In court, two mothers gave grace to tragedy
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2007 7:22 AM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
Crime
By Sue Simpson, Dateline Producer
The trial of Thomas Toolan III, was the first murder trial on Nantucket, Mass., in almost a generation. It was a riveting courtroom drama. Toolan, who was at one point a Wall Street financial executive, was accused of the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend, Beth Lochtefeld in October 2004. He pleaded not guilty.
The facts of the case were not in dispute: Toolan flew to Nantucket on October 25th 2004, stabbed Beth Lochtefeld 23 times in her cottage, left the island immediately and several hours later was arrested in Rhode Island.
It was the high-stakes strategy Toolan’s attorney adopted that made for a gripping trial. Toolan, his attorney argued, could not be held criminally responsible for the killing because he was temporarily insane at the time. It’s known as the insanity defense – and it is always a roll of the dice.
Essentially what the jury of three men and nine women was being asked to decide was not whether Toolan was responsible for the killing, but whether he was crazy or calculating at the time.
The trial lasted two weeks. Two families, the Toolans and the Lochtefelds, attended the proceedings every day. As the courtroom spectacle played itself out, both displayed a quiet dignity. But if there was one indelible image many observers will take away from the trial it was of two mothers talking quietly during a court recess. One woman was the victim’s mother, and she comforted the other: the defendant’s mother.
Their exchange ended with a hug. With that gesture, Beth Lochtefeld’s mother injected grace and forgiveness into a story of horror. One verdict was already in.
"Fatal Attraction" airs Monday, July 23 at 10 p.m. on NBC.
