What Can Help The Jury Decide In My Favor?
QUESTION:
Dr. Heller,
I'm not sure you can, or would even want, to help me. I have been
charged with serious felony crimes as a result of a domestic violence incident
a few months ago. I have a good attorney and he is apparently doing all
the right things toward preparing my defense. But to him and the District
Attorney, this is a simple case of a violent man attacking a defenseless
woman. I could possibly spend the rest of my life in jail for this.
My attorney sees it as a simple case of self-defense, while I see
it as much more - a case involving a very sick person who created the situation
and is now lying about it to save her own skin. I have never been in trouble
with the law, never been arrested, and actually served as a volunteer police
officer some years ago. I rarely get angry and tend to just "blow
things off" when somebody tries to get me upset.
But I was involved in a short romantic relationship with a woman
that I had known for a couple of years. After a short relationship, she
informed me that she was no longer interested in having a sexual relationship
with me so our relationship became generally platonic. We were roommates
(I paid rent and had a separate room) and we worked together at the same
company. During our relationship this woman would be friendly and pleasant
one minute and then explosively angry the next. I would ask her what I
had done wrong (so that I could apologize and never do it again) but she
would never tell me. One day things would be great; the next she was angry,
moody and distant.
One time she blew up and made a horrible scene because she couldn't
get a particular seat in a movie theater. On another occasion she screamed
at me and berated me for simply trying to help her wire a stereo system
properly. On a vacation, she told me (as we were leaving port on the ship)
that she never wanted to have sex with me again; the next two days - at
her initiation - we had several sessions of lusty and passionate sex. There
were several other incidents when she would lose her temper at me for simply
changing lanes on the freeway or using a different route of travel.
One time when she was drunk and was bearing her soul, so to speak,
she told me she was on Prozac because she had BPD (prescribed 40mg, she
takes 20mg with Desyrel). I assumed she meant Bi-polar Disorder. I was
unaware of the other BPD.
But the occasion that resulted in my current situation occurred early
one morning after she had been drinking and had used some marijuana. She
was very drunk and had fallen asleep on the couch. I woke her and was assisting
her up the stairs when she stopped, turned around, and started screaming
at me at the top of her lungs (this was 2:30 in the morning). My efforts
to calm her down only made things worse and after a couple of minutes of
her screaming that she "hated" me, men, her daughter, her house,
her employer, etc., she suddenly took a swing at me. She missed, lost her
balance and fell on her bottom on the stairs. She then tried to kick me
in the privates, but missed and caught my left thigh instead. She was totally
out of control.
Frustrated, she started yelling that she was going to kill me and
cut me up. At that I managed to flip her over and hold her down and eventually
was able to restrain her. (That little fact is what is causing some of
my legal problems.) She suffered some minor bruises to her extremities
due to our altercation, but other than that was not seriously hurt. I restrained
her until she sobered up, although she did threaten me several more times
over the next few hours. After the altercation was over and I released
her, she realized what had happened and thanked me for not calling the
police. She indicated that she wanted to seek counseling for her drinking
problems, but we had to figure out how we could avoid telling about the
altercation. Everything became calm and went back to normal the next day,
with her constantly asking me to forgive her for what she had done and
for not calling an ambulance or the police.
But two days later, at the urging of her daughter and a police officer
friend, she had me arrested and charged with domestic violence, illegal
restraint, kidnaping and torture. As part of discovery, we have her statements
to the police, investigators, and others on the DA's side of the case.
She cannot tell the story the same way twice, says she remembers nothing,
that everything was a blur to her, etc. She supposedly cooperated with
me because she was afraid that I was going to kill her or rape her.
So far they have taken everything at face value. I am very confident
about my chances in trial simply because she (thanks to her inconsistencies
in her depositions) has become my best witness. The truth of the matter
is clearly in front of their eyes, but the DA just doesn't seem to see
it. In spite of my problems, I'm not even angry with her at this point
because I feel that she clearly suffers from BPDisorder.
My real question to you is two-fold: How can I present my suspicions
to the court in such a way that it does not seem like I am just fishing
for an excuse for my own actions? And do you know of any experts in this
field who live in the southern California area who might be able to review
my evidence and make an educated, professional opinion on it for a reasonable
fee? I know that if I just present the materials I've printed off of the
Internet, that the DA and Judge will just dismiss them as having no relevance.
I feel that they have every bit of relevance to my case. When compared
to her earlier actions, it is quite clear that she is suffering from some
serious mental problems. Obviously I don't want to end up in jail while
this lady continues to walk the streets untreated. I know this has been
long, and possibly off subject.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance...
ANSWER:
