Dramatic testimony at NRI Halder's trial
December 02, 2005 13:23 IST
As the trial of Biswanath Halder, who
faces a death sentence if found guilty of going on a rampage on a university campus and killing one student, continues in the second week, the defense is making strong efforts to win sympathy for him. The defense is trying to portray Halder as a man ridiculed by some of his colleagues and peers over his claims to bring prosperity to his native country, India, through his website that was destroyed by a hacker.
Halder was first charged on 338 felony counts in the May 9, 2003 rampage across Case Western Reserve University campus but the prosecutors decided to reduce the count to 202, partly to hasten the trial which has hit many bumps, especially over the questions of Halder's sanity, with some experts arguing that he was not incompetent to stand trial.
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The defense said Halder's mental state had deteriorated even more in recent months but Judge Peggy Foley Jones found those claims baseless. However, she allowed one of the two attorneys for Halder buy a black wig for Halder, the local newspapers reported, after Halder said his religious beliefs prohibited him from being seen in public without his hairpiece.
Halder had worn a long black wig and army fatigues on the day of attack.
Several experts had also found Halder unfit to stand the trial, claiming that he was delusional. But the court decided to accept the testimony of the experts who, while believing Halder
had serious emotional problems, were convinced that he was sane enough to stand the trial.
The jury has been hearing quite a bit of dramatic testimony all through the week, especially from Shawn Miller, the target of Halder's hatred for a long time. Halder had not only accused Miller of destroying his website but had also unsuccessfully sued him more than a year before the shooting spree.
The trial, being held in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Ohio, has heard the assistant county prosecutor Richard Bell tell the jury that Halder, now 65, perpetrated "vigilantism and terrorism" in the campus siege that lasted for seven hours. Bell asserted that after he lost the case against Miller, Halder began preparing for the attack and worked on it for over a year. Halder also held a grudge against the university, accusing it of protecting Miller who had been working in its computer lab.
Bell, rejecting the defense argument that Halder was a confused person, has asserted that the case is about two things: arrogance and selfishness.
Halder became the first person to be charged under a terrorism law that Ohio adopted following 9/11. Under the new law, anyone who terrorises people on a state property and kills a person will face a death sentence after the conviction.
Halder, who studied at Case Western and graduated in 1999 with a business degree had talked about the problems of Third World on his Website, and denounced America's foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. He believed that through his Website he could help Indian businessmen and common people grow wealthy and eradicate poverty not only in India but also across the globe.
Miller, who was not injured in the rampage in which Halder was allegedly armed with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, told the jury that he hated Halder because of his attitude towards fellow students and workers at the university.
But Miller denied destroying Halder's website. Also, he told the jury that he knew who the culprit was. He said he had revealed the name of the culprit to Halder. Though Halder said he was sorry that things had gone too far, he did not try to seek amends.
Halder could not overcome his paranoia and fears, Kevin Cafferkey, one of the two attorneys defending the accused told the jurors.
The court appointed both the lawyers. People facing death penalty are usually provided with two lawyers by the courts. Halder's trial has been halted several times as he sought new lawyers, arguing the previous lawyer was not competent and was working in his best interests. Often he charged his lawyers were working for the prosecution and were not interested in defending him.
At one point, he declared he will defend himself. The court recently insisted that he cannot defend himself, and ordered him to accept the new lawyers.
Cafferkey told the jury that Halder had been deeply troubled following the loss of his suit against Shawn. And he seriously believed he was "sacrificing himself to save mankind" from a cyber criminal.
But the prosecution told the jury that no matter how disturbed Halder was, he should not have gone around shooting people including police officers with the intent to kill.
In about a year since his suit was dismissed, Halder went berserk on the campus.
Among the many people he had fired at with the gun was a graduate business student Sachin Goel who testified in the court that he was saved because he slid under a table even as the gunman fired at him and his friends.
