Komisarjevsky Sentenced to Death

NBC- The man who killed three women in a 2007 Cheshire home invasion was sentenced to death on Friday and addressed the court before that sentence was handed down.

Joshua Komisarjevsky will be joining Steven Hayes on death row for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, in their Cheshire home in 2007. He is scheduled to be executed in July, pending appeals.

"I will never find peace within. My life will be a continuation of the hurt I caused," Komisarjevsky said in court. "The clock is now ticking and I owe a debt I cannot repay."

Komisarjevsky said he walked out of court condemned to die by 12 members of the community.

"It's a surreal experience, being condemned to die," Komisarjevsky said.

Forgiveness is not his to have, he said, and he needs to forgive his worst enemy -- himself.

Before the sentencing, Judge Jon Blue said sentencing another human being to death is the most somber task a judge can have.

Then, the court heard some emotional victim impact statements from the Hawke and Petit families.

As Dr. William Petit read his statement, a slideshow of his family played on the screen.

Jennifer didn't pray to God to change her Multiple Sclerosis, but for the strength to deal with it, he said.

Hayley would be in her first year of medical school if she was still alive, he said.

"I miss the car rides and chats I miss her kind and gentle soul,” he said.

Michaela came into the world smiling, Dr. Petit said. He recently received a card from one of Michaela's friends. It said it was sad to know that she wouldn't be in 10th grade this year.

"I miss her running to the door and yelling 'Dada's home,'” Dr. Petit said.

Jennifer Hawke Petit’s father, Rev. Richard Hawke gave a videotaped victim impact statement and it was played in court.

Komisarjevsky watched the video as Hawke spoke directly to him and said he’s presided over many funerals, but never dreamed he would bury his daughter and grandchildren. It was the worst thing he’s had to go through.

"Was it worth the price?" he asked at one point.

If Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela could endure the pain that Komisarjevsky put them through, their families can endure the pain of the trials, Rev. Hawke said.

“You have not only destroyed your family, you have destroyed your own and destroyed a noble family name,” Rev. Hawke told the man who killed his family members.

The statement from Jennifer’s mother, Marybelle Hawke, was also played in court and she said the love of family will carry them through.

As Cynthia Hawke-Renn’s statement was played, Komisarjevsky watched. Calling her parents to tell them that her sister and nieces were dead and her brother-in-law was badly injured was the hardest phone call she ever had to make, she said.

The murders took a huge emotional toll on Cynthia's family. It has also taken a financial toll.
The victims' fund ran out when the defense fund for Komisarjevsky is endless, she said.

Dr. Petit’s father, Bill Petit Sr. read his statement through tears and said he called Michaela's voice mail on the morning of the home invasion and his call went to voice mail.

"It was the last time I'd hear her voice," Bill Petit Sr. said.

His son will never walk his girls down the aisle and he'll never know the joy of grandchildren, he said.

Johanna Petit-Chapman, Dr. Petit's sister, was the one who had to identify the girls’ bodies. She said Komisarjevsky set the tone for this crime, torturing the family for hours.

She also said she was angry about statements the defense team made.

"He beat a sleeping man with a baseball bat and he calls him passive?" Chapman said.

The Petit and Hawke families left court before the sentence was handed down.

When Komisarjevsky spoke, it was the second time he did so during his trial.

His lawyers fought for jurors to hear videotaped testimony from Komisarjevsky’s 9-year-old daughter, but the defendant he made a plea against it.

Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted Michaela, while Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit to death. He has only admitted to the sexual assault, but then said in court that he did not rape.

Last month, a jury delivered the death verdict for Komisarjevsky after finding him guilty of the crimes. On Friday, the judge handed down that sentence.

Jury Condemns Joshua Komisarjevsky to Death for Conn. Home Invasion Murders

Unlike the Casey Anthony trial verdict, one verdict I'm happy to hear about was Joshua Komisarjev
(CBS/AP) NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The man convicted of killing a woman and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion has been sentenced to death.

The jury deliberated for five days before returning the verdict against Joshua Komisarjevsky (koh-mih-sar-JEV'-skee). His accomplice, Steven Hayes, is already on death row for the murders in the affluent suburb of Cheshire. On Wednesday, the jury sent a note to the judge indicating they were having trouble weighing Komisarjevsky's role in the crime against Hayes.

