Posted on 04/20/2006 7:21:22 PM PDT by SmithL
MARTINEZ -- As Susan Polk spent a third day sparring with her eldest son during her murder trial today, it was clear his patience was wearing thin as she quizzed him about his brother's foster parents and her belief that she's been framed in the killing of her husband.
"You're bonkers!" Adam Polk, 23, told his mother in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez. "You're cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!"
Judge Laurel Brady covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as the UCLA English and philosophy student invoked the catchphrase Sonny the Cuckoo Bird used in advertisements for the popular kids' cereal.
Undaunted, Polk, 48 -- who is defending herself on charges that she murdered her 70-year-old psychotherapist husband, Felix Polk, in 2002 -- asked why he apparently was changing his testimony and siding against her in what she believed to be a "frame job" by the authorities.
Polk asked her son if he knew of her belief that investigators used Adobe PhotoShop image-editing software to manipulate and doctor autopsy photographs of his father, and that such conspiracies often appear "in books, movies and television."
"I don't think the whole county would conspire to convict a housewife," he replied.
But don't the authorities lie, Polk asked, following up by asking if two men running for president made differing claims, would he think both were telling the truth.
"I have faith in the authorities that run this great country," he said, prompting titters from the courtroom gallery.
Polk stands accused of killing her husband in the pool house of their Orinda home during an unfriendly divorce. She claims she killed in self-defense. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Dan White had the Twinkie defense,, Susan , cocoa puffs.
MARTINEZ - Susan Polk told her son a few days after her arrest in 2002 that she planned to admit killing her husband, her son testified Wednesday.
"What you told me is that ... 'I'm just going to plead guilty,'" Adam Polk said in a packed courtroom. "You said, 'Things just got out of control,' word-for word. I fall asleep remembering that every night."
Adam Polk, 23, the oldest son of murder defendant Susan Polk, 48, is the second of her three sons to testify at her trial. He and her youngest son, Gabriel Polk, have testified as prosecution witnesses.
Adam Polk mostly fielded questions varying from whether his father brainwashed him to how often he got parking tickets and the sale of the family home until Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady ended the hearing early in response to Polk's accusation of judicial misconduct.
Orinda resident Susan Polk is charged with stabbing to death her 70-year-old husband Felix Polk in 2002. At the time, she denied involvement in his death and later pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
She said in 2005 that she lived in an abusive relationship and killed him in self-defense.
Polk asked her son Wednesday whether he recalled telling her in jail that her story sounded like self-defense and he would become a lawyer and defend her.
"I never said any of that," Adam Polk responded, shaking his head, looking directly at his mother. "You may have had a dream about that."
Adam Polk had testified Tuesday that his father did not abuse his mother and that Susan Polk once told him that maybe she should kill his father.
He appeared relaxed, often sitting back in his chair, sometimes leaning against the witness stand. In response to many of his mother's questions about whether he remembered an event, he began his answer with: "No, that's a fabrication."
At one point, Susan Polk asked whether he threatened to testify against her if she refused to give up control of the family's assets.
"You're just a cruel-hearted person," her son replied. "You should never have had children."
During a line of questioning about the values she tried to instill in her children, she asked her son whether she had ever done anything illegal. He told the jury that he watched her and his brother Eli, a defense witness, eat magic mushrooms together.
Polk has worn skirts and blouses in the courtroom for almost all of the trial. This week she has appeared wearing the green pants and gray sweat shirt of women in custody.
The judge ended the testimony 30 minutes early after Polk stood up, raised her voice and pointed her finger to accuse Brady of unfairly sustaining the prosecutor's objections. Deputies surrounded Polk as Brady warned her to stop disobeying her orders.
"This is not a therapy session between you and your sons," Brady said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.