Obsession. A persistent, disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling or a compelling

motivation. That was the opening line of the prosecutor's closing argument at Jeff

Titus's trial. And it was the centerpiece of the prosecutor's theory of this case, that Jeff

Titus was so obsessed with his land that the very thought of another man touching it without his

permission was enough to drive him to murder. As we all know, the prosecutor told the jury,

an obsession is always most intense when it's about something new. Like when you buy a new car,

and you park at the back of a parking lot away from all the other cars to avoid getting any dinks

or scratches, or when you buy a new carpet and at first you're paranoid about not spilling any

drinks on it. When something is new, that's when your obsession is going to be at its greatest.

And so it was with Jeff Titus. His obsession with his property was at its peak during the very

first few months he lived on it. It was necessary for the jury to believe that Jeff Titus had an all-consuming

obsession with his land because it was the only way to explain Jeff's irrational behavior on the day

of the murders. When, the prosecutor alleged, he left the Shepherd Farm in order to sneak back to

his property in Fulton. Indeed, the prosecutor told the jurors,

quote, the feelings that compel Jeff Titus may be so far removed from your own experience that it's

difficult for you to understand why he would leave Standrischl behind in the woods. The jurors were

cautioned that, quote, will never be able to understand how he could be so consumed about a

piece of land and all the animals there. And that's why they shouldn't get too hung up on trying to

understand how this crime could have occurred or why Jeff Titus had done it. The prosecutor told them,

quote, you don't have to understand the reasons to know that he did. You can try to understand it,

to understand everything, to make sense of it, but you won't succeed, because it was senseless.

The prosecutor wanted the jurors to believe that they could never make sense of this case

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