"In other words, did the defendant know what she was doing and that she shouldn't do it."
"That's how the law reads ... though, perhaps ... ummm hmmm ... there is room for revision."
"Well, we'll leave that for some other time, unless you want to instruct us on how the law should read and, perhaps, any others you don't care for." The psychiatrist's mouth opened in surprise as Lewis jumped to her feet. "I object," said the attorney.
"So do ... ummm ... I," Nickles protested, pushing her glasses back up her nose.
"Counsel is being unnecessarily aggressive with the witness," Lewis continued, "for the sole purpose of casting her in a bad light with the jury!" Dermondy looked at Karp. "How do you respond to that?"
"By apologizing, Your Honor. I'll try to be a kinder, gentler DA."
"I'd appreciate ... mmm nnnh ... that," Nickles sniffed.
Karp's smile disappeared. "Doctor, you're aware of the evidence that has been presented in this case?"
"I believe I've read ... umm hmmm ... just about everything in the defense files. Which I believe should include everything."
"Then you are aware that three days before the murders, Jessica Campbell drove her Volvo station wagon to Newark, where she purchased a footlocker and a padlock?"
"Yes, I am aware of... hmmm ... that."
"And the purpose of the footlocker was to remove and store the bodies of her three dead children?"
"I don't know if that's what she ... uh-huh ... bought it for, but that's what she used it for."
"She bought it three days before she murdered her children."
"The word 'murdered' is pejorative in this context, as it implies that a criminal... hummm nnhh ... act took place, when I... believe that this trial is about whether ... aaah hmm ... Jessica Campbell had the state of mind to form criminal intent."
Karp glanced down and gave Katz a "this is what I meant" look. "Then let's just say she bought the footlocker three days before she held her children under water and/or stabbed them until they were dead?"
"That's correct."
"And then used it to remove and hide their bodies."
"Again, Mr. Karp, the use of the word 'hide' implies that Mrs. Campbell was consciously trying ... hhhmm mnnh ... to avoid detection for fear ... aaah ... of punishment... aah mmm ... as opposed to simply 'following orders' from above."
Karp leaned forward with his knuckles on the table. "Fine. She bought the footlocker several days before she held her children under water or stabbed them until they were dead, and then used the footlocker to remove their bodies, and then to store those bodies, inside a car, submerged in a river. Correct?"
"I believe that's ... correct."
"Doctor, in arriving at your opinion that Jessica Campbell didn't know what she was doing, did you take into account that she purchased a footlocker and not a ... oh, I don't know ... say a large roll of toilet paper for this purpose?" The unexpected turn in his line of questioning woke up the spectators. Lewis, however, scowled and objected. "There's no mention of any toilet paper in the testimony. Counsel is just being facetious ... again."
"Mr. Karp?" Dermondy asked.
Karp held his hands out to the side. "There's nothing facetious about the question, Your Honor. We're talking about the defendant's state of mind—whether she knew what she was doing and why—and this witness has testified that the defendant was delusional and out of touch with reality. Therefore, why not wrap the bodies up in toilet paper and try to dispose of them that way, instead of in a sturdy footlocker?"
The judge considered. "I'll allow it." He looked at the witness and asked, "So I believe the question was, did you take all that into account?"
"Well, yes, I knew she purchased a footlocker ... and not a roll of toilet paper... and used it to ... ummm hmmm ... remove and store the bodies." Karp walked over to the evidence table. "And doctor, you are aware that on that same shopping trip, the defendant left the store where she purchased the footlocker and drove 3.8 miles farther down the road to a sporting goods store where she bought a hunting knife?" He picked up the weapon. "This knife."
"Yes. That is what she did, and I'll take your word for it that that is the knife."
"Thank you for that. And she bought this knife for the purpose of killing her children?"
"That is what she used it for in one case I believe."
"You'd be correct. So then, doctor, when you arrived at your opinion about her state of mind, did you take into account the fact that she purchased a hunting knife instead of, say, a banana with which to stab her child?"
