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Mar 24, 2008 9:13 pm US/Pacific
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Oakland's 'Silence of the Lambs' Trial Wrapping Up
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
The defense attorney for 43-year-old Oakland roofer Earl Stefanson told jurors Monday that three ex-girlfriends who were allegedly attacked and brutally tortured by Stefanson consented to be abused.
In closing arguments in Stefanson's trial on charges that he murdered 36-year-old Leslie Lamb of San Leandro and assaulted Zeba Wahed and Kristen Nielson, defense lawyer Ted Berry said, "Each of the three women who consented to treatment by Mr. Stefanson or somebody else that was harmful to them."
Police said they found horrifying evidence in the basement of Stefanson's Coolidge Street home in August of 2006, describing it as a "Silence of the Lambs" torture chamber-type setup. Police said they found the blood of Lamb and the two other former girlfriends at the scene.
But Berry maintained his client is not the "predator" that the prosecution has painted him as throughout the trial.
"There are people in this world who will pay money to be beaten. I'm not saying that was the case here, but there was a form of acquiescence and it absolves him (Stefanson) from responsibility" for the alleged attacks on the three women, Berry told jurors.
In his rebuttal closing argument, prosecutor Casey Bates said it was "most offensive" for Berry to suggest that "somehow (Lamb) consented to her own death."
Bates said there was no evidence in Stefanson's trial, including Stefanson's full day of testimony, that "she (Lamb) has got to have it, that they were into sadomasochism, that she liked to be wrapped up and kicked -- that's just outrageous."
Bates said he also believes that Berry didn't have any basis to suggest that Lamb may have died from a methamphetamine overdose, noting that a pathologist ruled that she died from blunt force trauma due to being beaten to death.
Stefanson, who has a 1995 conviction for running a methamphetamine laboratory in Butte County, faces life in prison without parole if he's convicted of the most serious of the 18 felony counts he faces, which are murder, false imprisonment and assault.
Jurors will begin deliberating his fate Tuesday morning.
Bates said Lamb, Wahed and Nielson were "lost souls" who succumbed to drugs - which caused them "to be vulnerable and susceptible to a predator," namely Stefanson.
The prosecutor said the women were taken advantage of by Stefanson, whom he described as "a dark soul" and said of him, "all we see is darkness."
Bates said the evidence in Stefanson's trial indicates that "he enjoys the infliction of extreme cruelty on women."
The prosecutor said Stefanson murdered Lamb in a brutal fashion at his Oakland home on Aug. 26, 2006, apparently by striking her repeatedly with an object such as a board or a belt.
Bates said a doctor who has been exposed to numerous brutal cases during 22 years at Highland Hospital in Oakland testified that the injuries suffered by Lamb were the worst he's ever seen because of the nature, extent and distribution of her injuries.
Bates said Lamb "was beaten from head to toe, from front to back and from one side of her body to the other."
Bates said Stefanson also attacked Wahed and Nielson at least several times each.
He said that on Easter 2006 Stefanson kicked Wahed, bound her in saran wrap and placed her in a dark and wet basement for several days.
Bates said Wahen nearly drowned and suffered extreme pain because Stefanson wouldn't allow her to have any medication or pain-killers even though he knew she was recovering from recent surgery.
Berry complained that it's "incorrect" and "unfair" for Bates to describe Stefanson as "a predator."
Referring to Stacey Perkins, who testified as a character witness for Stefanson, Berry said Stefanson, is currently in a relationship with "a woman who lives him and cares for him."
But Bates told jurors to disregard Perkins' testimony, noting that she said that she would still love Stefanson even if all the allegations against him were true.
Bates said, "People are attracted to other people for bad reasons sometimes. Some people are attracted to people in custody."
The courtroom of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Leo Dorado was packed Monday with relatives of Lamb and the other two alleged victims in the case. Also attending was Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, who is prosecutor Casey Bates' father.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)