JURORS TO DECIDE ABRAMS' STATE OF MIND

Attorneys Finish Emotional Closing Arguments In Sanity Phase Of Trial Of
Man Convicted Of Murdering Two Children.

SANTA ANA -- Tears flowed and emotions surfaced as prosecution and defense
attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments Thursday in the sanity phase
of the trial for convicted murderer Steven Allen Abrams.

The jury on Monday will begin deliberating whether Abrams was legally
insane on May 3, 1999, when he drove his Cadillac into a crowded playground
at a Costa Mesa preschool, killing Sierra Soto, 4, and Brandon Wiener, 3,
and injuring several others.

Some members of the victims' families cried and others shook their heads in
reaction to some of the statements made by the attorneys Thursday.

Sierra's parents, Cindy and Eric Soto, held hands as Deputy Dist. Atty.
Debora Lloyd addressed the court. Cindy Soto walked out of the courtroom in
tears once Lloyd had finished her closing argument, seeking justice for the
children.

Lloyd said the defense's theory that Abrams suffers from mental illness had
no basis. She argued that Abrams' psychosis was a result of his constant
use of marijuana, methamphetamines and cocaine, which began at age 14.

"He has taken huge quantities of drugs," she said, "and continued to take
marijuana. He finally snapped after all these years and what do we have?
Dead children."

Public Defender Denise Gragg, who bore the burden of proving her client was
insane when he committed the murders, argued that Abrams believed in his
heart that what he did was "morally right."

She said that Abrams killed the children to get back at the "brain wave
people" he believed were manipulating him and tried to make him a murderer.
Continuing, she said Abrams imagined the scenario as a war between him and
the brain wave people, and to him, killing the children was fair because it
was a war -- just as it was for the United States to bomb a busload of
children in Kosovo.

Gragg said Abrams believed that the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning
Center was the "epicenter of the conspiracy" created by the brain wave people.

Abrams, who has not exhibited much emotion during the entire trial,
appeared uneasy Thursday, constantly rubbing his face and touching his hair.

If the jury determines that Abrams was sane at the time of the murders, he
could face the death penalty. If jurors decide he is legally insane, he
could spend his life in a mental institution.

Lloyd attempted to convince jurors that the defense failed to prove Abrams
is schizophrenic, saying that he has not displayed any of the usual symptoms.

"He went to work every day," Lloyd said. "He raised his daughter. He has
friends. He was even pleasant to customers."

What Abrams has exhibited, she said, are symptoms of long-term drug use.

"Visual and auditory illusions are typical of drug-induced psychosis," she
said. "He's been doing marijuana every day and we do know that causes
paranoia."

Lloyd's final arguments were loaded with emotion as she told jurors that
Abrams "knew what he did was wrong."

"The children are the casualty of his war," she said. "He has said he is a
bad person. He called himself a scumbag. And now it's everybody else's
fault that these children are dead."