The Steven Steinberg Case and the Lawyer Who Rewrote Reality.
In 1982, Arizona pulled off a legal magic trick that would be funny if it were not so grotesque.
Steven Steinberg stabbed his wife, Elana Steinberg, twenty six times.
Not once. Not twice. Twenty six.
He admitted it. And then he walked.
No plea bargain. No prison. No hospital commitment. Just a courtroom exit and a lesson in how far a jury can be pushed if the story is slick enough.
Welcome to State v. Steven Steinberg, the case that forced Arizona lawmakers to admit they had created a monster.
THE FACTS THAT NEVER CHANGED
On January 15, 1981, inside a Scottsdale home, Steven Steinberg killed his wife with a kitchen knife. Police found no intruder. No defensive wounds suggesting mutual combat. No evidence pointing anywhere else.
Steinberg did not deny the killing. He claimed he could not remember it.
This was never about who did it. It was about how badly the defense could blur responsibility.
ENTER THE LAWYER
The architect of this legal escape hatch was Robert “Bob” Hirsh, a Phoenix criminal defense attorney with the nerve to try what most lawyers would not dare.
Hirsh was assisted by Michael Benchoff and Diana Lindstrom McClure, but make no mistake. This was Hirsh’s show.
He did not settle for the ordinary insanity defense. That would have been too honest.
Instead, he went bigger.
THE DEFENSE THEORY THAT ATE THE CASE
Hirsh presented a cocktail defense made of:
Temporary insanity
Dissociation
Automatism
Sleepwalking
Yes. Sleepwalking.
The claim was that Steinberg’s body committed the murder while his conscious mind was off duty. The knife moved itself. The arms acted independently. The brain took the night off.
Apparently, twenty six stab wounds can happen while you are mentally unavailable.
PSYCHIATRY TO THE RESCUE
The defense relied heavily on testimony from Dr. Martin Blinder, a California psychiatrist.
Blinder told the jury that Steinberg was emotionally overwhelmed, severely sleep deprived, psychologically dissociated, and unconscious of his actions.
Under cross examination, Blinder admitted something refreshingly honest. He could not be certain. He conceded that whether Steinberg was truly unconscious was something “only God knows.”
That was not a metaphor. That was testimony.
Source: United Press International, February 11, 1982.
TRY THE VICTIM WHILE YOU ARE AT IT
The defense did not stop at psychiatry.
Elana Steinberg was portrayed as demanding, controlling, and emotionally oppressive. The implication was clear. If you nag hard enough, eventually the knife comes out on its own.
This tactic worked. And it disgusted a lot of people.
THE VERDICT THAT BROKE THE SYSTEM
The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty by Reason of Temporary Insanity.
At the time, Arizona law had no requirement that such a defendant be committed to a mental institution. If the defendant appeared sane at trial, that was it.
No cuffs. No hospital. No supervision.
Steven Steinberg walked out of court a free man.
There is no appellate opinion because there was nothing to appeal. The jury bought the story. Case closed.
THE BOOK THAT SAID THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD
In 1988, attorney Shirley Frondorf published:
Death of a “Jewish American Princess”: The True Story of a Victim on Trial
Avon Books, 1988
WorldCat OCLC No. 568699030
Frondorf argued that the trial became a referendum on the victim’s personality rather than the defendant’s conduct, and that gender stereotypes played a decisive role in the acquittal.
DISCLOSURE
At the time she was researching and writing the book, Shirley Frondorf was a client of mine. I was familiar with her work, her thinking, and her deep frustration with how the Steinberg trial unfolded. That perspective informs this article and is disclosed here for transparency.
LEGISLATIVE PANIC ENSUES
Public outrage followed. Legislators suddenly realized that allowing confessed killers to walk free was not great for reelection.
Arizona scrapped the old insanity framework and replaced it with Guilty Except Insane.
Current law: Arizona Revised Statutes section 13 502.
Under GEI:
You are found guilty.
You are committed.
You are confined.
You do not stroll into the sunset.
Funny how that works.
WHY THIS CASE STILL MATTERS
This case is still taught for one reason. Storytelling beats facts if you let it.
Bob Hirsh understood juries. If you can convince them the defendant was not really there, responsibility evaporates. Science optional. Certainty unnecessary.
Whether you call it brilliant lawyering or a moral train wreck depends on where you sit.
But one thing is not debatable.
Steven Steinberg is the reason Arizona rewrote its insanity law.
And that alone tells you everything you need to know.
Shirley’s book is available at Amazon.com
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