This is the story we’ve been following for years, where a teenage Albuquerque girl was nearly bludgeoned to death with a shovel in her home in 2008. The case remained unsolved until Brittani Marcel came up with the name Justin Hansen after a hypnotherapy session. Hansen did not contest the crime, which he claimed he did not commit. Deputy District Attorneys explained why they chose hypnotherapy after releasing the entire video to KOAT Action 7 News. The hour-and-a-half hypnotherapy session with Marcel was one of two options they were considering to move forward with the case. “The case was essentially stalled, waiting for a potential DNA hit,” said Deputy District Attorney David Waymeier. All they had was a crime scene photo and a drop of blood, from the person who attacked Marcel.Weymeyer said, “When we find ourselves in a situation like this, it doesn’t matter if we try. It was obvious that there wasn’t,” he said. Investigators said they considered two options: sending the DNA to a private lab or trying to recover some of the DNA. Weymeyer said hypnosis has limited value in court and has used it in other cases as a witness to a murder, but he said it was difficult. Relying on hypnosis to prove the point. In Brittani’s case, it was used to show how she eventually regained her memories in 2016, including the name of her attacker, Justin Hansen. Ta. He said whatever triggered Brittani’s memory to return was a game-changer in the case, which is now just weeks away from being finally closed. Justin Hansen will be sentenced on July 25th and could face up to 18 years in prison.
This is the story we’ve been following for years, the Albuquerque teenager who was nearly bludgeoned to death with a shovel in her home in 2008.
The case wasn’t solved until Brittani Marcel came up with the name Justin Hansen after a hypnotherapy session. Hansen did not contest the crime, but said he did not commit it. After the deputy district attorney released the entire video to KOAT Action 7 News, he explained why he chose hypnotherapy.
An hour-and-a-half hypnotherapy session with Marcel was one of two options they considered to move the case forward after six years without answers.
“The case was essentially stalled, waiting for a potential DNA hit,” said Deputy District Attorney David Waymeier.
All they had was a crime scene photo and a drop of blood, the blood of the person who attacked Marcel with a shovel in 2008.
“It made sense that if we were in this situation, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to try,” Weymeyer said.
He said investigators considered two options: sending the DNA to a private lab or trying to restore some of Brittani’s memories through hypnotherapy.
“It makes sense to try to end the litigation,” he said.
Mr. Waymeyer said hypnosis has limited value in a courtroom, and although he has used hypnosis in other cases as a witness to a murder case, it is difficult to rely on hypnosis to prove a fact. said. In Brittani’s case, it was used to show how she eventually regained her memories in 2016, and also included the name of her attacker, Justin Hansen.
“It’s possible that it was hypnosis and that over the years her memories started to unravel, but we’ll never know for sure,” he says.
He said whatever triggered Brittani’s memory to return was a game-changer in the case, which is now just weeks away from being finally closed. Justin Hansen will be sentenced on July 25th and could face up to 18 years in prison.
