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Susan Polk gets 16 years for Shrink Husband's Killing

 
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gozgals



Joined: 28 Jul 2005
Posts: 2892
Location: A Place Called Vertigo

PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:19 pm    Post subject: Susan Polk gets 16 years for Shrink Husband's Killing Reply with quote

Wife Gets 16 Years For Shrink-Husband's Killing
Susan Polk Sentenced For Fatally Stabbing Her Husband

(CBS) MARTINEZ, Calif. A woman who fatally stabbed her millionaire psychotherapist husband, whom she met as a 14-year-old girl in treatment, was sentenced Friday to 16 years to life in prison for murder.

Susan Polk received the maximum sentence after acting as her own lawyer in a trial permeated with theatrics, including discussion of her psychic powers and cross-examination of her own sons. An attorney representing her Friday said she planned to appeal.

The 49-year-old suburban housewife was convicted in June of second-degree murder in the October 2002 killing of Felix Polk, 70, at the couple's home in Orinda, a wealthy town east of San Francisco.

Dressed neatly in a pair of khaki pants and a pink cotton sweater, Polk did not appear surprised by the sentence. Earlier, she told the court she was prepared to go to prison and intended to be productive for however long she was there.

"I won't be able to bake cookies, but maybe I'll write a couple of good stories," she said.

Polk said she killed her husband in self-defense after years of abuse and said authorities fabricated and suppressed evidence in the case.

She testified that she seized a kitchen knife from her husband during an attack near their swimming pool and used it to stab him. But prosecutors said she had no wounds to indicate she was protecting herself and Felix Polk had more than a dozen stab wounds.

Polk said her husband began abusing her while she was his teenage therapy patient, and argued that should be a mitigating factor in her sentencing. Her mother, Helen Bolling, told the court that her daughter deserved compassion "considering she has been in prison since she was 14 years old."

But Judge Laurel Brady said the relationship, although problematic, should not be considered in her sentencing because it was not the issue the jury determined at trial.

Jurors in the case did not find Polk credible and one referred to her as delusional. While testifying, Polk discussed secret government experiments and claimed that her psychic powers enabled her to predict the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on World Trade Center, but said her husband prevented her from alerting authorities.

Under cross-examination from his mother, Adam Polk said she was "bonkers" and "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," referring to a breakfast cereal catch phrase. Friday, he told his mother that he did not know if he would ever be able to forgive her.

"If he were here today he would want you to find the best head doctor in the business and get help," he said.

Polk's lawyer, Linda Fullerton, said there are strong grounds for appeal. The trial was tainted by Polk's own representation and her tense interactions with Brady, who frequently admonished her from the bench, the attorney said.

Polk will be eligible for parole after about 12 years because she has already served more than three years in jail.

But a prosecutor was skeptical that Polk would ever be released.

"She will have to earn her way out and the chances of that are slim," Paul Sequeira said. "She has no remorse. She is still defiant and I think she will be until she draws her last breath."


http://cbs13.com/topstories/topstories_story_055003848.html


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Quote:
She testified that she seized a kitchen knife from her husband during an attack near their swimming pool and used it to stab him. But prosecutors said she had no wounds to indicate she was protecting herself and Felix Polk had more than a dozen stab wounds.


This quote about sums it up for me that Susan is guilty of killing Felix even though their marriage seemed to be bordering on abuse from both parties involved due to what I have read and heard. Susan should not have represented herself and made a mockery of the justice system. She does appear to be delusional.

Gozgals
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jane



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The marriage should never have happened - between a patient and her much older psychologist. From what I remember reading about the case, Susan traveled to her ex-husband's house after he had cut off or reduced alimony payments, so it seems the murder was largely about money.

I hope the children will be able to put their lives back together.
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gozgals



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:51 pm    Post subject: boundaries Reply with quote

The boundaries such as Dr./Patient relationships should never be crossed -
Especially if one when is seeking emotional help at such a young age!

Felix certainly had a whole set of his own problems too. His license should have been suspended permanently.

See the next link for more on this case.

