BRENTWOOD -- A jury quickly found a former assistant attorney general guilty Tuesday of possessing hundreds of valuable items stolen from colleges and museums around New England.
William McCallum, 34, of Londonderry, had admitted to stealing books, furniture, computers and art -- including a George Inness landscape worth $70,000 -- from Ivy League and private preparatory schools, museums and the state Supreme Court library.
McCallum was arrested in July of 1996 for possession of three works of art stolen from Dartmouth, among other items.
But faced with a possible life sentence on 65 counts of possessing stolen property, McCallum pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. The burden was on his lawyers to prove he suffered from a mental illness that caused him to steal.
They didn't succeed.
Just two hours after hearing closing arguments Tuesday morning, the Rockingham Superior Court jury came back with its verdict: sane, and therefore guilty.
Defense lawyers said they would not appeal the verdict.
Defense experts had testified that McCallum suffers from kleptomania -- a neurotic compulsion to steal -- bipolar disorder and severe depression.
''Set aside your stereotypes and accept the proposition that people who are brilliant, who are profoundly intelligent, can also be profoundly mentally ill,'' defense lawyer Stephen Jeffco told the jury of nine men and three women Tuesday morning.
But prosecutors argued that McCallum was nothing but a yuppie thief who got caught.
Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Simon Brown painted McCallum as a sane, calculating lawyer who planned his thefts and proudly showed off the valuables he had stolen.
Brown also accused defense psychiatrist Dr. Susan McElroy of ''stretching'' the definition of kleptomania to make it fit McCallum.
''Nothing, it seems, was inconsistent with kleptomania in Dr. McElroy's eyes,'' Brown said.
Prosecutors argued that because McCallum stole valuable items and displayed them in his home and office without guilt, he was not a kleptomaniac.
McCallum, who grew up in Newton, Mass., attended Yale University as an undergraduate and got his law degree at Boston College, was bright enough to land a clerkship with then-state Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Soon afterward, Souter was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. McCallum worked for his successor, Justice Sherman Horton, then went on to a career in the attorney general's office, defending state agencies in civil cases.
''He was a bright young man. He paid attention to business. There was absolutely no indication of what is alleged to have developed later on,'' Horton said.
A year later, McCallum moved on to the state attorney general's office, where he defended state agencies.
''He was intelligent and hard-working and he did his job while he was here,'' said Daniel Mullen, his former boss.
But in 1996, McCallum's life began to crumble. He and his wife were divorcing and fighting over custody of their two daughters, now 3 and 4.
McCallum's estranged wife Valerie Nevel accused him of sexually assaulting the children and threatening to kill her. She was committed briefly to the state mental hospital.
Then came his arrest in July 1996.
A computer stolen from the Thayer School of Engineering in 1995 was the first clue that led to a warrant for McCallum's arrest.
David Breed, a Lebanon resident, was helping Nevel move out of the couple's home last June when he noticed that the software on her Macintosh was registered to an unfamiliar name.
That revelation, coupled with Nevel's statements that her husband had acquired much of the art in their house "at a yard sale," was enough to prompt Breed to call Hanover Police.
"You just don't get that kind of stuff at yard sales," Breed previously told The Dartmouth.
When police arrived at the McCallum home with a warrant and examined the computer equipment, they also discovered the stolen works of art.
Police said they found more than 150 stolen items in his Londonderry home and his office in Concord.
The items included a $70,000 George Inness landscape, a bronze statue of George Washington, letters signed by Franklin Pierce, the only U.S. president to hail from New Hampshire, and sets of law books from the attorney general's office, the state Supreme Court and the state library.
Authorities said the art and books came from Dartmouth, St. Paul's School in Concord, Colby-Sawyer College, Yale, Boston College, Boston University and the Ropes & Gray law firm in Boston.
According to Ramsdell, approximately two-thirds of the property seized from his home has now been identified as stolen.
Among the pieces found in McCallum's home were three prints of etchings by Piernase stolen from Carpenter Hall in March 1995. The 18th century Italian artist's works are valued at more than $1,000.
Several of McCallum's former co-workers testified during the trial that he was a competent and intelligent, if arrogant, lawyer who never showed signs of mental illness.
However, defense lawyers pointed out that many of the things McCallum stole -- such as doorknobs and used underwear -- had little value, showing that he had an uncontrollable compulsion to steal.
''Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, his co-workers looked, but did not see,'' Jeffco said, asking jurors to send McCallum to therapy instead of prison.
''He is getting help,'' Jeffco said. ''Let him become healthy.''
If McCallum had been found insane, he could have been committed to the state's secure psychiatric unit. Now he faces a prison sentence.
However, Judge Douglas Gray said after the verdict that he did not want to sentence McCallum to the state prison, because other inmates might attack the former state lawyer.
''I have grave reservations about McCallum's ability to survive in the state's prison,'' Gray said. ''It doesn't mean incarceration isn't warranted. In fact, I think it is.''
Prosecutors said they would accept a sentence at the county House of Correction or out of state.
Hillsborough County prosecutors were called in after McCallum's former colleagues in the attorney general's office and the Rockingham County prosecutor cited conflicts of interest.
