Playground Murder Case Goes to Jury

Jurors on Wednesday began deliberating the fate of a man who intentionally drove his Cadillac through a Costa Mesa playground, with both the prosecution and defense agreeing there’s little doubt about his guilt.

Steven Allen Abrams could face the death penalty if convicted in the murders of two children who died when his 5,000-pound car burst through a chain-link fence then mowed over children playing outside the day-care center.

In an unusual concession, Abrams’ defense attorney told the jury Wednesday that the prosecution proved Steven Allen Abrams was guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.

If the jury agrees--its deliberations resume today--a separate hearing would be held to determine whether Abrams should be declared not guilty by reason of insanity.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd also urged the jury to convict Abrams, calling the May 1999 attack a selfish attempt to get back at a judge who five years earlier had jailed him for stalking an ex-girlfriend.

The prosecutor discounted Abrams’ statements to psychiatrists that he attacked the children with his hulking Cadillac in order to punish the “brain-wave police” he said constantly beamed evil thoughts into his mind.

“This was to get back at [the judge], not to get back at an entity.”

In interviews with police and psychiatrists after his arrest, Abrams repeatedly referred to the judge’s handling of the stalking case. But he also talked about a military conspiracy and efforts to turn him into a killer through “brain-wave” communication.

Defense attorney Leonard Gumlia spent the bulk of his two-hour closing argument in Santa Ana talking to jurors about Abrams’ bizarre theories. By killing children, Abrams figured he could disclose the conspiracy through the national media, Gumlia said.

“At the time he commits the crime, he’s not even thinking of murder,” Gumlia said, “He’s thinking of the brain-wave police. He wants to expose them.”

Lloyd later said Gumlia used the guilt phase of the trial as an early opportunity to present the sanity defense.

A court-appointed psychiatrist who interviewed Abrams concluded he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, records show. A second psychiatrist appointed by the court did not make a determination on legal sanity.

If Abrams is declared not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be committed to a mental institution indefinitely. If he is found sane, a third hearing would be held to determine whether he should receive the death penalty.