The defense asked jurors to spare Komisarjevsky's life, arguing that his ultra-religious family never got him proper help after he was sexually abused as a child by his foster brother.


The crime led to the defeat of a bill to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut and sparked tougher state laws for repeat offenders and home invasions.
(Complete coverage of the Petit family murders on Crimesider)

What was once the Petit's house is now a rememberance garden... R.I.P.

Jurors in CT Home Invasion Trial Speak Out

NEW YORK -- Jurors talked about their decision to condemn a Connecticut man to death for a home invasion triple murder on the “Today” show Tuesday.

When the death sentence was read aloud in the New Haven courtroom Monday, convicted killer Stephen Hayes smiled.

"I think if anyone deserved the death penalty in this life, probably he does,” said one of the jurors.

Hayes, who has tried to take his own life behind bars, wanted the death penalty, according to his defense attorney. But the jurors who sentenced him said they disagree.

"I think he's focused entirely on what he can do to best forward what position he can have left in life and I don't think the death penalty is what he has in mind at all," said Herbert Gram, a juror.

Prosecutors say Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the Petit family's Cheshire, Conn. home in the summer of 2007. They allegedly brutally tortured and killed Jennifer Petit and her two daughters, 17-year-old Haley and 11-year-old Michaela. They left the father William for dead, but he escaped.

Jurors say those details were extremely hard to hear, but support from their fellow jurors kept them objective.

"The hardest part was keeping my emotions at bay and making a decision within the law," said another juror.

"There was not a single non-civil word spoken during the entire deliberation for both periods. How 12 people just came together and worked out the problems of taking another person's life," said a male juror.

The jurors met with the father and husband, Dr. William Petit, after the trial in a basement room in the courthouse.

They said he was overwhelmed with thanks for their verdict.

One juror described Petit as the strongest man he's ever met.

Defense: Life Sentence 'Worse than Death' for Home Invasion Killer

New Haven, Connecticut (CNN) -- A Connecticut jury begins deliberations Friday on whether Steven Hayes should be sentenced to life in prison or put to death.

Hayes was convicted of killing two sisters and their mother during a 2007 home invasion. Tom Ullmann, Hayes' lawyer, told jurors on Thursday his client would suffer more if given a life sentence.

"Life in prison without the possibility of release is the harshest penalty," said Tom Ullmann. "It is a fate worse than death."

Ullmann then had his 47-year-old client stand directly in front of the jury, put his hand on Hayes' shoulder and said to the five men and seven women, "He isn't a rabid dog that needs to be put to death. He has lost 80 pounds. He will never have a private bath. He goes to the bathroom in public. He will never eat a dinner that he makes but one that they provide. He has a rec cage for an hour a day. Like an animal at the zoo."

As he stood, Hayes -- who did not testify during the trial -- looked down at the floor.

His lawyer continued, "If you want to end his misery, put him to death. ... If you want him to suffer and carry that burden forever, the guilt, shame and humiliation, sentence him to life without the possibility of release."

But prosecuting attorney Michael Dearington sought to persuade the jurors to order Hayes be executed for his role in in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit.

"We cannot tie Steven Hayes to a bed, pour gasoline on him and set him on fire," Dearington said, referring to the killings. "But under our laws, we do have the death penalty."

He added that the Petit family had been "destroyed because Steven Hayes wanted money."

Superior Court Judge Jon Blue then read a 36-page charge and verdict form to the jury.

A psychiatrist testified in October that Hayes had told him, "I would rather they kill me," reflecting Hayes' apparent hope that he'd be executed.

The high school dropout said he had a long history of substance abuse, the psychiatrist said.

But Dearington said Thursday that that did not excuse the murders. "Drugs don't necessarily lead to violent crimes," he said.

Hayes was convicted of 16 of the 17 charges against him, including nine counts of murder and capital murder and four counts of kidnapping.

Prosecutors allege that Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky invaded the Petit home in Cheshire, beat Dr. William Petit, raped and strangled his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, sexually molested one of their two daughters, set the house afire and tried to flee.

