gender: Can Gender Switch Lead To Road Rage?

Can Gender Switch Lead To Road Rage?

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma man in the midst of a sex change went to court on Wednesday to claim gender confusion caused him to shoot another man in a fit of road rage.

Ricky Dewayne Bryen was charged -- under his male name -- with assault in January 1997 for shooting another driver five times with a handgun in a traffic altercation. Victim Kevin Menton survived.

Since then, Bryen, 29, has started the process of changing his sex and is now known legally as Stacy Michelle Bryen.

Bryen appeared for the start of testimony in a skirt, pumps, red lipstick and long blond hair but did not speak. A psychologist testified that Bryen had gender identity disorder, or the belief that he was a man trapped in a woman's body.

Defense attorney Irven Box plans to argue that the disorder caused Bryen to suffer temporary insanity at the time of the shooting.

``It's one of the strangest cases I've ever been in,'' Box told reporters outside the courtroom.