The Insanity Plea (37 page)

Having satisfied himself that Dan was
totally in control, Judge Fernandez called the jury in. “You may continue,
Wayne.”

Wayne smiled at the witness. Duke and
Dan appeared relaxed at the defense table. Rita, Claudia and Sarah were sitting
on the edge of their front row seats. Barney was alert and watching Dan just in
case Dr. Adashek was wrong. Kate and Harry conferred over the weekend and,
satisfied that Dr. Parke was handling cross-examination well, Kate had her
usual smug look. The witness appeared calm. Poised and focused, he was
determined to make sure, once again, that his opinions were accepted.

“You enjoy our little bit of paradise
this weekend, Dr. Parke?”

Parke knew how to play the game. “I
had a delightful time, Mr. Little. I toured the Bishop’s Palace and, let’s see,
Ashton Villa and another one of those delightful old mansions you folks have so
carefully restored. Saturday night I went to the Opera House to see a play.” He
turned toward the jurors. “Galveston does a marvelous job of entertaining
tourists.”

Several jurors smiled and nodded in
agreement.

“You go jogging this weekend, Dr.
Parke? You are a runner, aren’t you?”

“Both mornings, Mr. Little. I enjoy
an early morning run along the seawall.”

He’s going to regret admitting he likes to run on the seawall,
Wayne thought. He picked up a
computer printout and had it marked as an exhibit. When he handed it to Kate,
she rose, “Objection, Judge. We’ve never seen this before.”

Judge Fernandez leaned over his bench
and motioned the two lawyers to a sidebar conference. “What is this, Wayne?”

“Judge, it’s a printout of Dr.
Parke’s website. I might add that this is cross-examination and I’ve got
several new exhibits, nothing that’s going to surprise the witness. They’re
demonstrative only.”

“Ms. Rasmussen, I’m going to give him
some latitude. After all, you’re trying to send his brother to death row. He’s
entitled to take his best shot. You’ll have your chance when he’s through. You
may proceed, Wayne.”

Wayne approached the witness and
handed the exhibit to Dr. Parke. “You can identify this, can’t you, Doctor?”

Parke studied it for a moment. “Of
course. You’ve been to my website. I post my professional lectures, out-of-town
meetings and court appearances there so my students will know when classes may
be rescheduled. Looks like you’ve got the past year here.”

Now what is this lawyer up to
, Parke thought? He wasn’t prepared to discuss his travels. Those
lectures and appearances could lead down a path he didn’t want to take. There’s
no way Little could have made the connection between his out of town trips and
The Runner. Still, he decided he better shift the focus away from the web site.

“Mr. Little, I have one more opinion
that didn’t come out on Friday. Would you like to hear it now?”

“Might as well, Doctor. Otherwise,
I’m sure Ms. Rasmussen will bring it up later.”

Looking directly at Dan, he said,
“That incident with Dan on Friday made it even clearer to me that he knows
right from wrong. He was talking about Satan. Certainly, he’s not psychotic
now. It served, though, to remind me of another incident. The jury heard about
that time when he tried to set fire to your mother’s house, saying that Satan
made him do it. By all accounts he was absolutely psychotic then. Also, I understand
on the first day of this trial, he was led out, claiming that Satan was
directing his actions. From all my years of experience, I can be certain that
if a person knows there is a God and knows there is Satan, he must know right
from wrong, even in a psychotic condition.”

Wayne glared at him and pushed on. “Dr.
Parke, before you tried to distract me by interjecting Dan’s understanding of
God and Satan, I was asking you about your travels. For example, you’ve been to
New York, Miami, Dallas, Houston a couple of times, Chicago. I don’t want to go
through all of them.” Wayne went to a flip chart and turned a blank page to reveal
a map of North America. “Dr. Parke, here’s a chart we’ve had made of the cities
you visited in the past year, at least the ones we know about. Most are on your
website, but several are not documented. As you can see, we put a red flag on
each city where you’ve been. And there are a few you’ve visited a couple of
times. Doctor, will you verify that we’ve accurately flagged cities you’ve been
to in the past year?”