The girls died of smoke inhalation; Petit himself escaped to a neighbor's home.

Komisarjevsky is to be tried separately.

In March, Hayes said he no longer wanted to commit suicide "but intended to let the state do it," a psychiatrist testified.

Testimony Continues in Sentencing Phase of Home Invasion Case

NEW HAVEN -- Testimony will continue in the trial of a Connecticut man to determine whether he should receive a death sentence for killing a woman and her two daughters in a home invasion.

Steven Hayes was convicted in New Haven Superior Court, where testimony resumes Monday.

Hayes was convicted earlier this month of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, at their Cheshire home in 2007.

The jury will decide whether he deserves execution or life in prison.

A psychiatrist testified last week that Hayes told him he wanted to testify and "look like a monster" by expressing no remorse so that the jury would impose capital punishment.

But the psychiatrist said he did not know if Hayes genuinely wanted the death penalty.

Sledgehammer Killer Wants Off Death Row

NBC- In 1997, Todd Rizzo used a sledgehammer to kill a 13-year-old boy just to see what it was like to kill someone. Now his attorneys are trying to get Rizzo, 32, off death row by arguing his death sentence is cruel and unusual punishment.

The Connecticut Supreme Court heard Rizzo's death penalty appeal on Friday.

Rizzo pleaded guilty in 1999 to luring Stanley Edwards IV into his back yard and bludgeoning him with a sledgehammer. Rizzo was 18 at the time of the attack.

During the hearing, his attorneys urged the Justices to declare the death penalty unconstitutional, based in part on the state legislature's vote to ban the punishment last session. The governor vetoed the bill.

"They decided even for the worst crimes, imprisoning the perpetrators for the rest of their lives with no possibility of parole is serious enough penalty to achieve retribution," said Ann Parrent, an assistant public defender.

"You're being asked to make a legislative decision here which you don't have the authority to do based on a law that even the legislature couldn't complete through the legislative process," said Harry Weller, a senior assistant state's attorney.

Rizzo's attorneys also used other arguments to try persuading the Justices, including arguing that mitigating factors like his troubled childhood and his age were not properly considered in the case.

"I submit that the proof of the myriad of mitigating factors was so clear and so compelling that the exercise of reasoned judgment could not have rejected them," said Judith Borman, an assistant public defender.

"The record does show that there was consideration of all the evidence as required by law," said Weller.

The Justices did not specify when a ruling on the appeal will come, but it is expected to take months.

The appeal comes at a time when another jury is deciding whether Steven Hayes will be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.

Burn Mother F*cker, Burn! - Hayes Convicted in Deadly Cheshire Home Invasion

NEW HAVEN (AP) - A paroled burglar was convicted Tuesday of killing a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion in an affluent Connecticut town and now could be sentenced to death.

Steven Hayes was convicted of capital felony and three counts of murder by a jury that heard eight days of gruesome testimony about the July 2007 attacks on Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.

The verdict triggers a second phase of the trial, in which the same jurors will decide if Hayes should be executed or face life in prison. Hayes was convicted of 16 counts and acquitted of a single count - arson.

Hayes' defense admitted to his involvement in the fatal home invasion but blamed his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, for being the aggressor. Komisarjevsky faces trial next year.

Komisarjevsky spotted the mother and her two daughters at a supermarket, followed them to their Cheshire home, then returned later with Hayes, authorities say.

The men broke into the Petit house in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire, beat the girl's father with a baseball bat and forced Hawke-Petit to withdraw money from a bank before raping and strangling her, according to testimony. The men, both paroled burglars who met at a halfway house, tied the girls to their beds, put pillow cases over their heads and poured gas on or around them before setting the house on fire, authorities say.

The girls died of smoke inhalation. Authorities say the men were caught fleeing the scene.

Hayes' attorneys conceded most of the evidence on the first day and spent much of the trial focusing on Komisarjevsky's role. They pointed to graphic photos of Michaela found on Komisarjevsky's cell phone, and Hayes' attorney, Tom Ullmann, said Komisarjevsky escalated the violence at every critical point, starting with Dr. Petit's beating.

Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying the two men were equally responsible for the crime.

Death Penalty Sought for Fort Hood Shooting Suspect

(CNN) -- The Army officers responsible for prosecuting the Fort Hood shooting suspect will be seeking the death penalty, the suspect's attorney told CNN.

John Galligan -- the attorney for the suspect, Maj. Nidal Hasan -- said that the filing of a memo by the prosecutors Wednesday indicated that finding Hasan guilty of more than one of the murders would constitute the "aggravating factor" necessary for the Army to seek the death penalty.

Thirteen people died in the shooting spree at the Texas base last November.

"It is the first 'formal notice' but, of course, it has been a virtual given from the start," Galligan wrote in an e-mail to CNN. "In short, the Army has been pursuing death from the git-go."

The actual decision to seek the death penalty occurs after an Article 32 hearing. The hearing -- the military justice system's rough equivalent of a grand jury hearing -- is scheduled to start June 1 at Fort Hood in Texas.

Judge Sets Trial Date for Huckaby

STOCKTON - Melissa Huckaby, the Tracy woman accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, is set to face trial late next year.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus set a trial date of Oct. 18 after a 30-minute hearing Friday at which the 28-year-old Huckaby was present.

The judge also set Feb. 16 as the day she will consider a defense motion to suppress evidence. She did not set a date to hear a separate defense request to dismiss a grand jury's indictment.

Lofthus has sealed pretrial motions and issued a gag order in the case, so details of prosecutors' case against Huckaby still are unknown to the public.

Prosecutors had been pushing to begin the trial quickly over worries that the memories of some young witnesses will fade. But San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa did not object Friday to the trial date.

Huckaby is charged with murdering Sandra, a playmate of her daughter's who was a neighbor in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy. Sandra disappeared March 27.

Days later, farm workers found Sandra's body in a black suitcase that had been dumped in a rural drainage pond a couple of miles north of Tracy. Huckaby also is accused of drugging a 7-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

On Friday, attorneys hashed out plans for evidence sharing and other procedural issues but revealed few details. Testa said the defense motion to suppress evidence required him to subpoena authorities in Los Angeles. In an unrelated discussion, he mentioned he had handed over a disc of handwriting analysis to the defense.

San Francisco attorney Michael Burt, who is assisting Huckaby's lawyer, San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Sam Behar, requested instructions that were given to the grand jury that indicted Huckaby. Burt, a star death penalty defense attorney who led or assisted in the defenses of Lyle Menendez, Charles Ng, Richard Ramirez and Cary Stayner, said part of the defense's basis for asking that the indictment be tossed is that they believe the jurors were not instructed correctly, but he did not elaborate.

The October trial date could change if there are delays in the months before. That could happen if the defense successfully moves the case out of San Joaquin County.

Behar missed Friday's hearing because of illness.

Death Penalty Option Stays In Casey Case

ClickOrlando.com- Anthony, 23, is jailed on first-degree murder charges in the death of her daughter, Caylee, whose remains were found last December.

Caylee was 2 years old when she was reported missing in July 2008. Anthony has pleaded not guilty.

Orange County Circuit Judge Stan Strickland said the state was not acting in bad faith or depriving Anthony of her constitutional rights by seeking the death penalty.

Strickland said in his ruling that he did have the power to remove the death penalty option but only if the state was acting in bad faith. The state had argued that judges cannot restrict prosecutors' discretion when it comes to choosing whether to pursue the death penalty.

Anthony's defense team had argued that the state was acting in bad faith and seeking the death penalty so it could get a jury that is more conviction prone.

In a court hearing last week, prosecutor Jeff Ashton went into great detail about a hypothetical argument he could make to a jury about how Caylee was killed to support the death penalty, if Anthony is found guilty.

The graphic detail caused Anthony to cry openly in court and forced her parents to exit the courtroom.

As of now, Anthony's murder trial is scheduled to begin in the summer.

Stay with ClickOrlando.com and watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Hearing Comes 1 Year After Caylee Found

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The next chapter in the case against Casey Anthony will play out in an Orange County courtroom on Friday -- the one-year anniversary of the discovery of Caylee Anthony's remains.

