Chris Hatcher, Ph.D., (1946–1999) was a clinical psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was an expert in police and forensic psychology.
He served as an effective consultant on site once violence was threatened, working to free employees from the fear created by the threats.
He advocated a multidisciplinary approach in responding to and containing workplace violence through, among other methods, effective employee assistance programs.
Also, Hatcher's testimony was characterized as an improper attempt by the prosecution to sway the jury toward a death sentence on the grounds of extreme mental illness, contrary to law and precedent.
He went through each of the hypothetical facts in the case—kidnapping, hanging, whipping, being locked in a box, starvation and sensory deprivation, describing each of them as coercive techniques used by sadistic persons to control another human being.
After the verdict was rendered and Hooker was convicted of seven of the eight counts, the judge commended the jury for their "intelligence" in accepting Hatcher's testimony rather than that of the defense expert.