"Paperback Writer"

1

The Trial

May 21 – June 9, 1997

The killing is what the trial lays out, while the dying is what the family and friends experience.

Death by Incarceration was the verdict, or at least its meaning for Larry Nicholas Stromberg, who was soon to become inmate # DG-6379.

He sat motionless, staring ahead, his mind and body numb from a cocktail made up of Ativan, Sinequan and Risperdal that was now coursing through his veins. Unable to speak or comprehend what was happening to him, he knew he deserved to be there.

Stromberg was on trial for his life after taking the lives of two women who didn’t deserve to die – especially in the brutal way that they did.

Watching as the world in that dank and ominous courtroom spun around him, he heard the words, sometimes registering, sometimes not, being thrown across the room to sway the jury one way or another. Yet, while he remained silent due in part to his lethargic state, his words, despite his not taking the stand, were used against him.

His only defense, since he confessed to the murders and his mother-in-law’s dying last words naming him as the killer, was an insanity defense. And unlike any other defense, the defense counsel must show that the defendant was insane at the time of the crime. It is their burden, not the prosecutions.

The assistant district attorney, Carlos Vega, cleverly used an interview Stromberg did on May 7, 1996 (within a week of the murders) with a nationally syndicated television program (popular at that time) called Hard Copy. This decision to do the interview was made by his first defense lawyer, Vladimir Zdrok, who got paid by Hard Copy for having Stromberg tell his story and answer questions in the interview.

And the prosecution took full advantage of this opportunity by having a psychiatrist, John O’Brien, M.D., testify as one of their witnesses to rebut Julie B. Kessel’s, M.D., the defense’s psychiatrist, testimony as to Stromberg’s sanity at the time just following the murders. Dr. O’Brien did this based on a brief examination of Stromberg and from watching that Hard Copy interview, (which he relied on heavily) which was shown to the jury as well. This carried a great deal of weight in refuting the defense’s insanity plea. Oddly, neither psychiatrist examined Stromberg right after the murders and his surrender. It was only after the trial began a year later that either were hired to do this.

The case now being made against him by the prosecution, was edging ever closer to the result they were determined to get – the death penalty. All the while, the defense attorney was looking for a way to use the prosecutor’s argument to his advantage in hopes to convince the jury that Stromberg was insane at the time of the murders.

The courtroom was packed with friends and family members of the defendant as well as those of the slain women, along with reporters and curious members of the community that had waited in line to win a space in the crowded room. Many sat through the almost 13 days of procedure, argument, testimony and evidence presented by both sides.

Stromberg sat silent, only half aware that he was in a fight for his life. His mind spinning from the drugs, tortured by the pain he caused, haunted by the ghosts of his rage.

Local and national newspapers and television news stations told the story of his crime for weeks after it occurred. Family members were ‘rounded-up’ for the big interview, the exposé, and the tell-all show that would win the best ratings – but at what price? Two murdered women, one mentally disturbed man, and many broken lives.

Newspaper articles all began with a description of Stromberg’s acting career that had yet to take off, such as “City Actor Sought in Killing…”, “‘Crazy’ Actor Sought…”, “Ex-actor…”, “Horror Movie-maker…”, and on and on. But that is what he was, not who he was.

Regardless of the humanity, stories sell papers, and to compete for sales they must sensationalize an already horrific tragedy to titillate a hungry audience of readers. They pander to the drooling masses that live in a bubble of comfort and safety, many who long for such tragedies to read about, to watch on TV and to regurgitate with excited animation to friends and family as if they were actually at the apartment, witnessing the murders.

But they weren’t; only Stromberg, his estranged wife, Stefan, and mother-in-law, Paula, were there; all wishing that they weren’t.

While the prosecution offered up a picture of a man who was driven by abnormal jealousy and uncontrollable anger, the defense attempted to show a different portrait of the man. A man driven to wits end and beyond. A man driven over the edge because of his wife’s alleged infidelity and abortion of what he believes to have been his own unborn child. A crazed killer who became a product of his own creation; the monstrous character named “Von Kraven” in his movie Spiritual Warfare. He became that vengeful character and did just what the character had done in the movie (at that time yet to be completed and released).

 Stromberg, the actor, was also becoming a filmmaker as well. Spiritual Warfare was the second horror film that he wrote, directed and starred in.

The assistant D.A. went point-by-point detailing how Stromberg planned the murder(s) and executed his plan. The State wanted a first-degree murder conviction resulting in the death penalty. According to the District Attorney’s account of the crime, Stromberg got up that morning with every intention of killing his wife. Dressed in dark clothing, he packed a backpack with knives and swords, traveled the 30 or so minutes by bus from where he was now residing to the apartment he and his wife once shared located in an old mansion in the area of Philadelphia known as Germantown.

Assistant D.A. Vega confidently explained to the judge and jury that Stromberg had all day to change his mind, but failed to do so. It was on the evening of April 28, 1996, that he made his move.

The prosecution pointed out that Stromberg went to the apartment believing he would catch Stefan with the lover he thought she was seeing, an Asian cook. The cook worked at Long’s Gourmet Chinese Restaurant downtown where Stefan worked part-time. But, instead Stromberg found her with her mother, packing her belongings for a final trip to Florida and to safety with her mother and step-father.

Besides his confession, the police had other damaging evidence of his guilt. There was no question that he had committed this unimaginable crime.

The only arguable questions that remained were – was he sane when he murdered these two women and was it premeditated.

The prosecution described the murders as the premeditated murder of his wife and, the spontaneous murder of his mother-in-law. The assistant D.A. was voracious in his attack against Stromberg.

While the arena inside the rail made up of judge, jury, and lawyers, spun a web cloaked in the cold, hard language of law, the audience behind this barrier saw this as that of two humans’ lives ending tragically, regardless of intent, motivation or passion.

If this were merely a story of a double homicide and the resulting conviction and sentencing (except for the details) it would end here. But it’s not. ‘The devil is in the details’. And in this case the devil played an even bigger role in this story.



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