Anthony's defense team plans to argue six motions during a hearing, which began at 9:30 a.m.

Attorneys for Anthony, who is in court, are working to get the death penalty removed from the case.

"If their goal is to get the death penalty, they need to come up with that evidence ... It's way too weak," Attorney Richard Hornsby said.

Another motion from the defense seeks to destroy jail tapes made during visits to see Anthony.

Baez said Anthony has little to no privacy because jail officials steer him and his client into a room with cameras when they meet instead of a room without cameras, which would be expected based on attorney-client privilege.

Baez is expected to ask a judge to prevent jail officials from recording Anthony's visits with her lawyers and parents and destroy all recordings made in the past, but administrators said that would be destruction of public records.

Jail officials admit to assigning Baez a room for the visits, but they said he could request a different location.

Anthony is in the Orange County Jail awaiting trial in 2010 on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter, Caylee.

Anthony said a nanny took Caylee, whose remains were found in a wooded area near the Anthony home one year ago -- on Dec. 11, 2008.

Hearing Comes 1 Year After Caylee Found

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The next chapter in the case against Casey Anthony will play out in an Orange County courtroom on Friday -- the one-year anniversary of the discovery of Caylee Anthony's remains.

Anthony's defense team plans to argue six motions during a hearing, which began at 9:30 a.m.

Attorneys for Anthony, who is in court, are working to get the death penalty removed from the case.

"If their goal is to get the death penalty, they need to come up with that evidence ... It's way too weak," Attorney Richard Hornsby said.

Another motion from the defense seeks to destroy jail tapes made during visits to see Anthony.

Baez said Anthony has little to no privacy because jail officials steer him and his client into a room with cameras when they meet instead of a room without cameras, which would be expected based on attorney-client privilege.

Baez is expected to ask a judge to prevent jail officials from recording Anthony's visits with her lawyers and parents and destroy all recordings made in the past, but administrators said that would be destruction of public records.

Jail officials admit to assigning Baez a room for the visits, but they said he could request a different location.

Anthony is in the Orange County Jail awaiting trial in 2010 on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter, Caylee.

Anthony said a nanny took Caylee, whose remains were found in a wooded area near the Anthony home one year ago -- on Dec. 11, 2008.

Sunday School Teacher to Face Death in Child's Killing

(CNN) -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a former California Sunday school teacher accused of killing an 8-year-old girl earlier this year.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, was indicted last month in the death of Sandra Cantu, a playmate of Huckaby's daughter. Huckaby lived in the same mobile home park as Cantu and her family in Tracy, California.

Sandra's body was found April 6, stuffed into a suitcase and submerged in a pond at a dairy farm. She was last seen alive March 27 in the mobile home park.

Huckaby is charged with kidnapping and murdering Sandra, according to the indictment, along with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and rape by instrument. She pleaded not guilty in June, but entered another not guilty plea on Thursday at a hearing, minutes of which were provided to CNN by a court spokeswoman.

Prosecutors said at the hearing Thursday they plan to seek the death penalty.

Huckaby is the granddaughter of Clifford Lane Lawless, pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church near the mobile home park, and she taught Sunday school at the church, police said.

The church was searched as part of the investigation into Sandra's disappearance and death.

Before her arrest, Huckaby acknowledged to a newspaper reporter that she owned the suitcase that contained Sandra's body, but said it had been stolen.

In addition to the charges in Sandra's death, Huckaby is charged with attempting to poison two people, including a 7-year-old girl. A complaint alleges she "did willfully and unlawfully mingle a harmful substance with food or drink" with the intent to harm the child.

The complaint identifies the child only as "Jane M. Doe." Huckaby is also charged with one count of child abuse endangerment regarding the girl, who the complaint says was in her "care and custody." The other alleged poisoning victim was identified as Daniel Plowman, but no other information was provided.

A gag order has been imposed on parties in the case. Superior Court Judge Linda L. Lofthus has also sealed documents in the case, including the autopsy and toxicology reports and documents relating to a defense motion to exhume Sandra's body.

Huckaby remains jailed without bail. A hearing was set for September 25.