Gozgals
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gozgals



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:58 pm    Post subject: Court TV article Reply with quote

http://www.courttv.com/trials/polk/022307_sentencing_ctv.html


Susan Polk, defiant at sentencing, gets maximum term for fatally stabbing her husband

Susan Polk represented herself during her murder trial earlier this year, often invoking the anger of the judge and prosecutors.

FULL COVERAGE
The Susan Polk Trial

PHOTO GALLERY

By Lisa Sweetingham
Court TV
MARTINEZ, Calif. — A housewife who was convicted last year of stabbing her psychologist husband to death with a paring knife was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison Friday.

"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees. I'm not going to beg. I'm not going to beg for mercy," Susan Polk, 49, said defiantly before being given the maximum sentence for the 2002 murder of Dr. Felix Polk.

"She won't beg, but I will," defense attorney Linda Fullerton said on Polk's behalf Friday. "I do not think that a woman who lived her life the way she did deserves to be locked up for the rest of her life."

A jury convicted Polk of second-degree murder last June, saying they were unconvinced of her claims that she acted in self-defense and that her 70-year-old husband died of a heart attack during the struggle — not from his numerous stab wounds.

"During the course of four months of trial we heard an enormous amount of information ... I did not find that the testimony or the physical evidence supported self-defense," Judge Laurel Brady said Friday before sentencing Polk and denying defense motions for a new trial.

Polk stabbed her husband of 20 years to death in October 2002 toward the end of a nasty divorce. Her youngest son, Gabriel, found his father's bloody, half-naked body lying on the floor of a poolside cabana at the couple's $1.85 million Orinda, Calif., home.

Polk will be eligible for parole in about 10 years, but could spend the rest of her life in prison.

"She'll have to earn her way out," Deputy District Attorney Paul Sequeira said to reporters outside the courtroom Friday. "The odds of that are slim to none. She has no remorse. She's still defiant."

Polk, who has no legal training, represented herself after firing a series of attorneys. Her behavior was erratic during the lengthy trial. Polk told jurors that she was psychic. Felix, she said, was an Israeli Mossad agent. She claimed he beat her, poisoned her dogs and threatened to kill the children if she ever left him.

"She's a danger," Sequeira said. "Worse, she's never going to admit she did anything wrong. I don't know — do any of you folks want to live next door to her?"

Fullerton and co-counsel Paul Feuerwerker unsuccessfully argued Friday for a new trial, alleging juror misconduct and judicial errors.

Fullerton also asked the judge to give Polk probation or a reduced verdict, and pointed to Polk's troubled relationship with her husband, whom she met as a teenager in therapy. Susan was 24 and Felix was 40 when they married.

"She was a kidnapped child," Polk's former neighbor, Elizabeth Drozdowska, said in a statement to the court. "She didn't so much go by her own will. Dr. Polk used his professional skills to seduce her."

Drozdowska, testifying from a wheelchair and struggling to speak through labored breathing, said she couldn't face God if she did not come to court to stand up for Polk.

"It's hard for me to understand why this trial is even taking place," Drozdowska said.


Dr. Felix Polk was found dead in the poolhouse of his home.
A shout of "Hallelujah!" rose from the packed courtroom gallery as Polk's 73-year-old mother Helen Bolling pumped a fist in the air.

"Please let her go!" Drozdowska cried out before being wheeled out by her son. "Please let her go so all of us who love her won't have to suffer too."

Polk quietly sobbed at the defense table.

Eli Polk, 23, wiped his nose on his sweatshirt sleeve as he cried from the podium and begged the judge to give his mother probation.

"She's not a danger to herself or anybody else," Eli said, "If she got out, she'd come home, bake a batch of cookies, and say, 'Gee, now I can start my life.'"

Felix Polk's two children from a previous marriage addressed the court Friday, seeking to clear their father's name after it was "dragged through the mud" by Polk.

"My father was a good person," Andrew Polk said in a videotaped statement, adding that Felix Polk was not a spy, an abuser or a schizophrenic, as his stepmother alleged.

"He was stabbed 27 times. I'm going to do something, because this will bring it home," Andrew said as he counted off, "one, two, three," while jabbing his fist in a stabbing motion, 27 times.

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