Nickles looked over to see if Lewis was going to object. When no objection was forthcoming, Nickles answered peevishly. "I guess that ... umm, yes, hmm ... I knew that she used a knife to stab her daughter."
"And not a banana?"
"I don't see what bananas have to do with this?"
"Only that you've testified that the defendant was so delusional she didn't know what she was doing when she murdered her children.... So why not use a banana?... Or beat them with a head of lettuce?"
The spectators and even the jurors laughed. Lewis jumped to her feet, but the judge was already on it. "Mr. Karp, I believe counsel is about to object on the grounds that you are being argumentative. I'd have to concur. So I'll sustain the objection she was going to make."
Karp bowed. "Again, I apologize. But I'd just like a yes or no answer to my question." He turned again to Nickles. "In reaching your conclusion, did you take into account that Jessica Campbell used a knife, not a banana, to stab Hillary Campbell?"
Nickles blinked twice and worked her jaw. "Yes."
"Thank you so much. And did you take into account that the defendant-filled the bathtub with a deadly weapon, in this case water, and not potato chips, for the purpose of drowning her children?"
Lewis didn't waste her breath with an objection, so Nickles answered. "Yes. She filled the bathtub with water, not potato chips."
"And, doctor, did you take into account the fact that the defendant waited until her husband had left their home before she began killing her children, instead of proceeding while he was there?"
"Yes."
"Why would you suppose she waited?"
"Objection," Lewis said. "Calls for conjecture. Dr. Nickles could not possibly know what Mrs. Campbell was thinking at that moment."
Karp took a step back as if surprised. "No? Her entire testimony has been about what was going on in the defendant's mind. This is merely another question along those same lines."
"You're quite correct, Mr. Karp," Dermondy ruled. "Dr. Nickles, please answer."
Nickles was beginning to look like an animal who sensed a trap but didn't know if leaping to the left or the right would increase her chances of falling in. "I suppose she thought he might ... um, ah, yes ... try to stop her. But again, she was in a disassociative state and was in a sense a ... ummm ... spectator watching this unfold."
"I see," Karp said in a manner that meant he didn't see it at all. "But I thought that you testified that with schizophrenia, there aren't really two personalities. There is the personality that exists first, and then a sort of deterioration into a different personality?"
"That is, basically, true."
"Well, then are you saying that the 'real' Jessica Campbell—who three days earlier had purchased a footlocker and a hunting knife—that morning fixed breakfast, carried on a normal conversation, kissed her husband goodbye, and only then slid downhill into a Mr. Hyde personality and murdered her children?"
"Well, uh ... mmm hmmm ... actually, she was probably schizophrenic and changing before then."
"So the new personality showed up sometime earlier?"
"Well, it's a gradual thing."
"I see. And did you take into account the fact that this new personality called the nanny and told her not to come in to work that day?"
"Yes."
"And in fact, the defendant came up with a logical reason for that. She was going to take care of the kids he
rself?"
"Yes."
"She didn't tell the nanny, 'I'm going to send the children to God now.'"
"No."
"And would it be fair to say that she wanted the nanny to stay home because the nanny might try to stop her from killing her children?"
"Yes, that... would be true, too."
"And the nanny and her husband would have stopped Jessica Campbell because ..."
Nickles felt the jaws of the trap close, but there was nothing she could do. "Because it's wrong to ... ummm hnn ... kill other human beings."
"So she was aware that it was wrong?"
"Well, she thought that what ... aah hnnnh ... she was doing was morally right. She was trying to ... hmmm mmm ... save their souls."
"Would you agree, doctor, that at the time she submerged her children beneath the water, she appreciated that it would cause their deaths?"
"Appreciated?"
"In the 'understood' sense of the word. Did she believe that holding her children's heads under water—and in the case of Hillary, also stabbing her repeatedly in the chest—would cause their deaths?"