Jury: Death for Man Who Murdered Cop's Daughter

(CNN) -- A Florida jury has recommended the death penalty for a plumber who kidnapped, raped and murdered a police detective's daughter.

Michael King, 38, showed no reaction Friday afternoon as the jury's 12-0 decision was announced in Sarasota. Jurors deliberated for nearly three hours.

King was convicted a week ago of first-degree murder and related offenses in the January 17, 2008, death of Denise Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two boys.

Nathan Lee and Sgt. Dave Goff, the victim's husband and father remained composed in court. They had maintained a daily presence in the courtroom during a trial that included the heartbreaking tape of Denise Lee's frantic 911 call on her captor's cell phone.

In Florida, a jury's recommendation for a death sentence is advisory. King will be formally sentenced later. Judges rarely overturn a jury's unanimous decision.

Jurors Marcia Burns and Pat O'Quinn told reporters that defense testimony about King's head injury from a sledding accident and his low IQ carried little weight in the jury room.

Denise Lee's father and husband had hoped for the death penalty. "I don't think he should be able to live another day," Nathan Lee said Friday as he awaited the verdict.

Lee and Goff told the jury that she was a bright young woman who put aside her career ambitions to marry her college sweetheart and raise their two boys, now 2 and 3.

"She was everything we could wish for in a daughter and more," Goff said.

Several jurors had tears in their eyes as Nathan Lee described his wife as a devoted mother who was nursing one son and potty-training another when a stranger abducted her from their home.

"I was so proud to call her my wife," he said. "Denise was the love of my life, my soul mate. I knew after our first date that I had found the perfect girl."

He added that their boys "know their beautiful, courageous mommy has gone to heaven and now is an angel."

King's siblings spoke of how a childhood sledding accident left him with a head injury that contributed to a lifetime of troubles. On expert described the injury as a "divot" in his brain.

Experts testified that scans indicated that King's brain was abnormally shaped, especially his frontal lobe: the center for logic, planning and reason. His IQ was described as about 76, in the low range. A person with an IQ of 70 is considered to be mentally retarded, according to testimony.

King's brother, Greg, testified that the defendant was 6 when he crashed head-first into a post while being pulled on a sled by a snowmobile. "I felt bad for him," Greg King said. "I felt responsible, but I wasn't."

As a child, Michael King would get a faraway look in his eyes, witnesses said. Once, he fired his BB gun at witches he said he saw in the trees. Another time, he chased family members around the house with a running chainsaw. His eyes were "bugging out," his brother testified.

King also complained of headaches and hearing "a buzzing sound" in his head, Greg King told the jury.

King seemed to be deteriorating mentally in late 2007, according to testimony. He faced foreclosure, was considering filing for bankruptcy and broke up with a girlfriend on Thanksgiving Day. The ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Robb, testified that he sat on the bed staring into space and unable to dress himself.

"He acted as if he were somewhere else," she said. But she said she never knew him to be violent.

According to testimony, Lee was taken from her home during the afternoon, driven to King's home, sexually assaulted and then shot in the head and buried in a ditch.

During the trial, Lee's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

A 911 operator repeatedly said "Hello," and Lee was heard pleading with her captor: "I'm sorry. I just want to see my family. ... I just want to see my family again. Please. ... Oh, please, I just want to see my family again. Let me go."

Eventually, Lee managed to say, "My name is Denise. I'm married to a beautiful husband, and I just want to see my kids again. ... Please, God, please protect me."

Lee's heart-shaped ring, a gift from her husband, was found in King's car, and hair matching hers was found on duct tape at King's house.

According to testimony and court records, Lee fought frantically for her life, banging on the windows of King's green Camaro, screaming for help and begging one witness, "Call the cops."

Several people reported seeing something suspicious and called 911. But authorities didn't find Lee in time, and allegations that dispatchers mishandled the calls have led to criticism of the local 911 system.

The 911 communications breakdown was blamed on a shift change, and two dispatchers were suspended, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Lee's husband has launched a foundation bearing her name that works toward 911 reform. He plans to file a lawsuit this month, a family spokesman said.

Clemency Denied For Thrill Killer, Marvallous Keene

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The State Parole Board has denied clemency for Marvallous Keene, one of the so-called "Thrill Killers" in Dayton.

