Orinda, CA: California Court of Appeal Affirms Orinda Woman's Murder Conviction, Susan Polk To Stay In Prison

Orindan Susan Polk's attempt to have her murder conviction overturned was rebuffed Monday when an appellate court ruled that her trial was handled properly - despite her allegations to the contrary.
By J.D. O'Connor
The California Court of Appeal on Monday upheld the murder conviction of Susan Polk, who was sent to prison for stabbing her husband, Felix, to death in the cottage behind their Orinda home during a violent encounter in October 2002.

Polk claimed abuse at the hands of her 71-year-old psychotherapist husband during an at-times bizarre trial in Contra Costa County Superior Court, acting as her own counsel and raising eyebrows with her behavior. A jury convicted her of second-degree murder, with a finding that she had used a deadly and dangerous weapon, and she was sentenced to serve a prison term of 16 years to life.

Polk appealed her conviction, arguing that the court had erred in its instructions to the jury and made other mistakes during her trial.

But in its decision Monday, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled that the court had acted properly.

"...Defendant contends the court, prosecutor and jury committed prejudicial misconduct in the course of the trial," the court wrote. "Finding no prejudicial error, we affirm the conviction."

At Polk's trial, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady rejected Polk's position that she had acted in self-defense the night her husband was stabbed multiple times, saying she did not find the Orinda woman's story "to be credible" and that her version of events did not match the physical evidence gathered at the scene.

The judge also said the court took extra measures to accommodate Polk as she represented herself, giving her use of the courtroom and allowing her to arrive early so jurors wouldn't see her shackled.

"I don't know how we could have offered her more," Brady said in a San Francisco Chronicle story at the time. 

The couple, who had been married 21 years and had three teenage sons, were involved in a divorce proceeding at the time of the 2002 killing. They met when Felix Polk, a psychologist, began treating Susan Polk, then a high-school student.