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Susan Mae POLK |
California housewife Susan Polk studied literature, not
law, in college. But she has chosen
to act as her own
attorney at her murder trial, "fighting for her life,"
she says, against
the first-degree murder charge in her
husband's death. Polk admits she stabbed her
husband
Felix in 2002, but says it was in self-defense during a
fight and that he
actually died from a heart attack and
not his wounds. Two of her three sons say
she is
"delusional" and guilty as charged.
The defendant says she first met her psychologist
husband Frank "Felix" Polk in 1972,
when he was a
40-year-old Berkeley psychologist and she was a
14-year-old old
schoolgirl suffering from panic attacks.
Susan Polk testified that after reviewing
her notes and
memories in preparation for trial, she believes
their
relationship
became sexual after Felix allegedly raped
her when she was 15.
Polk's 72-year-old mother, Helen Bolling, says she
confronted Felix about the relationship
when she learned
her teenage daughter's new boyfriend was her therapist.
"I told him,
I don't want to make trouble for you, but
that's got to stop," Bolling said.
She later discovered
the relationship did not end.
By 1982, Polk had left his wife, a classical pianist,
and their two children, and married his former patient
Susan Mae Bolling. She was 25 and he was 50. Susan's
mother says she attended the wedding, but
refused to pay
for it.
As Mrs. Felix Polk, Susan handled the family's financial
affairs and was a secretary
for her husband's lucrative
psychology practice. While she may have appeared
to be
happy, Polk claims, she was a victim of constant
emotional and
physical abuse from her husband.
The Polks eventually raised three boys — Adam, Eli and
Gabriel. Adam and Gabriel would later
become
witnesses
for the prosecution in Polk's trial; only Eli would
testify on her behalf.
Susan claims Felix did not allow her to have any friends
of her own and that he threatened
to kill her,
himself,
their three children, and even the family dogs if she
ever left him.
But Gabriel, now 19, says it was his mother who spoke
for years about killing his father.
"She talked about
drugging him and drowning him in the pool, hitting him
over the head
and drowning him in the pool,
running over
him with a car or tampering with his car,"
Gabriel said
during four days of intense testimony.
Gabriel testified that his mother's behavior took a turn
about five years before his father's
death, when she
began to experience repressed memories of being molested
by her own
parents. Susan Polk's mother denies
the
claims. Gabriel says he does not believe it
either, but
points to it as more evidence of her alleged
delusions.
Polk says her
controlling husband, Felix, put the idea
in her head.
Even the Polk children were caught up in molestation
tales. The Polks once accused Adam's
day-care center
of
ritualistic satanic abuse, but no evidence was ever
found to support the
claim. Polk says it was her
husband's idea, and she played jurors a taped lecture of
Dr.
Polk describing the molestation he
believed Adam had
endured.
Gabriel also accused his mother of falsely believing
that Felix Polk was a secret agent with the Israeli
Mossad and that he was hiding millions of dollars from
her in Cayman Islands bank accounts.
"There'd be times
when Saturday morning, you'd be reading the newspaper
and trying to find
codes," Gabriel told his mother
during her murder trial.
Polk claims Felix tried to brainwash her boys against
her, constantly telling them,
"Mom is crazy." She
also
says she caught Felix poisoning her dog Tuffy.
By 2000,
the couple was talking about divorce.
On Oct. 14, 2002, Susan Polk was arrested for stabbing
Felix to death with a paring knife
at the end of a
nasty
divorce battle, in which she appeared to be losing the
family
home and custody of Gabriel. Gabriel
called 911
after he found his father's partially
naked body on the
floor of the guest cottage at the
couple's $1.85 million
Orinda home.
Courttv.com
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