Manley quoted from Dinkins' works throughout the prosecution's closing, choosing sections that backed his argument. "There are no rules," one states. "My freedom's not something that's sold," says another.
The quotes set Dinkins off.
"Read the whole poem," he yelled, daring Manley. "You a black man sitting up here and lying to 12 people."
It was at least the third outburst Dinkins has made in the courtroom, but the first to take place when the jury was present. He called the prosecutor a coward and later, after the jury was dismissed for a break, called him the N-word repeatedly.
Manley said the outcry showed a lack of remorse. Dinkins' attorney, Gary Proctor, said it was understandable.
"He didn't threaten anyone, and he didn't get up out of his chair," Proctor said, asking the jury to imagine the difficulty of sitting in that courtroom poker-faced.
Proctor, too, blamed Dinkins' upbringing for his situation. Half of his siblings are dead, he was diagnosed with multiple mental health problems as a child, shuffled from institution to institution, abandoned by his mother, and disabled, with speech and hearing problems.
"All roads led to here or dead," Proctor said, going on to quote everyone from John Donne to Jesus in hoping to sway the jury toward a life sentence.
"We're in the final chapter, this book doesn't have a happy ending," he said. "The question is how sad [it's going to be]."
