PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Punishment of a teenager Stabbed three people outside a restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach in June 2023 pushed back for being put to the test chronic traumatic encephalopathyAlso known as CTE.

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In court filings, Spencer Pearson’s lawyers said they had just learned that new science showed signs of CTE could be detected in brain scans of living subjects, including young athletes.

Pearson, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was due to be sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to aggravated battery and two counts of attempted murder. He stabbed his ex-girlfriend, her mother and a bystander who tried to help 17 times before attempting to slit his own throat.

On October 18, a week before Pearson’s sentence was set, his lawyers asked the court to reverse the decision, writing: “The underlying issue in the case is whether the Defendant suffered repetitive head impacts (RHI) while playing. His involvement in football between the ages of 6 and 18 caused him to have chronic causing him to suffer from traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).”

Forensic psychologist Dr. Justin D’Arienzo explained how CTE works.

“This is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder due to repeated injuries to the brain and can occur in sports and the military,” he said. “We’re often talking about repeated head injuries, resulting in behavioral and cognitive changes.”

Changes may include increased aggression, impulsivity, and greater cognitive difficulties as the disease progresses.

CTE can contribute to crime, D’Arienzo said.

Pearson’s lawyers cite a study published in 2023 in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology that examined the donated brains of 152 deceased contact sport athletes under the age of 30. The study found that 41% of them have CTE, and most are at the high school and college levels. Their sports included football, ice hockey, rugby, soccer and wrestling. According to the study, the most common cause of death was suicide.

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“I believe in this case because we’re waiting for the sentence to be imposed, they’re going to use it to mitigate, to reduce the sentence, to show that this gentleman may have suffered a series of head injuries that then led to CTE. D’Arienzo said he was impulsive and irrational and had a very aggressive outburst and that He said things like, and if he never had CTE, he would never have acted that way,” D’Arienzo said.

Court records show Pearson will be transported for a brain scan next week.

Pearson’s sentence was postponed until November 22.