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DeSisto's showmanship was one of the few tactics left to him. Earlier in the week, a businesslike Judge Corinne Grande rejected all but one of the prosecution's rebuttal witnesses and dashed the state's last hope that it could offer testimony about the $14 million that Von Bulow stood to inherit upon his wife's death. Her rulings spurred accusations of partiality from Claus' stepchildren. Said Alexander von Auersperg: "We can't understand why $14 million isn't considered a motive to murder someone, especially when Mr. Von Bulow doesn't have any money of his own." But Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, another member of the defense team, praised Grande's fairness. Said he: "The judge allowed only testimony that was narrow, spare and to the point. She understood the difference between a soap opera and a trial."
Despite her strict rulings on evidence, Grande seemed to give the prosecution's case more leeway in her instructions to the jury. Having reviewed medical testimony on Saturday, the jury broke off work at 4:30 p.m. After church and brunch on Sunday, they planned to re-examine the testimony of Maria Schrallhammer and Alexander von Auersperg on the whereabouts of a black bag containing a used syringe, as well as that of an expert defense witness concerning the presence of insulin on the needle. While they continued to deliberate, Von Bulow, chain-smoking and chatting with reporters, roamed the mostly deserted hallways of the Providence courthouse.