It is not possible to evaluate Justina Ellis' state of mind the night she killed her seven-week-old daughter last year, according to expert testimony in Yukon Supreme Court.

'She is so unreliable as a historian,' forensic psychiatrist Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe told the court Monday.

If his task was to determine Ellis' state of mind at the time of the killing, he told the court, it would be almost impossible.

This is a result of both Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and borderline personality disorder, Lohrasbe testified.

Second-degree murder charges were laid against Ellis in August 2004 after she led police to the body of her infant daughter. The body of Samara Olson was found in a garbage can behind the Klondike Kate's Restaurant and Cabins in Dawson City.

She pleaded guilty Monday to the reduced charge of manslaughter.

Ellis does not have a good memory, which is 'part and parcel' of FASD, he explained. When there are holes in her memory, she fills in the gaps, he said.

'What she doesn't remember, she tends to make up.'

This process of filling in holes in the memory is called confabulation. It is a psychological term often associated with dementia, he said, and is different from lying, or being outright deceitful.

It is hard to decipher when Ellis is confabulating, Lohrasbe said, versus when she is retelling events in a light which will boost her self-esteem and when she is being deceitful.

Another result of borderline personality disorder is a lack of control over acting on emotions, the Vancouver-based doctor said.

A key element of treatment is teaching people with the disorder to learn to rein in their actions, he told Justice Ron Veale.

'Just because you feel like you want to die doesn't mean you have to kill yourself,' he said.

There is a very high suicide rate among those with the disorder, especially in the teenage and young adult years.

'(Ellis) has a fairly severe version of this personality disorder,' he said, which is commonly associated with women who experienced sexual abuse as children.

While Ellis is 23, Lohrasbe said her cognitive development was more like that of a 13-year-old.

'I was surprised by just how immature she is,' Lohrasbe told the court. 'To me, she comes across as a child in many ways.'

Immaturity is also a characteristic of FASD, Dr. Kwadwo Asante told the court this morning by phone.

An FASD specialist in B.C. and the Yukon, he said he had diagnosed Ellis as FASD partial.

This means that while she has some characteristics that are typical among those with FASD, she does not have all of them.

Specifically, while she suffers from brain damage and has a small stature, her face does not have abnormalities that are often associated with the disorder, Asante said.

He clarified that 'partial' does not mean a milder form of the disorder, but only that some of the physical characteristics may not be present.

'The brain is always affected,' he said.

In order to come to this diagnosis, Asante said, Ellis met with a psychologist for four to six hours, a speech pathologist for two to three hours and met with him for about two hours.

The multi-disciplinary approach of the test is important because FASD affects so many aspects of life including behaviour, learning and the ability to function in daily life.

One main issue for people with FASD, including Ellis, is difficulty linking cause to effect, he said.

This is also related to memory deficit, he said, in that it is not always possible to link past events to the present.

When asked if Ellis would be able to relate a previous assault on one of her children to the most recent incident, which caused the death of her infant daughter, Asante said it was unlikely.

Ellis was probably acting impulsively, without thinking about the past or consequences, he said.

'She probably didn't plan it in terms of forethought.'

This issue, of memory deficit, also affects the effectiveness of punishment, according to Asante.

A person with FASD does not necessarily link a long prison sentence with the act that landed them in jail, he explained.

'They have a lack of long-term association with what got them in trouble.'

Both Asante and Lohrasbe suggested that Ellis needs a concrete, structured living environment with frequent and long-term access to counselling and therapy. This support needs to extend beyond time served in jail, as well, they said.

'Long-term means years in effect,' Asante said.

In a phone interview from the Fraser Valley Institute, a women's prison in Abbotsford, B.C., parole officer Shawna O'Connor told the court yesterday there is a structured living program for which Ellis may be suitable.

The program is voluntary, however, and Ellis would have to consent to living in that environment.

It attempts to deal with violence holistically, O'Connor said.

There is also a program aimed at first nations women in particular, called Spirit of the Warrior.

Since Ellis pleaded guilty to manslaughter, the current court hearing is being held to establish the specifics of her sentence, such as where she will serve her time, and how long she will be required to spend there.

The sentencing hearing is set to continue this afternoon.