Parke studied the map and looked back
down at the exhibit, trying to hide his concern that they had traced his
travels.
 
“That appears accurate, at
least those posted on my website. I can only presume that you’ve correctly identified
the other cities where I’ve traveled.” Parke was beginning to feel a little
uncomfortable. His left hand began to tremble; so he folded his arms to hide
the movement. “Mr. Little, I travel often. Now that I think about it, I really
can’t confirm that I’ve been to each of those cities in the past twelve months.”

Wayne had long ago learned the
benefit of a good bluff. He reached over Dan and grabbed a file folder of
pleadings that lay in front of Duke. “Dr. Parke, we have airline confirmations
of your flights to each of those cities on the map and can even show you the
hotel where you stayed if you like.”

Wayne started walking toward the
witness stand, folder in hand.

Shit,
Parke
thought
, now what do I do? I don’t know
where or how he got my itinerary and even my hotel in those cities. I’ll look
like a damn fool if he walks me through all of those airline schedules and
hotels. How did he get this stuff? He must have somehow hacked into my credit
card account. No, it had to be that bitch, Rita. I better concede this point
and wait for an opportunity to get the upper hand.

 
“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Little. If you
say you’ve checked, I might wonder how you did it, but I’ll accept what you
say. So, I must have been in each of those cities.”

“And, Doctor, you see that we’ve also
put flags on three Mexican coastal towns. Actually, you didn’t lecture in Long
Beach, but left on a cruise with a bunch of other psychiatrists and stopped at
each of those cities.”

“Yes, yes, that’s correct.”

Kate’s smug look had morphed into one
of concern when she saw her witness becoming nervous. Now a small tic caused
his right eye to twitch slightly.

Like a tiger circling his prey, Wayne
was ready to move in. “Dr. Parke, you’ve heard of the serial killer known as The
Runner, haven’t you?”

“Of course, Mr. Little. I’ve even
been contacted by the FBI to profile him. Unfortunately, my schedule has not
permitted me to do so.” He paused. “In fact, I told the FBI I will be in
Quantico to join their task force as soon as this trial is over.”

“Last count, his killings were
somewhere around thirty, right, Dr. Parke?”

Parke looked at Kate for some help. Kate
did nothing but it was clear that she, too, was becoming nervous.

“Maybe you know better than I, Mr. Little.
It’s probably around thirty. As I said, up until now I’ve only been following
the case in the media.”

“By the way, in your opinion are
serial killers insane?”

“Oh no, quite the contrary. They are
most often highly intelligent and meticulous. They are simply driven by an
adrenalin rush from what we consider to be an immoral, reprehensible act.”

Wayne returned to the flip chart as a
couple of jurors began to understand where he was going with the questions. Others
had blank looks on their faces. “Here, sir, we have another map that’s transparent
and it shows the cities where we know The Runner slit the throats of young
female joggers along with other victims that officials now connect with The
Runner. And, you’ll note, we’ve included Galveston on it.”

Now, this is turning into a real problem,
Parke thought
.
 
Buy some time. Buy some time.
He left his chair and walked to the easel, pretending to be studying the map. God
damn that woman. That five seconds at Hermann Park could be his downfall. Think.
Come on. You’ve been in worse jams than this. He remembered the time that a bicycle
cop stopped him on the trail in Cleveland. Said a woman had been found just off
the trail back a couple of hundred yards. He talked his way out of that
situation. Just remain calm.

His thoughts were interrupted by
Wayne. “And, Dr. Parke, if I tear the blank tissue paper from under this
transparency, you’ll see that the cities where The Runner executed his victims
are cities you visited within forty-eight hours of those murders.”

