Serial killings suspect faces death penalty
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) -- Lawyers for Derrick Todd Lee, unable to save him from a first-degree murder conviction, now will try to keep the serial killings suspect alive by asking jurors to reject the death penalty in his case.
Jurors took just over an hour Tuesday to find Lee, already sentenced to life in prison for another killing, guilty for the slaying of 22-year-old Charlotte Murray Pace in 2002.
The panel will begin hearing testimony Wednesday to determine whether Lee should be executed. Testimony could include statements from Pace's family and details of Lee's background, including claims of mental illness and retardation.
Lee, 35, sat stone-faced after the verdict was read, while the victim's mother began to shake and cry.
"I feel like somewhere, (she) must be real proud that it happened this way," Ann Pace told reporters outside the courthouse, breaking into sobs. "There is evil in the world and he is the personification of that."
Now convicted of two murders, police say Lee has been linked by DNA to the deaths of seven women from 1998 to 2003.
Prosecutors took eight days to present their case, which included gruesome crime scene photos and evidence from Pace's murder and four other killings authorities have attributed to Lee. DNA evidence was used to connect Lee to the Pace murder, and a nurse testified that Lee tried to brutally rape and kill her in July 2002.
Lee's lawyers declined to call any witnesses, saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense also questioned the memory of Diane Alexander, the nurse who claimed she was attacked, and said the DNA evidence was unreliable.
"The state in this case simply has the wrong man," defense attorney Mike Mitchell said in his closing argument.
He later said he wasn't surprised by the verdict: "Jury members came in with their opinions and that was hard to overcome."
Authorities arrested Lee in May 2003 following a 10-month investigation that included taking DNA samples from more than 2,500 men in southern Louisiana.
For Lee to be executed, the jury will have to vote unanimously for the death penalty. Complicating the issue will be a defense claim, filed during jury selection, that Lee is mentally retarded, and therefore cannot be legally executed.
"This is halftime in the trial," prosecutor John Sinquefield said.
Outside the courthouse, victims' family members traded hugs and shed tears, with some wondering whether jurors will agree on death.
"If anybody deserves to get the death penalty, he definitely does," said Lynne Marino, the mother of victim Pam Kinamore.
Pace's body was riddled with more than 80 stab and puncture wounds from a flathead screwdriver and a knife. She had just graduated from Louisiana State University.
Lee was convicted in August in the beating and stabbing death of 21-year-old graduate student Geralyn DeSoto. He was sentenced to life in prison in that case.
Copyright 2004 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
