Dead by Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer? (107 page)

expectations of what would happen.... I just got the DNA reports ... My

experts aren't here.
 
Mr.
 
Upham surprised me...."

What had happened, quite obviously, was that Brad had begun to see the

consequences of his inept attempts to defend himself.
 
"I need to talk

to witnesses one-on-one before they testify," he said, harried and

angry now.
 
"I needþI need to have access to my attorney.
 
I need an

order to be with my expert witnesses."

Brad now requested more attorneys.
 
He wanted attorneys who would seek

and subpoena witnesses in Washington and California.
 
"I need new

lawyers to advise meþwho will be there."

Alexander looked at Brad, perplexed.
 
"Your lawyers have done an

excellent job," he commented.
 
"I'm not going to hire different

ones....

You may be the only person in the history of Oregon who has had two

lawyers advising you.
 
I'm not going to give you three."

The question of just how many attorneys Brad was going to have might

very well have been moot.
 
It looked as if the trial was about to

evaporate.
 
Both Lyons and Hunt had filed documents expressing their

concerns about the way Brad was handling his defense.
 
He had ignored

their advice, he had brushed aside the judge's warnings.
 
They

sincerely questioned his mental competence.

The two psychologists who had been observing Brad's behavior were in

the courtroom and ready to offer their opinions as to whether he should

be allowed to continue.
 
Judge Alexander had selected Dr. Donald True

to observe and examine Brad, and Scott Upham had chosen Dr. Richard

Hulteng.
 
The question on everyone's mind was: Is this a man of

monumental ego and almost suicidal arrogance who is, nevertheless,

saneþor is Brad Cunningham psychotic?
 
The jury was not present in the

courtroom while the two psychologists presented their findings.

Dr. Donald True testified first.
 
He had observed Brad for five hours,

watching him in the courtroom and on a one-to-one basis.
 
But he had

given him only one testþthe Rorschach ink-blot test.
 
It was True's

opinion that Brad was diagnosable, according to the guidelines in the

DSM-4

(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the bible of p.sychologists and

psychiatrists), as suffering from "severe delusional disorder."

He felt that Brad was "depressive, borderline suicidal," and had

"paranoid type ideation.... His mental disorder," True said, "is such

that he's defeating his defenseþfighting his own attorneys.... In my

opinion, he's not able to accurately perceiveþor aidþhimself."

Although Dr. True believed that his mental problems were major, he

said that Brad was probably delusional and paranoid only in certain

areas.
 
He could, for instance, go on with his life otherwise.
 
"It's

not paranoid schizophrenia, he can function adequatelyþeven

brilliantlyþ in other areas."

Brad did not care for Dr. True's diagnosis.
 
He asked to have an

independent advisor, another psychologist, to evaluate him, someone to

contest True's findings.
 
Alexander would not grant him another

psychologist.

Kevin Hunt rose to tell Alexander that he was concerned about having

Brad cross-examine Dr. True.
 
Lyons and Hunt had now made full

disclosure of their adversarial position with their client.
 
Hunt

wondered if he and Lyons could even continue.
 
But they did agree to

continue, and Upham's chosen psychologist took the stand to give his

opinion on Brad's competence.

Dr. Richard Hulteng, director of evaluation and treatment at the

Oregon State Hospital, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology who was also an

attorney, said he had observed Brad, held a structured clinical

interview with him for four hours, administered the M.M.P.I test, and

reviewed some five hundred pages of documents, police reports, and

other test results.

His diagnosis was diametrically opposed to that of Dr. True.
 
Hulteng

had found Brad a little depressed, not surprising given his current

situation, and said that Brad did have a personality disorderþa

"depressive maladaptive personality."
 
Hulteng found him "antisocial,

paranoid, and narcissistic."
 
But none of theseþor any personality

disorderþindicated that a subject was "crazy."
 
They were, rather, an

integral part of the way some people relate to the world.

"He wants to do the case his way?"
 
Upham asked Dr. Hulteng.
 
"Is that

accurate?"

"Yes ... at some point, he asked me not to talk to his attorneys....

Within a reality-based way, he cited individuals who may be against him

þthere were many...."

"Is he competent to act as his own attorney?"

"I concluded that within the framework of understanding the nature of

the procedure, he's perfectly rational," Dr. Hulteng replied.
 
