Expert witness: Felix Polk was aggressor

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, May 4, 2006 | by Jason Dearen - STAFF WRITER

MARTINEZ - Felix Polk knelt as he attacked his wife, who lay on the floor beneath him, a defense expert testified Thursday in murder defendant Susan Polk's trial.

Susan Polk fought her husband off with a kitchen knife, stabbing the 70-year-old psychologist 27 times in self-defense, said Dr. John Cooper, a forensic pathologist who is now a full-time expert witness.

Cooper dropped to his knees before the jury to demonstrate how Felix Polk's stab wounds tell the story. The direction of stab wounds in Felix Polk's abdomen show that Susan Polk had to be beneath him - not standing over him - when she stabbed him, puncturing his stomach.

Cooper said it's evidence that Felix Polk was the aggressor. He testified that if he were the coroner filling out Felix Polk's death certificate, he would have classified the death as natural, not a homicide.

Susan Polk, 48, is accused of stabbing her husband in the pool house of their Orinda home, spurred on by a nasty divorce and deteriorating mental health. Polk claims she killed him in self- defense after years of abuse that began when she was his 14-year- old therapy patient and they became involved in a relationship. The Polks had three sons, two who have testified against their mother and one who is aiding in her defense.

Cooper said it was not the stab wounds that killed Felix Polk. The stabbing was a trigger that set off Felix Polk's advanced heart disease, he said. Cooper, who reviewed records and reports of the original pathologist but did not conduct his own autopsy, said Felix Polk's heart was swollen and he had 75 percent blockage in two of his main arteries when he died in October 2002.

"(The stab wounds) were not enough for death without the coronary artery disease. He could have gotten medical attention and survived these injuries," Cooper said.

His testimony was introduced by Susan Polk, who is representing herself, to counter the claims of Dr. Brian Peterson, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Felix Polk.

In April, Peterson testified he believed Felix Polk's death was caused by the stab wounds, especially those that punctured his stomach, his lungs and near his heart. Peterson's report noted that heart disease may have played a role in weakening the elderly man's defenses against his wife's attack, but that it was not the cause of death.

Peterson also testified that Felix Polk had been hit over the head with a blunt instrument, and prosecutors have said they believe Susan Polk may have hit her husband before stabbing him. Photographs of the body show a cut on Felix Polk's scalp, but Susan Polk has maintained she never hit him. Instead, she claims the cut occurred when her husband fell.

Cooper testified he found no evidence Felix Polk had been hit over the head.

Displaying a picture of the cut on Felix Polk's head, Cooper noted that none of the blood from his head had dripped down his neck onto his back. That means the wound occurred after Felix Polk had fallen down, after he stood up from his kneeling position.

All along, Susan Polk has charged Peterson, the court and prosecutor Paul Sequeira of being biased against her. She commonly charges Sequeira and Judge Laurel Brady with bias and misconduct.

Cooper, who said he has conducted about 2,000 autopsies, testified he too thought Peterson's autopsy report contained "excessively dramatic" language when he wrote the body had 27 multiple stab wounds and blunt force injuries to the head.

"When we fill out one of these reports we know we're going to be quoted," he said, accusing Peterson of making his report more dramatic because of the media attention on the case.

Before the end of the proceedings Thursday, Sequeira got in a few minutes of heated cross-examination.

The prosecutor paced and glowered at Cooper, and asked him why he brought no records with him to court, including detailed letters written by Susan Polk about the events on the night of the slaying. Cooper said he never does, because he did not want to be forced to hand them over to the prosecution.

"Once one knows the truth of the case, one does not need to remain neutral ... one goes with the truth," Cooper said. Judge Laurel Brady stopped the cross-examination there, and excused the jury and Cooper. She told Susan Polk - who accused the judge of bias and misconduct - that it is improper for expert witnesses not to share evidence they use to make decisions with the other side. Polk said she never made copies of the letters.

Cooper's cross-examination resumes Friday morning.

Staff Writer Jason Dearen can be reached at jdearen@angnewspapers.com.