"Well, no, I don't think ... mmm nnnn ... that's how she saw it. She was 'sending them to God,' and this was how ... she ... was going to do that."
"Isn't 'send them to God' just a euphemism for murder?"
"No. It is a statement of reality such ... hmmm nnnn ... as she saw it." Karp picked up one of the photographs taken of Jessica Campbell's scratched and bruised forearms. He showed it again to the jurors and then to the witness.
"Doctor, taking into account that the two older children, Hillary and Chelsea, fought to stay alive to the point of scratching their mother's arms, as this photograph demonstrates, was Mrs. Campbell so out of touch that she thought that they were playing a game?"
"I don't know what she thought ... umm, uh-huh ... they were doing. She was just complying with God's will... as she understood it."
"Just 'following orders,' right?"
"Yes, essentially."
"And when she pulled the first limp body out of the bathtub, did she realize then that she'd killed her child?"
"I ... um ha ... would assume that she thought she'd sent the child to God."
"The child was dead."
"Yes."
"Then she held the next child under water. Same result, right?"
"Yes."
"And then a third time. Same thing."
"Yes."
"Well then, doctor, please tell us at what point Jessica Campbell failed to know and appreciate the nature and consequences of her actions. After the first child? The second? The third?"
"I don't think she appreciated the nature and consequences of her actions at any time during this episode."
Karp's hand with the photograph dropped to his side. "Doctor, when you reached your conclusion that Jessica Campbell did not know that her actions were wrong, did you take into account that she purchased the footlocker and knife in Newark rather than Manhattan?"
"Yes, I knew that."
"Did she do that to avoid being recognized?"
"She told me that," the psychiatrist admitted. "But once again it was ... hmmm aaah ... so that no one would prevent her from doing God's will." Karp looked at the jurors and wondered if they thought this was as much bullshit as he did. They were certainly taking a lot of notes, whatever that meant.
"Doctor, did you take into account when rendering your opinion on whether Jessica Campbell understood the wrongfulness of her actions that the defendant cleaned the murder scene until it was spotless, placed the bodies in a footlocker, secured it with a padlock, placed the footlocker in her car, and drove the car one hundred miles to Staatsburg? There she carefully wedged a stick between the seat and accelerator pedal, started the car, put it in drive, and watched it plunge into the Hudson River."
"I was ... hmm ... aware of all that."
"But if she didn't understand that what she had done was wrong, then why did she make such an effort to remove all trace that it occurred? Why not just leave the bodies in the bathroom and explain why it was all necessary when her husband got home?"
"Because God told her to do it."
"Oh, so it is God who knew that pushing these children under water and stabbing them would kill them, and since God knew it was wrong, He told Jessica to hide the evidence."
"In a sense, yes."
"Well, then excuse me. Your Honor, I'd like to move for a mistrial. We have the wrong person sitting at the defense table. It's God who should be sitting over there, not Jessica Campbell."
"Objection. Your Honor, would you instruct the district attorney to save the dramatics for his closing arguments?"
"Counsel, please save your dramatics for closing arguments," the judge repeated after Lewis.
"I withdraw the question and ask God's forgiveness." Karp turned his back to Nickles. "I have nothing further for this witness."
36
After the Opening Bell ceremony, Eric introduced the twins to various people around the stock exchange. As usual, their favorite place was with the guys who had the guns and fancy equipment—this time up in the security office, where the officer sitting in front of the monitors, a short, heavy Puerto Rican woman named Angela Flores, demonstrated how they could see into every corner of the building.
"Including the supply room, Mr. Eliaso," Flores laughed. "Yes, we see you trying to get away with shit down there.... Oh, 'scuse my language, boys. No more putting your coat over the camera, or I'm gonna come down there and take Poloroids of your white ass up to no good."
"I have no idea what you mean."
As they left the security office, the boys nearly bowled over two NYPD officers coming up the stairs. "Whoa, whoa, where's the fire?" one of the officers said, grabbing a rail with one hand and Zak with the other to keep them both from falling.
