Sullivan hung up the phone. Something Feldman believes isn’t a delusional statement when asked by Steese.

While Johnston pled insanity, the prosecution is pushing for first-degree murder charges, believing Johnston was indeed aware of the severity of the crime.

Testimony will resume today in Hampshire Superior Court, marking the tenth day of the trial, which could wrap-up as early as this week.