Read Online Erased: Missing Women, Murdered Wives by Marilee Strong - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marilee Strong
Tags: United States, General, Social Science, Psychology, True Crime, Health & Fitness, Pregnancy & Childbirth, womens studies, Murderers, Murder, Case studies, Violence in Society, Crimes against, Uxoricide, Pregnant Women
Ads: Link
when it was so against his own
interest, he explained by showing the relationship and differences
between the closely linked Dark Triad concepts.
‘‘A pure Machiavellian would not be that stupid,’’ said Paulhus.
‘‘If you’re driven purely by Machiavellian self-interest, the last thing
you do is set yourself up in any way to get caught. But narcissists
are driven by more than self-interest, or at least a different type of
self-interest: a superiority, a grandiosity that needs to be nurtured.’’
Machiavellianism may account for the almost perfect plan Scott
came up with to get away with murder. But his continued commu-nication with Amber—against his attorney’s strict orders, and when
only a fool would not realize she was working with the police—seems
to be a reflection of his narcissism. He needed her to fill up a vacuum
inside him, to admire and adore him—to believe, as he begged
her to believe in one of their calls, that he was ‘‘not a monster.’’
Despite her nationally televised appearance at the police station, it
was inconceivable to him that she would betray him, that he would
not be able to keep her in his thrall.
Thomas Capano was so strongly narcissistic and Machiavellian that
he insisted on controlling every aspect of his defense—a strategy that
backfired horribly and certainly contributed to the jury’s decision
to recommend death over life in prison for the murder of his
girlfriend. He then unsuccessfully used the mistakes caused by his
own orchestration to claim ineffective assistance of counsel and
demand either a new trial or a lighter sentence. In papers his
lawyers filed in response to Capano’s motion, the extraordinarily
manipulative nature of his personality was revealed.
Capano hired four accomplished attorneys to represent him at
trial, one of whom was the state’s former attorney general, but
refused to follow their advice and ordered them to do his bidding.
He forced one to deliver an opening statement that stunned everyone
in the courtroom, acknowledging for the first time that Anne Marie
Fahey was dead but blaming her death on a ‘‘tragic accident’’—while
refusing to tell the attorney what might possibly back up such a claim.
(He would ultimately claim that a second mistress found him and
Fahey together and pulled a gun out in a jealous rage, which went
4 2
E R A S E D
off as she and Capano struggled over the gun—a woman who had
nothing to do with the murder but whom Capano had manipulated
into buying the gun he used to kill Anne Marie.)
He insisted on testifying in his own defense against his attorneys’
better judgment and refused to allow them to prepare him for
cross-examination. Grossly overestimating his abilities, he claimed
he didn’t need any preparation, but then became so belligerent on
the stand that the judge at one point had him removed from the
courtroom.
Just as he had carefully planned his crime and its cover-up (in
addition to obtaining a gun that he believed could not be traced to
him, he bought in advance the 40.5 gallon cooler he would use as a
coffin), he told his attorneys what questions to ask and exactly what
words to use in asking them.
Capano seemed to delight in the way he pulled the strings on his
own advocates and parceled out information only when he felt like
it. As counsel Joseph Oteri remarked in contemporaneous notes he
took just thirteen days before trial, Capano admitted that ‘‘he was
playing with our heads about his defense’’ and wouldn’t tell them any
facts about what happened. Even with his life on the line, and despite
his intelligence and legal prowess, Capano could not overcome his
darker instincts.
The trial judge, and subsequent appellate courts, rejected his argu-ment of ineffective assistance of counsel. However, seven years after
his conviction, the Delaware Supreme Court set aside Capano’s death
sentence because one juror had held out
interest, he explained by showing the relationship and differences
between the closely linked Dark Triad concepts.
‘‘A pure Machiavellian would not be that stupid,’’ said Paulhus.
‘‘If you’re driven purely by Machiavellian self-interest, the last thing
you do is set yourself up in any way to get caught. But narcissists
are driven by more than self-interest, or at least a different type of
self-interest: a superiority, a grandiosity that needs to be nurtured.’’
Machiavellianism may account for the almost perfect plan Scott
came up with to get away with murder. But his continued commu-nication with Amber—against his attorney’s strict orders, and when
only a fool would not realize she was working with the police—seems
to be a reflection of his narcissism. He needed her to fill up a vacuum
inside him, to admire and adore him—to believe, as he begged
her to believe in one of their calls, that he was ‘‘not a monster.’’
Despite her nationally televised appearance at the police station, it
was inconceivable to him that she would betray him, that he would
not be able to keep her in his thrall.
Thomas Capano was so strongly narcissistic and Machiavellian that
he insisted on controlling every aspect of his defense—a strategy that
backfired horribly and certainly contributed to the jury’s decision
to recommend death over life in prison for the murder of his
girlfriend. He then unsuccessfully used the mistakes caused by his
own orchestration to claim ineffective assistance of counsel and
demand either a new trial or a lighter sentence. In papers his
lawyers filed in response to Capano’s motion, the extraordinarily
manipulative nature of his personality was revealed.
Capano hired four accomplished attorneys to represent him at
trial, one of whom was the state’s former attorney general, but
refused to follow their advice and ordered them to do his bidding.
He forced one to deliver an opening statement that stunned everyone
in the courtroom, acknowledging for the first time that Anne Marie
Fahey was dead but blaming her death on a ‘‘tragic accident’’—while
refusing to tell the attorney what might possibly back up such a claim.
(He would ultimately claim that a second mistress found him and
Fahey together and pulled a gun out in a jealous rage, which went
4 2
E R A S E D
off as she and Capano struggled over the gun—a woman who had
nothing to do with the murder but whom Capano had manipulated
into buying the gun he used to kill Anne Marie.)
He insisted on testifying in his own defense against his attorneys’
better judgment and refused to allow them to prepare him for
cross-examination. Grossly overestimating his abilities, he claimed
he didn’t need any preparation, but then became so belligerent on
the stand that the judge at one point had him removed from the
courtroom.
Just as he had carefully planned his crime and its cover-up (in
addition to obtaining a gun that he believed could not be traced to
him, he bought in advance the 40.5 gallon cooler he would use as a
coffin), he told his attorneys what questions to ask and exactly what
words to use in asking them.
Capano seemed to delight in the way he pulled the strings on his
own advocates and parceled out information only when he felt like
it. As counsel Joseph Oteri remarked in contemporaneous notes he
took just thirteen days before trial, Capano admitted that ‘‘he was
playing with our heads about his defense’’ and wouldn’t tell them any
facts about what happened. Even with his life on the line, and despite
his intelligence and legal prowess, Capano could not overcome his
darker instincts.
The trial judge, and subsequent appellate courts, rejected his argu-ment of ineffective assistance of counsel. However, seven years after
his conviction, the Delaware Supreme Court set aside Capano’s death
sentence because one juror had held out
Similar Books
