An expert witness in the mental competency trial for Sumner Redstone said that the Viacom and CBS Corp. chairman emeritus’ mental status has been “severely compromised.”
Taking the stand Friday, Dr. Stephen Read, a witness for Redstone’s former caregiver Manuela Herzer, said, “My opinion is that his mental status was severely compromised to a degree that he does not have the requisite mental capacity to understand and appreciate the consequences of his actions changing his health care directive in October 16, 2015.”
Herzer, a former girlfriend who served as Redstone’s caregiver until last October, is seeking a court’s judgment that Redstone, 92, was unable to tend to his own affairs at the time and that she was wrongfully removed from her position.
Read went on to testify that Redstone is “extremely vulnerable to undue influence” and “manifests features of dementia” that are “towards the severe end of moderate.”
The doctor, who examined Redstone in January, called the mogul “a very thin shadow of what he was. He has a sense of who he was and a confidence, but he’s unable to evaluate the things that are around him.”
Read claimed on Friday that Redstone has “grave difficulty swallowing” but denied the problem during the exam, which the doctor claimed bears “directly to the issue of his awareness of his own health care.”
Herzer’s attorney Pierce O’Donnell claimed that he would provide evidence that Redstone was fooled by people who impersonated his caregivers, which Read said “would show a mental inability to detect obvious fraud. That would speak to delusion. It certainly speaks to how porous he is in terms of his susceptibility to influence.”
Asked if Redstone was mentally impaired when he chose to change his health care and turn oversight to his daughter Shari, Read replied, “In my opinion, yes.”
During opening statements Friday, O’Donnell told the court that Redstone and Herzer had enjoyed a “modern day love story” until their “love was sabotaged.”
“Sumner firmly believes he was betrayed. Without any explanation or confrontation without any farewell. Forever,” O’Donnell said. “Manuela is devastated and inconsolable Her soulmate has been ripped out of her life.”
Redstone’s attorney Robert Klieger, meanwhile, contended that Redstone willfully ousted Herzer in October when she conspired to deceive him.
“Mr. Redstone does not tolerate lies. He will not stay with people who lie to him,” Klieger said.