By Katherine Ramsland
(Continued)
A week into the trial, Braunstein's former girlfriend, Jane Larkworthy, took the stand. She described their difficult relationship and Braunstein's self-destructive threats. At first, he'd been intelligent and funny, she said, but then he'd grown increasingly morose and angry, even violent. Once she asked him to move out, she continued to receive threatening phone calls and emails. He was charged with harassment. Gottlieb thought this behavior was proof of Braunstein's escalating illness.
The most provocative evidence that surfaced was Braunstein's manifesto and the journal he wrote while on the run, confiscated from him upon his arrest. Justice Thomas Farber had to decide what parts the jury could hear. After consideration, he excluded Braunstein's entries about Hannibal Lecter, David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, Andrew Cunanan, and the 1999 Columbine massacre. However, he decided that Braunstein's stated desire to attack a certain fashion celebrity was relevant. It seems that the accused had pondered killing the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour (supposedly the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada), just "because I feel like it." When he'd worked as a fashion writer, he apparently resented that she'd never taken his calls.
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| Andrew Cunanan |
In the excerpts published in several news sources, Braunstein mentioned that God talks to him but denied he heard voices and said he knew what he was doing. Psychiatric experts who read these pieces failed to see evidence of psychosis; they thought Braunstein was insecure, aware, and angry. He thought too highly of himself and viewed himself as both a victim and a menace.
Although the defense team insisted that allowing the jury to hear Braunstein's remarks about killing the editor was prejudicial and might make them afraid of acquitting him, the judge held his ground. To support the claim of insanity, Gottlieb brought in both a psychologist and a psychiatrist.
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