CA - Dr. Felix Polk, 70, stabbed to death, Orinda, 14 Oct 2002

[LinasK]

Last I heard, trial was on hold due to juror illness, hasn't been anything more about in in the local news...

 

[chicoliving]

On CC today reporter Henry Lee reports that the criminologist has been on the stand for a few days and Susan is going over all the crime scene photos in detail. She apologizes to the jury about the "gruesome" photos of her husband she has to show. The criminologist is holding their own and being professional according to Lee.

 

[mysteriew]

Increasing media criticism. This one is a doozy
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/11/BAGPJI6V4E1.DTL

 

[mbkstep]

Each day of the Susan Polk trial tends to end the same....with her asking for a mistrial, the judge denying her request, and a juicy quip from the prosecutor that sort of spells out the obvious. At least the jurors are being thoroughly entertained while also being dragged through the longest trial in history!

 

[mbkstep]

Apparently the medical examiner was on the stand today, testifying that Felix Polk had a heart condition that might have made him more than vulnerable to attack and unable to defend himself vigorously. He also testified that Felix was hit over the head, knocked down, and then stabbed repeatedly.

Susan accused him of lying to support the prosecution.

 

[izzyB]

heard on CC that the next witness after the ME is her son adam, a witness for the prosecution.

 

[mbkstep]

Whew......that cross-examination will be nasty!

Here's the link to today's news, btw.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/13/MNGA4I8N4O3.DTL&feed=rss.news

 

[mbkstep]

Basically, Polk is convicting herself. Not really much else to say about it.

I'm sort of sorry that this trial hasn't attracted much attention over here, since this is the one case I was tracking at a different site. It's been fascinating to me, anyway.

Today Adam, the oldest son, takes the stand against his mother. It's sure to be drama-packed!

 

[izzyB]

I'm sort of sorry that this trial hasn't attracted much attention over here, since this is the one case I was tracking at a different site. It's been fascinating to me, anyway.

Today Adam, the oldest son, takes the stand against his mother. It's sure to be drama-packed!

i always try to listen to CC as she usually has something on this during her show. last week she showed video of susan and during it she asked susan who she would like to play her in the movie (if one is ever made) and susan said her choices would be wynona rider (b/c she knows what it is like to be in jail) or susan sarandon (since susan described her as a strong woman.)

you are right mbk, this is beyond entertaining. susan is a mess and i think the jury sees that big time. if this trainwreck makes it to the jury i am anticipating a "guilty", as i think she is btw since there was no blood on the soles of his feet, indicating to me that he never was able to get off of her and stand, as she alleges.

 

[chicoliving]

Tempers flared in the murder trial of Susan Polk Tuesday when the defendant accused the prosecutor of being unethical, and he said she was not human in what was their harshest exchange yet.

The fireworks followed testimony by Polk's son Adam Polk, who testified against his mother and said she once said of his father, "I should just kill him."

Adam Polk, 23, was the second of Susan Polk's three sons to testify for the prosecution, and as the trial broke for lunch, Susan Polk -- who is defending herself against charges that she killed her husband -- accused prosecutor Paul Sequeira of coaching him.

Sequeira, who has occasionally lost his composure amid Polk's objections and attacks, blew up. "You're unable to be a human being," he said, appearing the angriest he's been since the trial began March 7.

more at link

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/19/POLK.TMP


Wow! This woulda been somethin to see! Looks like Polk is wearing on the prosecutor just a tad I missed any discussion of this if it was covered on Catherine Crier.

 

[izzyB]

Tempers flared in the murder trial of Susan Polk Tuesday when the defendant accused the prosecutor of being unethical, and he said she was not human in what was their harshest exchange yet.

The fireworks followed testimony by Polk's son Adam Polk, who testified against his mother and said she once said of his father, "I should just kill him."

Adam Polk, 23, was the second of Susan Polk's three sons to testify for the prosecution, and as the trial broke for lunch, Susan Polk -- who is defending herself against charges that she killed her husband -- accused prosecutor Paul Sequeira of coaching him.

Sequeira, who has occasionally lost his composure amid Polk's objections and attacks, blew up. "You're unable to be a human being," he said, appearing the angriest he's been since the trial began March 7.

more at link

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/19/POLK.TMP


Wow! This woulda been somethin to see! Looks like Polk is wearing on the prosecutor just a tad I missed any discussion of this if it was covered on Catherine Crier.

CC did discuss this case and in addition to what was in the article we learned that susan polk had herself recently written a letter to adam, now on the stand, telling him what he should say during this examination. adam even produced this letter in court. so it looked to everyone that susan had been the one trying to "coach" her son.

adam said the beginnings of his mother mental problems as far as he could remember started on a trip to disney land, where she said that when she was a child her father murdered a policeman and buried him in the basement (no proof of this btw) and also alleged that felix was a secret agent of some foreign group (cannot remember the name) and had prior knowledge of 9/11.

mickey sherman was CC's guest and he says the longer this goes, the more the insanity of this woman is evident and that the jury may feel some sympathy and vote a lighter sentence.

 

[LinasK]

POSTED: 3:02 pm PDT April 19, 2006


MARTINEZ -- In his second day of cross examination by his mother Wednesday, Adam Polk continued to clash with her over details of his childhood and evidence his mother attempted to present about her state of mind.Adam Polk continued to deny his mother's belief that his father was hypnotizing him and his brothers and practicing mind control on them. He also denied that his babysitter and his child therapist had abused him and claimed that his mother had fabricated all of the allegations of abuse and that he was old enough to remember.

