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Divorce Lawyer Testifies Polk Feared for His Life

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Bruce Gerstman, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Apr. 5--Felix Polk never pushed to take much from Susan Polk in their divorce and was frightened for his safety at the time, his attorney testified Tuesday.

"He felt she could be unpredictable and possibly violent," said Los Angeles-based attorney Steven Landes. "At one point, she indicated to him that she had a shotgun in her trunk. I think he was really in fear for his life."

Landes told the jury that before Felix Polk, 70, hired an attorney, he had agreed to pay his wife, now 48, more than $6,000 each month in family support -- which Landes thought was too much.

"I thought he was somewhat passive," Landes said. "I thought he should have been more aggressive in terms of custody issues."

Landes testified that he orchestrated an agreement for Felix Polk to pay about $1,700 a month, keep the couple's Orinda estate and get custody of their youngest son, Gabriel.

Susan Polk is acting as her own attorney to defend herself against murder charges in the October 2002 stabbing death of her husband. Prosecutors have said she killed him partly because she did not like her end of the divorce deal.

She has said he abused her and that she killed him in self-defense.

In court Tuesday, Polk's demeanor as an attorney was more professional than in past weeks. She objected only a few times and asked questions on cross-examination with little stumbling or arguments with Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady.

She introduced court documents into evidence without making jurors read each one, a change from past hearings where jurors had to take time to view materials that juries usually read during deliberation.

The role reversals in the Polk trial were apparent at another point when Landes, a witness who is more accustomed to arguing cases in court, began answering one of Polk's objections before Brady stopped him. He apologized, eliciting laughter from courtroom onlookers.

Landes agreed under Polk's questioning that in her divorce documents, she had accused her husband of threatening her life before Felix Polk accused her of the same. Polk asked Landes whether her husband was simply retaliating against her.

"Was that your advice to turn around and accuse me?" Polk asked.

"No," he replied.

At one point, Polk gave a hint of another unusual courtroom reversal she might be considering. As Brady explained to the jury how judges rotate their positions, Polk objected.

"Your honor," Polk said in front of the jury, "I object to your testifying from the bench. You're on my witness list and you can testify at that time."

The judge noted Polk's objection and told her to continue asking questions.

If Polk is considering calling Brady to the stand, she might be legally precluded from doing so. California law prohibits judges from testifying in trials in which they are presiding.

"(The law) makes sense in terms of the role the judge is supposed to play," said Santa Clara School of Law professor Gerald Uelmen. "You can't appear as the uninterested referee if you're playing in the game."

The afternoon session took a turn with a steep increase in Polk's objections and arguments, but with few questions relating to the slaying.

She asked Landes at one point whether he wanted the divorce proceedings to continue without a settlement so he could make more money.

"No good divorce attorney pads their bills or needs a case to go longer," Landes responded. "I have no incentive to make a case drag on."

Reach Bruce Gerstman at 925-952-2670 or at bgerstman@cctimes.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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