but judging from the violent crime scene and witnessing eva s autopsy, frisco was convinced this had to be calculated, conscious. when people are sleep walking, it s not easy to form all of these various steps in your mind. it s not as if he had thrashed about in the room and knocked over the furniture and woke up. everything he did was directed specifically at eva to ultimately murder her. ultimately d.a. frisco wouldn t get a chance to make that case to a jury. he was transferred to another office and handed the case to d.a. dinko bozanich. who, remember, specialized in cases involving mental defenses. how many times do you hear about anybody really committing is a crime while they re sleep walking, except for the ones that have been caught and then raised that as a defense instead of something else. well, it turned out there was one particular case, here in toronto, canada.
you know, you re working through healing and trying to move on with your life. and then it has to be brought back up again and you have to deal with the monster face to face. but stephen reitz looked nothing like a monster when he finally entered the courtroom to face a charge of first degree murder. he was 28 by then. he seemed calm, composed, didn t s appear to be at all threatening. he looked like a nice little school boy in the courtroom. he had his glasses on, his hair was freshly cut and you look at him and it s like, wow, this kid, you know, this young man, no way could he have done what occurred. prosecuting, however, would be a new d.a., the third one assigned to the case. remember, the first d.a., frisco, was transferred away, the case reassigned to dinko bozanich, who specialized in mental defense cases. and then
frisco studied the detectives report. it appeared that eva s murder was now both a legal and medical issue. for advice, frisco consulted another d.a., dinko bozanich, who specialized in cases involving mental defenses. if he truly was sleepwalking, at the time of the episode, then he was not conscious, not criminally responsible, not guilty. really? the idea that reitz might not be held responsible for eva s death horrified her family. how is that possible? how could he even get off on that type of defense? he did it. he was there. he knows he did it. we know he did it. why is this even going to trial? science took over then, for a while. a world recognized sleep disorder expert from stanford university joined the case.
d.a. dinko bozanich. who, remember, specialized in cases involving mental defenses. how many times do you hear about anybody really committing a crime while they re sleep walking, except for the ones that have been caught and then raised that as a defense instead of something else. well, it turned out there was one particular case, here in toronto, canada. it was more than two decades ago. it, too, was a violent crime, involved a man who had no apparent motive and who later on had absolutely no recollection of what he had done, just like stephen reitz. this killer s name was kenneth parks, and his story made headlines round the world. it was 1987. parks was 23, married, the father of a baby girl. it happened about 2:00 a.m. parks had fallen asleep in front of the television set.
school boy in the courtroom. he had his glasses on, his hair was freshly cut and you look at him and it s like, wow, this kid, you know, this young man, no way could he have done what occurred. prosecuting, however, would be a new d.a., the third one assigned to the case. remember, the first d.a., frisco, was transferred away, the case reassigned to dinko bozanich, who specialized in mental defense cases. and then i had the misfortune of having a heart attack and bypass surgery, that causing me to retire. if someone had asked me of the thousand deputy district attorneys in the d.a. s office, who would be your choice to try the case, i would have said ken lamb. ken lamb, a former l.a. police officer. he d never handled anything like this case before, but he picked it up fast. it s whether or not during