Parke turned to look at the jury, for
the first time fumbling for the right words. “I’m sure, Mr. Little, that’s
merely a coincidence. I spend more time on the road than I do in Colorado. As a
matter of fact, now that I think about it, I don’t recall being in Boston or
Chicago in the past year. For that matter, I would surely remember Miami. I
have no recollection of being there, either.
 
And I might add that if you are suggesting to
this jury that I am The Runner, that, Mr. Little, is preposterous…even
slanderous.” His voice rose. “I suggest you watch your accusations or you may
be a defendant in a civil suit.”

“You know, Dr. Parke, I couldn’t be
less worried. Nothing compares to my brother facing a lethal injection.” Wayne
stepped toward the witness, clenching and unclenching his hands and looking as
if he might take a swing at Parke. “Right now his life is at stake. I would be
delighted for you to sue me, you son of a…”

“That’s enough, Mr. Little! You’re
one word away from being held in contempt of court,” Judge Fernandez’s voice
echoed throughout the courtroom. “Both of you return to your seats. Mr. Little,
I suggest you take a minute to calm down. I’ve given you quite a bit of leeway
because you’re defending your brother. But, you’re pushing the limit.”

Dan observed his brother rapidly
losing control of his emotions. He turned to check on Duke who was maintaining
his lawyer’s poker face. He evaluated the computer evidence that Rita had
developed along with the DNA evidence that remained to be presented. Then, he
sized up the judge and the situation and made his decision. Taking a deep
breath, he rose and in a carefully modulated voice, addressed the court. “Your
Honor…”

Before he could say anything more,
Judge Fernandez interrupted as he stood at the bench. “Mr. Dan Little, we do
not need another outburst from you. You are ably represented by counsel. Please
take your seat immediately.”

Dan intentionally kept his voice
quiet, but remained standing. “Your Honor, I have decided to represent myself.”

“Preposterous, Judge.
 
He’s no longer a licensed attorney.”

“Ms. Rasmussen, you know very well a
person doesn’t have to be a lawyer to represent himself. What say you, Mr. Wayne
Little?”

Taken aback by the turn of events,
Wayne engaged in a whispered conversation with Duke and then said, “Judge, I
need to confer with my client.”

Judge Fernandez nodded them toward
the windows away from the jury.

“Dan, you can’t do this. No intelligent
person would represent himself with his life on the line. Duke and I have this
under control. You haven’t tried a case in twenty years. Let us handle it.”

Dan shook his head and his voice
trembled. “Wayne, you and Duke, Rita and Claudia have done a great job to get
us to this point. I hear what you’re saying, only this bastard is trying to
send me to the death chamber. We know we can turn the tables on him. I want to
be the one to do it. My mind is made up.”

Wayne shook his head when he turned
to face the court. “Your Honor, the defendant has requested that he be allowed
to take over his own defense. I’ve advised him of the risks of such a decision
and he fully understands them. I have no choice but to let him proceed.”

Judge Fernandez pondered his options
and then said, “Wayne, come up.”

As Wayne moved forward, Kate rose.

“Sit down, Ms. Rasmussen. You have no
say-so in this decision.”

When Wayne got to the bench, the
judge leaned close to him. “Wayne, are you sure you want to do this? Looks to
me like you have the case going the right direction. Dan may fuck it up.”

Wayne nodded his head in understanding.
“Judge, I agree with you, but Dan’s competent. I can’t talk him out of it. It’s
his call.”

Felix thought for a moment and then
said, “I’ll let this go forward, but I’m not releasing you and Duke as counsel.
As far as I’m concerned, Dan has just joined the team. Give him a hand when you
can.” Looking at Dan and the jury, the judge said in a louder voice, “Mr. Dan Little,
this is highly unusual, but I will permit your request. It’s partly based on
the fact that every psychiatrist, including Dr. Parke here, says you are now
competent. You best keep your emotions under control or I’ll muzzle you and
Wayne will take back over.”

Dan nodded his understanding as he
met the judge’s eyes. “I understand, Your Honor. I have the utmost respect for
this court and the jury. There will be no more outbursts.”