While there is always lots of interesting political goings on in the Bay Area, I can’t help to read the daily stories on the Polk murder trial. While it doesn’t have the celebrity status of the OJ trial, the Polk trial is the most interesting legal drama in the country today. I’m sure that the writers for "Law and Order" and other TV legal shows have already got copy-cat scripts in the works.

The courtroom happenings are fascinating. For example, this week, the defendant—on trial for murdering her husband and who is acting as her own attorney—objected to something the prosecution said on the grounds of….hyperbole.

First, for some background. For those of you not familiar with the East Bay, Orinda is a small, affluent town on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel from North Oakland. For many “crunchy” Berkeley/Oakland residents, they simply cannot stand to drive “through the tunnel” to Orinda or LaFayette. From the way people on my side of the tunnel talk, you’d think that those communities were hotbeds of right-wing activists. The reality is that most Orinda and LaFayette residents are also liberal, just slightly more reasonable than, say, Tom Bates or Ron Dellums. Plus they live in $2 million homes, belong to hoighty-toighty country clubs and send their kids to some of the state’s highest achieving and wealthy public schools.

Anyway, back to the murder trial. Susan Polk, 47, is on trial for murdering her husband Felix Polk, 70, a Berkeley psychotherapist. The Polks met when Felix was Susan’s psychiatrist when she was a teen. She now says that he drugged and raped her at 15. They married when she was 25 and have three sons. Two sons are cooperating with the prosecution and one is standing with his mother.

Susan Polk is charged with murder after her husband was found stabbed to death in the pool house of their Orinda home. They were in the middle of a divorce. Susan claims that she was the victim of years of physical and mental abuse. Both Susan and Felix seemed to have mental health issues throughout the years. When their boys were young, they jointly charged their sons’ child care facility with abusing the boys, describing the abuse as forms of satanic rituals. The facility was never formally charged.

Earlier this month, Gabriel was in the witness stand and testified that his mother was delusional and had willfully killed his father. He was supposed to go to a baseball game with his father that night and he wondered out loud why his father was not yet home from work, Susan allegedly said, “"Aren’t you happy he’s gone? I am. I guess I didn’t have to use a shotgun, did I?"

This is the second murder trial for the Polk case. The first trial was declared a mistrial after Susan’s attorney David Horowitz’ wife was brutally murdered by a local teen (unrelated to the Polk case). Susan Polk seems to be mentally unbalanced, yet she was determined fit to stand for trial. There is no doubt that we taxpayers will be footing the bill for an appeal after the jury convicts her of murder.

As sad as the circumstances are, particularly for the Polk sons, some of the interaction between Polk, the prosecutor and the judge is simply funny. I’m sure that the prosecutor, Paul Sequeira, and/or the judge have already started to write a book on their experience. Just a couple of highlights:

• When Polk asked the court for a mistrial this week, Sequeira replied, "I’d rather have needles shoved in my eye than have a mistrial.”

• Susan Polk on ankle shackles: “Your honor, when I need to wear shackles, it cuts holes in my nylons, which means I can’t wear suits to court. I have to wear pants. That’s not fair!"

• Susan Polk’s response when the prosecutor objected to her many personal insults, "Maybe he should start acting like a lawyer instead of being a baby."

• Sequeira: "I think I’m going to need a therapist when this case is over."

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.