GOLDEN — A child psychiatrist who evaluated Michael Tate's sanity said he is one of the most disturbed children he has ever seen.

Tate is on trial in Jefferson County District Court for first-degree murder in the death of Steven Fitzgerald, 41, who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in his garage. Tate claims he is not guilty by reason of insanity.

Tate, then 16, and Fitzgerald's son, Michael, 17, were runaways from social services when they broke into the Fitzgerald family's Westminster home on Nov. 8, 2004. Michael Fitzgerald is serving a 62-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

"Michael has one of the most severe psychiatric histories you'll ever see in a career," said Dr. John Hardy. "This is a youngster who before three years of age had evidence of a very abnormal infancy and early childhood."

Hardy said Tate’s behaviors are consistent with severe physical and sexual abuse at an early age. He and his brother were removed from their mother when he was 3 years old.

Tate was put in a psychiatric hospital for the first time at age 5 and has been in and out of such institutions every since, Hardy said.

"For a six-year-old child to attempt to kill himself by ingesting poison, that is something you rarely ever see."

Hardy is expected to complete his testimony this afternoon and give an opinion on Tate's sanity at the time of the crime.

Hardy said he disagreed with the opinion of Dr. David Johnson, who concluded that Tate had a conduct disorder, which is a precursor to anti-social personality disorder commonly seen in criminals.

Hardy said Tate had been psychotic for much of his life, including all kinds of hallucinations in which he believed Satan was speaking to him.