"He's

at least of high-average intelligence.... As defined by Oregon law, he

has the capacity to assist in his own defense."

Oddly, even though this testimony had the potential to damage him more

than Dr. True's, Brad was happy with Dr. Hulteng's diagnosis.
 
Odder

still, clearly seeing this as an opportunity to get many of his

complaints into the record, he proceeded to demonstrate his paranoid

personality disorder.
 
He complained to Dr. Hulteng that Judge

Alexander wasn't being fair, that he gave Scott Upham favorable

treatment.
 
As Alexander listened without expression, Brad told Hulteng

that the judge was prosecutorial and more interested in "getting me

convicted than conducting a fair trial."

"Yesþyou told me that," Hulteng said calmly.

Judge Alexander had a question for Dr. Hulteng.
 
"Did you observe Mr.

Cunningham going ahead even when I was concerned it was dangerous for

him?
 
Doesn't that concern you?"

"Yes," Hulteng agreed, "but that's more maladaptive, narcissistic

behavior.
 
He isn't delusional."

"What about his inability or failure to recognize danger?"

Alexander pressed.

"That's just his poor judgment."

Brad continued to complain about several of Judge Alexander's rulings

that he felt were unfair, and patiently Dr. Hulteng tried to explain

to him what the crux of the matter was.
 
"You and the judge were

clearly having a difference of opinion.
 
From where I sit, your view is

distorted, but it doesn't fall into crazy' because you're not saying

the judge is ruling against ,you because he's receiving messages from

Mars.

Then I'd be concerned."

For the first time in a very long time, there were smiles in the court

room.

Dr.
 
Hulteng's opinion would prevail and the trial would go on.

Brad, poor judgment and all, would continue to conduct his own

defense.

Lyons and Hunt would continue to try to advise him.
 
And he, in all

likelihood, would continue to ignore their advice.

DNA evidence is an esoteric and recent addition to a criminalist's

already impressive knowledge of things seen and not seen by the naked

eye at a crime scene.
 
And Cecilia Von Beroldingen was one of the

outstanding DNA experts in America.
 
She was a pretty, slender young

woman whose self-confident movements belied the fact that she was

legally blind.
 
She took the stand just after lunch on December 12, and

her seeing-eye dog, a golden retriever, waited for her at the far end

of the press row next to investigatorSim Carr, its eyes never leaving

its mistress.

It took several minutes for Scott Upham to elicit the plethora of

credentials that Von Beroldingen possessed.
 
She gavethe jurors a crash

course in DNA, explaining that humans normally inherit twenty-three

chromosomes from the male parent and the same number from the female.

DNA, the stuff of life, is found in these chromosomes.
 
Although there

are three basic methods, namely RLFP, PCR, and DQ Alpha, used to

extract, amplify, and evaluate DNA, she told the jury that she had used

the DQ Alpha typing process on the hairs preserved as evidence after

Cheryl's murder.

With blood samples taken from both Brad and Cheryl, Von Beroldingen was

able to establish that they had different DQ Alpha profiles.

Cheryl's was "1.3,3," while Brad's was "1.2,4," she said.

The only thing that Von Beroldingen had had to work with were the hair

follicles.
 
Two hairs had been found on Cheryl's arm and blouse, hairs

that still had the root or follicle attached.
 
The hair shaft itself

cannot be tested for DNA components but the "tag" or follicle can.

The hair found on Cheryl's forearm was consistent with Cheryl's

DQ Alpha profile, but the human cellular contaminant on it was Brad's

type: 1.2,4.
 
This contaminant could be anything from sweat to blood to

mucus to semen, or any other bodily secretion.
 
That would indicate

that someone with a 1.2,4

DQ Alpha profile had been in contact with the hair found on Cheryl's

body.

It would be essential for the defense to establish what percentage of

the population had 1.2,4

DQ Alpha profiles, and Kevin Hunt had planned to cross-examine Von

Beroldingen.
 
Judge Alexander ruled that he could not.
 
Brad had chosen

to defend himself and he could not have it both ways.
 
Hunt would be

allowed only to whisper questions, while Brad himself cross-examined

Dr. Von Beroldingen.
 
With his first question, however, an interesting

phenomenon took place.
 
although his voice was as soft and conciliatory