One defense witness thought Biswanath Halder was
something like Mel Gibson's character in the film Conspiracy Theory.
Halder, who lived in an attic in a three-storied house in Cleveland,
Ohio, had hardly any furniture but his house was filled with boxes and
boxes of magazines and newspapers.
Halder, who was found guilty recently of holding some
150 students and professors hostage and killing one student on May 9,
2003, could get the death sentence. The sentencing phase of the trial
has just started in a courtroom in Cleveland, Ohio.
Forensic Psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon, who
has examined many serial killers told the jurors on January 19, the
second day of the sentencing process, that Halder, 65, was convinced
that his seven-hour long violent siege of the business school of Case
Western University was justified. "Violence is essential!," Halder
declared recently in describing the siege, Smalldon told the jury that
was taking copious notes.
He was fighting cyber criminals, Halder told the
psychologist. Halder added that by striking at the university, which
Halder blamed for allegedly shielding a student and employee Shawn
Miller who had reportedly hacked his Website, he made the world a safer
place. His goal was to "liquidate" the university and that is why he
entered the campus armed with over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, the
psychologist said. Halder told him. "By doing what I did I saved the
mankind."
Halder also told it (cyber crime) "Will never be
allowed to happen again." And he added that he decided to act against
the university because he believed it was paying reporters to write
negative stories on him. Halder was convinced that everyone from Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the judges were corrupt and had a thing or
two against him.
And his action had "saved the world billions and
trillions of dollars," Halder reportedly told Smalldon. Though Halder
boasted about his mastery of mathematics and business, he also admitted
to Smalldon that he had "lived a subhuman life" since his arrival in
America in 1969 ostensibly to study. He could never have contact with
his family in India, especially his only sibling, a sister, or have a
girl friend because he was always short of money.
The psychologist, who emphatically told the jury that
Halder was mentally ill, also added that the killer still had the
capacity to distinguish right from wrong. Though he expressed regret for
his action, Halder never showed any remorse, Smalldon added.
But Halder did not have a history of violence till
the May 9, 2003 shootout, Smalldon said answering a question by defense
lawyer Kevin Cafferkey. And he has created no violence in the jail,
Smalldon added.
This is the first time the jury has heard about
Halder's mental illness. It was not allowed during the trial because
judge Peggy Foley Jones ruled that it did not meet the legal definition.
Cafferkey also said that Halder, who studied at
various universities before going to Case Western for a business degree
five years ago and could not hold any job for more than two years, had
mental disorders since at least 1980.
An alcoholic, Halder has been sober for over 15
years.
It will take the jury a few days to decide whether
Halder should serve a life sentence or go to the electric chair. Halder,
who is being described by several defense witnesses as "grandly
disillusioned," sits with his three court-appointed lawyers in the court
with an impassive face but taking copious notes that he passes on to his
defense team.
Dressed in a gray sports jacket and a white shirt,
with a sober colored tie, and a $150 wig, the man described by one of
his classmates at Case Western as someone who wore the same clothes day
after day, Halder seldom looks at the jury or witnesses for the defense,
who offer damning testimony against him. All in the hope of showing that
his action was triggered by severe mental problems.
One of the defense lawyers, Cafferkey told the jurors
on January 17 that Halder, "the bizarre little man who no one befriends"
is mentally ill. He must spend the rest of his life in prison, Cafferkey
added. He can "never live in society because of his actions of May 9,
2003," he added.
The forensic psychologist Smalldon said Halder was
"one of the most isolated people I've ever evaluated."
Former neighbor Philip Helon, a law student when he
lived in the same three-story building as Halder about five years ago,
described Halder as someone who always appeared lonely. And had no
friends or family members visiting him.
He also described Halder as "a little off" and as
someone who was always obsessed with Shawn Miller, a Case Western
University employee.
Halder had unsuccessfully sued the university and
Miller more than three years before Halder went on a rampage in May
2003, dressed in military fatigues, wearing a helmet and a bulletproof
west.
"The very first thought, at least from what I recall,
when I heard a sole gunman was in the university, my instinct was, could
that possibly be Biswanath," said Helon.
Helon also said that he occasionally invited Halder
to a party but he declined the invitation.
When Helon gave Halder a sweater for Christmas and
asked him to join him for a photograph, Halder resisted the idea, saying
that he was too ugly. But he finally posed.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Rick Bell
appealed on January 17 to the jury to sentence Halder to death and
described him as a selfish man who plotted the rampage for over two
years, buying one of the two guns he took with him to the campus soon
after he lost the civil suit against Shawn Miller and the university.
The jury heard from Smalldon that Halder told him
during an interview for the defense that Halder's Website, meant for
Indian businessmen, could have made an impact of "billions and trillions"
of dollars in 22 months had it not been hacked. Coming from a man who
had no success in business since his 1969 arrival in America, the boast
showed how delusional Halder was, Smalldon added.
Bell, who has sought vigorously to discredit Smalldon,
had called during the trial the defense arguments that Halder did not
commit a premeditated crime as unreal.
According to John Laskin, one of the attorneys for
Halder, the latter said he went into Peter B Lewis Building when he
expected it to be nearly empty. He just wanted to protest. But when he
lost his eyeglasses, he panicked, and shot blindly killing one student
and wounding two others, then fired at police -- blindly, because he had
lost his eyeglasses, the lawyers argued.
"Are you kidding me?" Bell retorted in his closing
argument, The Cleveland Plains Dealer reported. "This [defense]
is an affront -- an affront to that [Wallace] family back there in the
courtroom. Halder is a sociopath.
It angers me that [Halder] could be portrayed as some
sad, strange little man -- that's not the case," Bell said. "He planned
this for a long time."
Halder won a victory of sorts when Judge Peggy Foley
Jones dismissed terrorism charges against him. Had he been found guilty
on that charge, a death sentence seemed certain but now he could be
sentenced to a life term, eligible for parole after 28 years.