6. Dr. Fred Fason
Dr. Fred Fason was the psychologist and hypnotist who worked with Candy to uncover memories related to the incident.
Dr. Fred Fason was the Houston psychiatrist and clinical hypnotist who ultimately handed the defense their winning strategy. Brought in by attorney Don Crowder, Fason put Candy under hypnosis to figure out exactly what was going through her head during the fight.
Through a series of taped sessions, Fason concluded that when Betty told Candy to “shhh,” it triggered a deeply buried childhood trauma. In court, he testified that this specific trigger caused Candy to suffer a severe dissociative break. His argument was that she didn’t act out of cold-blooded malice; she was in a state of psychological panic and completely lost control of her actions.
While Fason’s testimony was the undeniable key to Candy’s shocking acquittal, it sparked massive public and professional backlash. Critics and fellow psychologists argued that hypnosis had absolutely no place in a courtroom, warning that it could easily distort memories or plant false ones. Despite the intense controversy, Fason stood firmly by his methods, making this trial a historic example of how psychological testimony can completely flip a verdict.