"Sorry, so sorry," Marlene apologized. "If you'd loan me your handcuffs, I'll see to it that they're brought under control. And maybe your pepper spray, too."
The officers laughed and continued on to the security office, while Marlene and all the boys headed down to the cafeteria for lunch. As Eric had promised, the room was full of NYPD officers enjoying free food, courtesy of the NYSE.
Marlene made sure that lunch was a leisurely affair. She'd noticed that Mariano wasn't talking much. Too many stairs, she thought. She decided that after lunch, she'd find a place to sit with him up in the visitor's gallery and let the boys follow Eric around.
She'd had to twist her father's arm to get him to come with them that morning. "I'll just be in the way," he groused. "And I'll slow you down."
"Ah, come on, Grandpa," Zak had insisted. "It's no fun when it's just Mom."
"Gee, thanks," Marlene had complained, giving her son a wink. Zak was a great kid no matter what his teachers, the neighbors, the mothers of teenaged girls, and his brother said about him.
"Well, lived here most of my life, and I guess that's the one place I've never been," Mariano had said. "Tell you what, I'll go if you let me buy all of you cherry cheese coffee-cake at Il Buon Pane afterward. I haven't seen Alfredo in months!"
"Moishe, Pops, Moishe Sobelman owns it now."
"I know that. Well, maybe I forgot for a moment. Gee, can't I have a senior moment without somebody making a big deal?"
"Have all you want, Pops. You earned them. And we'll take you up on the cherry cheese coffee-cake."
Most of the crowd had cleared out of the cafeteria by the time Eric looked at his watch. "Okay, I still have a few minutes before I have to go make some money. So how much do you know about the history of the stock exchange?"
Giancarlo's hand shot up. "It started in 1792 when twenty-four stockbrokers met under a buttonwood tree to come up with a way to make it easier to buy and sell stock in companies. They signed the 'Buttonwood Agreement' to only trade with each other. And the first company listed was Bank of New York."
"That's right," Eric nodded. "This all started under a tree. Even when they starte
d working out of a building, the traders would be up on a balcony yelling back and forth, making trades with people down on the street. That evolved into the scenario you guys have all seen in the movies, with guys frantically jumping around with pieces of paper, which are actually orders to buy or sell, yelling up at guys. We still have some days like that, but they're becoming fewer and further between."
"You've hinted that the Exchange is changing, maybe downsizing?" Marlene noted. "And I know it's been a while since I've been here, but there really doesn't seem to be as much activity as in the past."
"Yeah, to tell you the truth, the New York Stock Exchange as everybody pictures it may not exist much longer. In December 2005, the Exchange went public and electronic; you don't have to buy a seat on the Exchange to trade anymore. In fact, you don't have to be here at all."
"You mean like people who buy stock on the Internet?" Zak asked. "Well, that has a little to do with it. But really, individuals who dabble online in the stock market don't account for much in the grand scheme of things. I'm talking about guys who buy and sell millions of shares at a time. They can do it instantaneously over the computer without going through a stockbroker."
"I guess if you can do it, it makes sense," Giancarlo said.
"Yeah, maybe. You don't have to pay some guy like me a commission. But I think that it will be a real shame when stock trading loses that human factor—some guy who can work a deal and get a better price for the buyer or seller. With a computer, the price is what it is. That's kind of sad for guys like me. It might surprise you, seeing as how I'm so smart and all, but a lot of us don't have much formal education. We're Italian and Irish kids from Brooklyn and Queens who started off working for the Exchange in the summer and on school holidays. We weren't too look smart, but we had street smarts and knew how to wheel and deal, which is really what the stock market is all about. We even manage to make a decent living ... and there's always that really big deal out there just waiting to happen, like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I love it; every day is different. Sometimes the market goes crazy, up or down, and it's like being on the rollercoaster at Coney Island, only you don't know what's coming around the next bend."
Escape Page 52
