Media surround jurors after they found Susan Polk guilty of second degree murder of her husband Felix.
Posted on 06/16/2006 3:31:29 PM PDT by SmithL
MARTINEZ - A jury today convicted an Orinda housewife of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her husband, a psychologist she met as a teenage patient and later married.
The jury deliberated three days before deciding that Susan Polk, 48, killed her husband, 70-year-old Felix Polk in 2002 during a fight in the pool house of their home.
The defendant, who represented herself at trial, looked relieved when the clerk pronounced her not guilty of first-degree, but showed no reaction when the final second-degree guilty verdict was read.
Prosecutor Paul Sequeira pushed back in his chair when he heard the verdict and expelled a long breath.
Polk had testified that she lived in an abusive marriage for decades, and that her husband victimized her by rape and through hypnosis.
She faces a prison term of 15 years to life.
Polk told the jury that that on Oct. 13, 2002, her husband attacked her and she defended herself by stabbing him. A pathologist who testified on her behalf said the victim's stab wounds were not fatal, and he ultimately died of a heart attack.
During the trial, Polk made dozen of motions for mistrial, usually accusing the prosecutor and judge of misconduct and colluding with each other for a conviction.
Two of her three sons testified against her, one saying she spoke on a regular basis about killing her husband and the other saying his father was not abusive.
At a news conference after the verdict, jurors told a crowd of reporters that the testimony of Polk's youngest son, Gabriel, was the main factor that swayed their decision. Gabriel Polk testified that he had opened the door of the pool house and found his father death. He then called 911, saying he believed his mother had killed his father.
"Gabriel's testimony . . . kind of helped me . . . the fact that he was 15 and called 911," said juror Kathy Sommese.
Jurors said they ruled out Polk's claim of self-defense early on, never considering her theory that her husband had died of a heart attack.
"That was kind of irrelevant . . . even if you did have a heart attack, it doesn't affect our decision because he died by stab wounds," Sommese said.
They said they were unsure about the prosecutor's theory that losing custody of her youngest son and a portion of her alimony enraged her enough to murder her husband.
"I think we all speculated what the motives are," Sommese said. "I don't know . . . possibly money . . . it has a long family history."
But the evidence at the crime scene and Polk's actions afterward helped convinced them of a murder verdict.
"We thought the crime scene supported a murder verdict," said juror Pat Roland. "And when we moved past that and got to the suppression of the evidence . . . all the way to (Susan Polk) moving (Felix Polk's) the car to the BART station, to the statement to the detectives that night was inconsistent . . . and the shock theory just wasn't there for us."
They never discussed her courtroom demeanor of constant arguing, objections and insults.
"It's funny the way that never came up in the jury room," Roland said.
But overall, they did not believe much of her testimony.
"We didn't think Ms. Polk was credible . . . whether we liked her or not," said jury forewoman Lisa Cristwell.
Polk's middle son testified on her behalf, backing up her statements that his father abused her and influenced schools and the justice system when the son got in trouble to control the family.
Polk told the jury that her husband was a spy and hypnotized her, using her psychic powers to predict world events, including assassinations and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Before taking on the role of defense attorney, Polk had hired and fire four attorneys. A first trial ended in a mistrial in October when the wife of her then-attorney, Daniel Horowitz, was killed.
Ping
I find that sentence weirdness.
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