When Polk told her son to read a section of her journal to refresh his memory about a red bicycle his child therapist had allegedly given him, Adam Polk said that he never received the bicycle. Polk has claimed that the gift of the bicycle is proof that the therapist had molested her son.

After Adam Polk refused to acknowledge either the bicycle or a lawsuit his mother claimed his father filed against the therapist for the abuse, Polk asked him, "Have you gone and edited your memory?"

"No. You're crazy," he said.His mother asked him if the district attorney had prepared him for his testimony.

Adam Polk said that the district attorney had given him the transcript of a bail hearing Tuesday morning before he testified, but that he had received no other preparation prior to taking the witness stand.

On Tuesday Polk accused the Deputy District Attorney Paul Sequeira of coaching Adam Polk's testimony and moved for a mistrial. Judge Laurel Brady denied the motion. She denied another motion for a mistrial Wednesday as well. more at link:http://www.ktvu.com/news/8834132/detail.html

 

[LinasK]

POSTED: 4:21 pm PDT April 20, 2006


MARTINEZ, Calif. -- The son of a woman charged with killing her psychotherapist husband called his mother "bonkers" in court Thursday and said he could picture her killing her husband and lying about it.

Susan Polk, 48, is charged with killing her 70-year-old husband, Felix Polk, in October 2002, during bitter divorce proceedings. She denied killing him at first, but later said she acted in self-defense after years of abuse. Polk is acting as her own attorney.

"You're bonkers!" Adam Polk, 23, said to his mother in Contra Costa County Superior Court as she asked him about her belief that she was framed in Felix Polk's slaying.

"You're cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" he said, referring to the catchphrase Sonny the Cuckoo Bird used in advertisements for the children's breakfast cereal. The judge had to hold back her laughter. more at link:http://www.ktvu.com/news/8864376/detail.html

 

[izzyB]

LinasK, thank you for posting these updates. i usually can watch CC, but have not been able to for the last several days.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I would love to attend this trial. Talk about intertainment. Sad that its that way though because a man did lose his life. Does the judge have to let Susan continue to be her own attorney? Isn't there a limit to behavior like hers? She constantly wants a mistrial due to judicial misconduct!! I'll bet the judge can hardly stand the sight of Susan Polk.

Catherine C. did say that the judge allowed Susan to keep Adam on the stand for 3 days and then told her she had to wind it up. It will be interesting to hear what the 3rd son has to say as he will testify for Susan. I wonder if he will agree with all of her wild tales?

If the jury believes that Susan isn't playing with a full deck I hope they give her LWOP so that she never gets out and does this to one of her sons or someone else. Even if they might feel a little sorry for her they still need to protect others from her. I think she will be starting her defense any day now.
Wish there were cameras in that darn courtroom or someone from CTV was there giving us a blow by blow.

 

[izzyB]

If Wish there were cameras in that darn courtroom or someone from CTV was there giving us a blow by blow.

cameras would be great for us to be able to see what is going on, but i wonder how they would affect susan? it is hard to think that she could be any more theatrical, but you never know.

CTV does have several reporters out there covering the trial, and they post their articles on the CTV website and will also "chat" from time to time. last time i checked they were posting two articles a day, but i must confess it has been a few weeks since i have checked. also CTV has a forum on their message board on this case but i have never looked at it.

 

[joe jones]

Finally Susan gets to tell it how it is, she beging her defence CIC and I am sure it will be entertaining,

 

[Buzz Mills]

I think Susan is doing a masterful job of convicting herself of murder. It's too bad that she is taking so long to do it. It's a real waste of taxpayer's money.

 

[chicoliving]

In a case already dripping with emotion and tension, Susan Polk opened her defense Monday by portraying her late husband as an abusive monster and demanding that the jury visualize the movie "The Fugitive" when they consider their verdict.

Polk, acting as her own attorney, told jurors that all is not as it appears in the prosecution's murder case against her. She told them she was not crazy -- as two of her sons have intimated in their testimony for the prosecution.

But then -- as she has through out the trial -- she switched gears and she admitted that she believed in fictional fairies and had psychic powers.

more at link
http://www.ktvu.com/news/8968351/detail.html

 

[LinasK]

By Bruce Gerstman

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Posted on Tue, Apr. 25, 2006

MARTINEZ - Susan Polk's middle son took the stand Tuesday in her defense and jurors heard evidence that he believed his mother to be innocent of his father's slaying from the moment he learned of his death.

"She wouldn't do that. It's definitely not my mom ," Eli Polk, 17 at the time, told sheriff's deputies who informed him of his father's death, according to an interview tape played in court. "She would just never do that. That's a fact."

Eli Polk, now 21, is the only of three Polk sons who is testifying in support of his mother who is representing herself in court.

Asked four times by investigators during the interview whether his mother acted violently toward his father, Eli Polk never budges from his assertion that his mother would never hurt his father.

In his courtroom testimony, Eli Polk told the jury that his father threatened his mother and him throughout his childhood.

"He would charge at me raising his fists," Eli Polk said, raising his eyebrows for emphasis and often looking directly at the jury. "He would get right up in my face."

"Did he hit you?" Polk asked her son.

"Yes," he replied.more at link:http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/14425433.htm