Murder in Massachusetts

No Further Explanation

Shocking mostly everyone in the courtroom, after Patricia stepped down from the witness stand, co-counsel Lori Levinson and her partner, Leonard Cohen, rested their case.

Apparently, Levinson and Cohen believed the state had not done its job and the jury would see through what they believed to be a transparent case of two liars trying to frame their mother for something she didn't do.

Closing arguments were next. For the most part, both sides wrapped up their cases by restating what had already been brought out during trial testimony. For Leonard Cohen, it came down to three important issues: One, Christopher Robinson hated Neil Olsen, and the brutality of the murder depicted how much anger the young man had for his stepfather. Two, Amanda Robinson, an admitted former cocaine user, told jurors that she had "asked her dealer to find an assassin ... and," Cohen raged, "she claimed that she did it to 'fool' her mother into thinking she was actively pursuing an assassin." Thirdly, Christopher Robinson pointed a finger at his mother in order to hopefully entertain lesser charges for himself, beyond getting back at her for destroying his life.

Still, it was Amanda that excited Cohen most. Screaming and pounding his fist against the lectern of the podium in front of him, Cohen shouted, "She [Amanda] wanted him dead. She wanted it to the point where she solicited someone to kill him! ... [Christopher and Amanda] shared a mutual feeling: both hated Neil Olsen. They both didn't like their mother because, when push came to shove, well, she chose Neil over them."

David Capeless, in a non-threatening, soft tone, almost as if he was reading from a script, stated that Christopher Robinson had been "exploited by his mother," boiling the state's case down to one great sound bite: "This tortured tale comes down [a] mother [that] used her children to do the worst crime of all—and then she turned against them."

A while later, shortly before ending his closing, Capeless put on his claws and went after Cohen's theory: "She [Patricia] also knew Chris was the perfect fall guy; he hated Neil. Who would believe him? Chris would do what she wanted if she pressed hard enough."

And that was it: the case was now in the hands of the jury.