The father of three children allegedly drowned by their mother is asking a judge to compel a psychologist to produce records from her sessions with the woman, saying the medical professional is wrongfully withholding them by contending they contain sensitive information.
But in court papers filed Friday with Pasadena Superior Court Judge Jared D. Moses, attorneys for the Public Defender’s Office say the mother, Liliana Carrillo, has not consented to the release of the records and that neither she nor psychologist Nichole M. Vienna are parties to the civil case. Therefore, the motion by plaintiff Erik Denton, who is suing Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles, should be denied, according to the Public Defender’s Office’s court papers.
“Ms. Carrillo has a reasonable expectation of privacy in her psychiatric records which were produced by request of her defense counsel in preparation for her criminal proceeding,” the Public Defender’s Office attorneys state in their court papers. “Plaintiff has not justified good cause to subpoena and compel Ms. Carrillo’s psychiatric and medical records from Dr. Vienna.”
The requested disclosure would “constitute a serious invasion of Ms. Carillo’s constitutionally protected privacy rights…,” according to the lawyers for the Public Defender’s Office.
The Public Defender’s Office attorneys further note that Carrillo, then 33, was acquitted in October 2024 under a plea of not guilty for plea of insanity in the April 10, 2021, killings of her 6-month-old daughter Sierra, 3-year-old daughter Joanna and 2-year-old son Terry.
Carrillo was admitted to a state mental institution, the criminal court judge maintains ongoing judicial oversight and Carrillo’s attorneys are given all annual progress reports, according to the Public Defender’s Office’s lawyers’ pleadings.
“Therefore, Ms. Carrillo’s case remains open and ongoing and the Public Defender’s Office is still her attorney of record,” according to the Public Defender’s Office’s pleadings.
A hearing on Denton’s motion is scheduled July 10. In his suit filed in April 2022, Denton alleges Los Angeles Police Department members were negligent and did not take seriously the indications that the mental health of Carrillo, the mother of the two girls and one boy, was declining and did not share information they had with county social workers.
But in their court papers, Denton’s attorneys are adamant that Vienna be required to turn over her report regarding Carrillo and any related records.
“This information is relevant to plaintiff’s claims against the city and county of Los Angeles in this case, which centers upon Carrillo’s dangerous mental state and the city and county’s actions in response to reports they received regarding Carrillo’s mental state posing a danger to her children before their deaths,” Denton’s attorneys state in their court papers.
Denton’s attorneys further note in their pleadings that another professional who interviewed Carrillo, Dr. David S. Rad, a psychiatrist, wrote in his report that Vienna opined that Carrillo has a mental disease “within the mood disorder spectrum complicated by symptoms of expansive moods … agitation, racing thoughts, delusions and disordered thinking and behavior that impairs her daily functioning.”
Vienna also believed Carrillo was incapable of knowing or understanding that her act was morally wrong, Rad said, according to Denton’s attorneys’ court papers. But in response to their May subpoena, Denton’s attorneys state Vienna said she would not produce any records because they contain sensitive information, according to the plaintiff’s lawyers’ pleadings.
Vienna’s findings have already been disclosed and shared in the criminal prosecution, and with the criminal court, so there is nothing confidential or privileged about her interviews and examinations of, or conclusions regarding, Carrillo’s mental health when she allegedly killed her three children,