Murray R. Gold Trials: 1976-92

Prosecutor McDonald had Sanford's body exhumed, to see if Xrays showed Moreton's syndrome, a condition that would have made him walk with toes pointed outward—to be compared with crime-scene bloody footprints. The opened casket revealed Sanford's once-bald head covered by a woman's longhaired brown wig.

Testimony in Trial I had described Sanford wearing such a wig. The witnesses who had encountered the man running on Fern Street had described "his long hair waving in the wind."

On October 20, 1980, the Supreme Court of the United States, refusing to hear the case, upheld the Connecticut Supreme Court's decision. Prosecutor McDonald offered a "settlement" to Gold: He would be freed on the basis of time served and no third trial would be held if he would accept psychiatric treatment for one year, stay out of Connecticut, and plead guilty to a lesser charge.

Gold refused. He fired Nizer and hired Yale Law School professor John Williams. With Trial III underway, Williams cross-examined the witness who had seen Gold's car in the Pasternaks' neighborhood. He deftly destroyed her recollections of the man she had seen in the car. But Gold startled judge and jury by announcing, "I'll have to get myself another attorney."

Given several days to interview lawyers, Gold forced delays of the trial and demanded that some jurors be dismissed. Prosecutor Walter Scanlon moved for a hearing on Gold's competency to advise an attorney. On court orders, psychiatrist James Merikangas, M.D., examined Gold, finding him convinced "that there was a conspiracy against him and that his attorney was part of the conspiracy … Mr. Gold suffers from paranoia which renders him presently incompetent to stand trial."

The doctor added that if Gold were treated in a mental institution for 18 months he would probably gain competency. More court-appointed psychiatrists agreed on Gold's incompetency. The judge declared a mistrial.