Oops, I forgot

During his testimony, psychologist Robert Berland tried to explain why John Couey was not given a current IQ test until a few days before the trial -- even though he was hired by the defense in 2005.

He said he had administered a 1955 version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale to Couey in July of 2006. This was to assess the defendant for brain damage, not IQ, he said, which was why he used an outdated test.

Couey scored an 85. A 70 is generally considered the cutoff for mental retardation.

However, because IQ tests become outdated around every decade, that means the score of 85 should probably be reduced by around 10 points to become accurate, Berland said. That would put Couey at 75, within the margin of error for the retardation cutoff.

But Berland said the idea of assessing Couey for retardation didn't occur to him until he came across an old "quick and dirty" Department of Corrections test that put Couey's IQ at 71.

"Oh my gosh," he said he responded. We'll have to assess Couey using a current test.

Then, Berland claims, he forgot about it.

Until a week before the trial.

"Something reminded me" he said, and he hurriedly contacted Dr. Richard Carpenter, asking him to test Couey using the most recent version of the WAIS.

Carpenter performed the assessment Feb. 8. Couey scored a 64. The trial started Feb. 12.

-- Elena Lesley