death penalty news
August 18, 2004
NORTH CAROLINA:
District attorney won't seek death penalty in slaying
Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox told a judge Tuesday that he will
not seek the death penalty against Devin Scott Riggsbee, who is charged
with killing a Hertford County deputy.
Riggsbee and his brother, Phillip Jason Riggsbee, who is charged with being
an accessory after the fact, appeared in Orange County Superior Court
Tuesday for the monthly administrative review of the case. The question of
whether Fox would seek the death penalty against Devin Riggsbee came up
unexpectedly when Superior Court Judge Steve Balog asked Fox if he was
going to request a death penalty hearing.
Fox replied there were no aggravating factors that would make the case
eligible for the death penalty and that he would not be asking for it. If
the deputy had been acting in the line of duty, that would have been an
aggravating factor, but he was off duty when he was killed, Fox said.
Another aggravating factor could have been the large number of stab wounds
he received, but Fox said he would use that evidence to try to prove
first-degree murder, so he can't use it as an aggravating factor.
A grand jury indicted Devin Riggsbee on the charge of first-degree murder,
and a District Court judge found probable cause for the case to go to
Superior Court on the first-degree murder charge.
Nevertheless, Public Defender James Williams is likely to try to convince a
jury that Riggsbee acted in self-defense or is guilty of a lesser charge
than first-degree murder, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter.
The deputy, Thomas Carrell Lewis, 24, was visiting friends in the
Hillsborough area in May, and they drove to Chapel Hill to socialize at a
bar. As they returned to Hillsborough, they encountered a car containing
Devin and Phillip Riggsbee and two other men.
After one of the occupants in Lewis's car got sick out the window at the
intersection of N.C. 86 and Interstate 40 in Chapel Hill, the occupants in
the Riggsbee vehicle began to laugh and make fun of him. That angered some
of the occupants of the car Lewis was in. As both vehicles traveled west on
I-40, the occupants of both vehicles began to yell obscenities and throw
things at each other.
At the bottom of the ramp of I-40 and Old N.C. 86, some of the occupants of
both cars got out and began fighting.
Lewis and Devin Riggsbee fell down an embankment, and as they were
fighting, Riggsbee allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Lewis 35 times.
Many of those stab wounds were in the side and back, according to an
autopsy report.
Doctors tried to save Lewis's life at UNC Hospitals, but they were unable
to do so because he lost so much blood, Fox said.
A trial date was set for Dec. 14.
(source: The Herald-Sun)
