Feb. 24 FLORIDA----new death sentence Jury recommends death for convict in Dollar Store slayings In Deland, a jury recommended the death sentence Thursday for a manager-in-training at a Dollar General store who was convicted last week of killing two store cashiers in a botched effort to steal money to pay overdue bills. Roy Lee McDuffie, 42, was found guilty last week on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, armed robbery and false imprisonment with a firearm for the 2002 stabbing and shooting deaths of Janice Schneider and Dawniell "D.J." Beauregard. McDuffie was a manager-in-training at a Deltona Dollar General store when the women, both employees at the store, were killed. Raul Zambrano, assistant state attorney, told the jury that he believed the killings were heinous, cold blooded and calculated. But one of McDuffie's court-appointed defense lawyers, Robert Sanders, asked the jury to have mercy on McDuffie and to consider all of the contributions he has made to his friends and family over the years. "A death sentence will not bring the victims back," Sanders said. "Once imposed, a death sentence cannot be undone. Make a mistake, if there is one, on the side of mercy." Circuit Judge S. James Foxman will make the final decision about what sentence McDuffie will receive. But Foxman told jurors earlier this week he usually follows their recommendations. (source: Associated Press) *************************** Jury: Death for McDuffie The jury in the Roy Lee McDuffie double-murder case recommends the death penalty. The jury in the Roy Lee McDuffie double-murder case began deliberating the man's fate at about 9:35 this morning. One of McDuffie's court-appointed defense lawyers, Robert A. Sanders, asked the jury to have mercy on McDuffie and to consider all of the contributions he has made to his friends and family over the years. "A death sentence will not bring the victims back," Sanders said. "Once imposed, a death sentence cannot be undone. Make a mistake, if there is one, on the side of mercy." Ral Zambrano, the assistant state attorney prosecuting the case, reiterated to the jury that he believed the killings were heinous, cold blooded and calculated, and that they should recommend the death sentence. Circuit Judge S. James Foxman will make the final determination on what sentence McDuffie receives, though he has told the jury he rarely, if ever, departs from the jury's recommendation. McDuffie, 42, was convicted last week of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and other charges in the Oct. 25, 2002, stabbing and shooting deaths of Schneider and Dawniell "D.J." Beauregard. McDuffie was a manager-in-training at a Deltona Dollar General store when the women, both employees at the store, were killed. (source: Orlando Sentinel) CALIFORNIA----new death sentence Man To Be Sentenced For 1986 Murder Of Rickie Blake----Jury Recommends Death For Williams A former Gary, Ind., man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 14-year-old Chula Vista girl in April 1986 is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. MURDER OF RICKIE BLAKE----DNA Connects Man To 1986 Murder Of Rickie Blake A jury on Nov. 8 recommended that George Williams be put to death for molesting and strangling Rickie Blake. Superior Court Judge David Danielsen is expected to go along with the jury verdict. He could, however, elect to sentence Williams to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Williams, 49, was convicted Sept. 28 of 1st-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and special circumstance allegations that the girl's murder occurred during a rape and kidnapping. Prosecutor Jeff Dusek told jurors that Williams -- a registered sex offender -- took Blake from her home, raped her then dumped her body along a freeway offramp. Defense attorney Steve Wadler urged the jury to spare Williams' life, saying his client would die in prison no matter what the sentence. Wadler said Williams committed all of his crimes while intoxicated, but Dusek said alcohol was not a factor in Blake's murder. Williams was implicated years after the murder through DNA evidence. In January 2003, the state Department of Justice informed police that Williams' DNA was matched to sperm found on the teenager's body. The investigation put the defendant in San Diego at the time of the murder and police located him living in Indiana, Dusek told the jury. (source: 10News) ARKANSAS: High Court Rejects Another Damien Echols' Petition The Arkansas Supreme Court today again rejected a plea from a man sent to death row for the slayings of three 8-year-old West Memphis boys. The high court urged lawyers to wrap up genetic testing that justices first authorized in 2002. The court had rejected a Damien Echols appeal last month, but Echols asked the court for a rehearing. Echols said he wanted to reopen claims that his trial lawyers were ineffective, but the justices noted that they previously told Echols he could not bring new ineffective-assistance claims. Echols' most recent appeal claimed that certain jurors at his trial were biased against him and that his conviction was partly based on a statement by co-defendant Jesse Miskelley that was not admitted into evidence. In the rehearing denial entered today, the state argued that no reconsideration of the case was necessary because Echols hadn't shown any error in the January 20 decision. Echols was convicted of capital murder in 1994 by a Craighead County Circuit Court jury and sentenced to death for the May 1993 slayings of Steven Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. He was a teenager at the time. Miskelley and Jason Baldwin, also teenagers then, were convicted of the murders. Baldwin is serving a life sentence without parole and Miskelley, tried separately after statements to police implicating himself as well as Echols and Baldwin, was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years. The victims had disappeared while riding their bicycles in their residential West Memphis neighborhood. Their bodies were found the next day in a watery ditch near their homes. (source: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA: Trial Moved For Man In Trooper's Shooting Death The murder trial of a former firefighter accused of killing an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper is being moved from Cotton County to Comanche County. Ricky Ray Malone of Duncan is charged with 1st-degree murder in the December 26th, 2003, shooting death of Trooper Nikky Green. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Green was killed near the town of Devol while investigating a suspected meth lab inside a car parked on Cotton County road. Malone's trial is to start May 9th in Lawton. (source: KTUL News) ********************** Sister: Eizember Had Difficult Childhood The sister of convicted killer Scott Eizember testified during his sentencing hearing today in El Reno that he had a difficult childhood, including the suicide of his mother and death of his stepmother. Kimberly Carter testified for Eizember, saying their family was "totally dysfunctional." Today is the 2nd day of the penalty phase of the trial as jurors hear testimony before deciding whether to sentence Eizember to death. Eizember was convicted of first-degree murder in the October 2003 beating death of 76-year-old A-J Cantrell and prosecutors are asking for the death penalty. The jury also convicted him of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Cantrell's 70-year-old wife, Patsy, and sentenced him to 150 years in prison. The Cantrell's were killed after Eizember broke into their home to spy on the house across the street where his ex-girlfriend was staying. He then eluded police for 37 days before breaking into a Depew church food bank, then stealing a church volunteer's car and driving to Arkansas. He then forced an Arkansas doctor and his wife to drive him to Texas where he was arrested near Lufkin after the doctor shot him with a gun his wife kept in their van. (source: Associated Press)
