Asked by the judge if he wanted to speak, Peter Braunstein shrugged and replied:
‘Yeah, sure.
I mean, apart from saying what I said to you in my letter about remorse, I just wanted to sort of explain the whole crime spree from how I can perceive it.
There was a random quality to it. So when I attacked the victim, I was in her apartment, and then after an hour, it dawned on me that I didn’t know why I was there. So I just watched TV and waited until dawn and then I left.
This irrationality continued throughout my quest. It was sort of suicide-based. So I just thought I would see America and then die. You know, have the cops shoot me to death.
And I just don’t [know] how people can look at a man and then say – and now I’m going back to the trial testimony – that if you can plan something, that means, you know, that you don’t have a certain set of illnesses.
My plan is actually more complicated than that. You can go in and out of a psychotic break. You can feel you have nothing to live for, and severe depression. Either way, it’s much more complicated. And I was just surprised when the jury debated for only three hours. So…’
Braunstein then shrugged, and sat down.