His client had been on the witness stand less than a minute when Ron Yengich asked the big question.
"Mr. Kastanis, did you kill any of your children or your wife on Nov. 17, 1991?"Sam George Kastanis, dressed in a brown suit coat, turned his head toward the jury and gave a strong, forceful reply.
"No."
The 45-year-old took the witness stand for 45 minutes Friday afternoon to defend himself against four charges of capital murder for the brutal deaths of Melissa, 11, Clinton, 9, Christine, 6, and his wife, Margaret, 39. He insists that his depressed wife must have killed the children and then herself.
He'll continue to testify on Monday.
But perhaps Friday's most compelling testimony came from psychiatrist Steven Meth-ner.
Methner said that just before her death, Margaret Kastanis was "at the most extreme risk of committing suicide" and fit the profile of someone who would commit an altruistic suicide.
"As strange as it may sound, she had the welfare of the children at heart," Methner said. "She was a steamroller, and the kids were in her path."
The psychiatrist said he declined to assist the defense when he was first asked to review Margaret's psychological history. He later reluctantly agreed to study all he could about her and render his psychiatric opinion.
He said Margaret was developing "the cancer of mental illness. It was eating away at her mind." He described how her depression and psychotic behavior increased and how the mental illness completely controlled her.
The last three days of her life she didn't bathe or change clothes. She also gave up her church Scouting job. "She essentially is divorcing life. She has given up. She is making plans to exit," Methner testified.
"She's making sure the Scouts are taken care of. She's saying goodbyes to family and friends."
Methner said that some of the most frightening statements Margaret made were those that indicated she felt her children were a burden. Most suicidal patients, he said, indicate that they'll stay alive for the sake of their children and loved ones.
But Margaret also felt her life was in danger, as were the lives of her children. If she felt the world was not safe for her, "maybe it's not safe for the children," Methner said.
Methner also said Margaret had occasional "adrenaline surges" that when combined with depression can be like throwing gasoline on the fire. The surges could create the "experience there's something dangerous going on at that moment and they want to get away."
But during cross-examination, the psychiatrist said he wasn't present when the deaths occurred and doesn't know what really happened. He also admitted there was no suicide note, even though Margaret was a prolific writer. Methner agreed with prosecutor Kent Morgan that the goodbyes she said to friends and the items she returned to others just before her death could also be explained by the fact that the family was soon moving into another home.
Sam Kastanis, who has shown little emotion during the four weeks of trial, appeared to respond strongly and with confidence to each question posed to him Friday. He described his relationship with his wife as a very good one.
He also described each of his children for the jury. "(Melissa) was getting to the age where she was starting to be a teenager but she could con me into doing anything," he said. "(Christine) was the tease of the family."
Kastanis said his only son was a lot like him. "He was kind of a loner. He kept to himself a lot. He had a hard time making friends."
Kastanis continued to describe himself as a quiet man. "Are you prone to show emotions, Sam?" Yengich asked.
"Sometimes, it all depends," he said.
Kastanis described how his wife began to change in the year before her death. She went from being "kind of the neighborhood welcome wagon lady" to being constantly tired, introverted and obsessed. Many of her problems seemed to escalate after she befriended a neighbor named Heidi, he said.
"She met the lady in Relief Society. She started crying and Margaret was a person that was sym-pa-thetic to anybody." Margaret went home with her and they began spending a lot of time together. He felt his wife tried to be her best friend or big sister.
Kastanis said he often asked why they spent so much time together. "She'd say, `Sam I can't tell you. You just have to have faith in me that what we're doing is in con-fidence.' "
One day, however, he told his wife that Heidi "seems to me to be a multipersonality or something. She said, `Yeah, I think you know.' "
The Kastanis family helped Heidi's family financially and in other ways. Margaret had even set up a bank account with money from a vehicle they had sold and gave Heidi money from it when necessary. But after awhile, Margaret became obsessed with Heidi, he said.
"It seemed like everything she'd do was geared to her. It seemed like it was Heidi this and Heidi that," Kastanis said. "It seemed like the only thing she could talk about was Heidi constantly."
But Kastanis insisted that he never became angry with her. "She had this urge to help people and I didn't want to stop her."
He said his wife constantly stayed up late at night and seemed to be sick quite often. She seemed to withdraw from people and wouldn't talk much with her children. She'd send her husband to parent-teacher conferences and sent the children to church with him, too.
"Did you get angry with Margaret because of the way she was acting or the way she was feeling?" Yengich asked.
"Not that I recall," Kastanis replied.
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Decision upheld
The Utah Supreme Court declined Friday to overturn a judge's decision not to release a computer-animated videotape to the press and public. But the justices made it clear that the TV stations could obtain a copy of the video from either the prosecution, the defense or anyone else.
The high court indicated it believes the decision by 3rd District Judge Dennis Frederick not to release the tape was based only on concerns about protecting the integrity of the court evidence and was not out of concern the defendant would not receive a fair trial. The ruling is narrow and affects only the one copy admitted into evidence.
KSL attorney Matthew Durrant said the public should be allowed to view the controversial video depicting the prosecution's theory in the Sam Kastanis case to see what was generated with $10,000 in tax money.