Keene, now 36, was among four people convicted of going on a killing spree during the Christmas holidays of 1992 that left five people dead. The victims were: Joseph Wilkerson, 34, Danita Gullette, 18, Sarah Abraham, 38, Wendy Cottrill, 16, and Marvin Washington, 18.

Keene was convicted of multiple charges including five counts of aggravated murder and sentenced to death by a three-judge panel.

At a clemency hearing June 17, Keene asked his lawyers not to ask for clemency because he did not want to cause the victim's families any more pain. Keene also refused to be interviewed by the Parole Board.

Keene is scheduled to be executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville on July 21.

Prosecutor May Pursue Death Penalty in Kansas Killings

(CNN) -- A district attorney Friday considered seeking the death penalty for a man charged with killing a toddler and three others at a Kansas City, Kansas-area home.

Adrian Burks, 37, has been charged with four counts of first-degree premeditated murder, but prosecutors are now considering capital murder charges that could result in the death penalty if Burks is convicted, Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said.

Gorman said it could be a week before prosecutors decide whether to file new charges.

Among the victims Burks is accused of killing is a mother and her 3-year-old daughter, police said.

Peggy Castleberry, 41, and her daughter, Juanita Castleberry-Bess, were found shot Monday in a rural Kansas City-area home along with homeowner James Warren, 66, and Amanda Remmers, 21, police said in a statement.

Burks is being held in the Wyandotte County, Kansas, jail with bail set at $2 million.

Police apprehended Burks on Tuesday after a two-state car chase that began in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and ended in a crash in Kansas City, Kansas, Gorman said.

Along with the premeditated murder charges, Burks also has been charged with felony fleeing and eluding.

Police first suspected Burks after they discovered he had a relationship with one of the victims, Gorman said. Authorities didn't elaborate on what the relationship entailed and who it involved.

Earlier Monday, before the slayings, one of the slaying victims saw Burks attack a man, Gorman said. Burks eventually was charged with aggravated battery in connection with the attack.

Hours after the initial crime, prosecutors allege that Burks then went to the home of the four victims and killed them after he had a domestic dispute with one of them.

"As far as a motive, obviously, domestic violence is the driving factor in this case," Gorman said Thursday.

He said he was at a loss for a motive for the child's slaying.

"Why a 3-year-old? ... One, we haven't got that far in that case, and two, I suppose when we get to that point, I still don't think we're going to have a satisfactory answer to why a 3-year-old was killed."

At the time of the killings, Burks was out of jail on pretrial release in a separate case, Gorman said. Prosecutors in Johnson County, Kansas, had charged him with criminal threat and battery over an April incident.

Prosecutor Demands Plea in Child's Killing

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The woman accused of the kidnap, rape and murder of an 8-year-old California girl has yet to enter a plea in three court appearances.

So, the prosecutor wants the judge to enter a plea for her Friday if she refuses to answer to charges again.

Melissa Huckaby, 28, is charged in connection with the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

Sandra disappeared March 27 and her body was found April 6, stuffed in a suitcase submerged in an irrigation pond near the Northern California town of Tracy.

If the Sunday-school teacher does not enter a plea, Judge Linda Lufthus must enter a not-guilty plea for her so the case can move along, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa told Lufthus in court papers filed Monday. He also wants the judge to set a preliminary hearing date.

At Huckaby's last court appearance on May 22, public defender Sam Behar told the judge he needed more time to review 1,000 pages of evidence he had just received from new charges filed against Huckaby a day before.

The charges of kidnapping, rape and murder include three special circumstance accusations that make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

In addition, she is charged with child endangerment and furnishing a harmful substance in the drugging of another 7-year-old girl and a man, both of whom survived, in the months before Sandra was murdered.

Death Sentence In Arson Murders of 5 Firefighters

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—A Southern California man has been sentenced to death for setting a 2006 wildfire that killed five federal firefighters.

Raymond Lee Oyler was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in March for setting the Oct. 26, 2006, blaze in Riverside County, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles.

Riverside County Judge W. Charles Morgan imposed the penalty Friday after relatives of the victims made emotional statements to the court.

The victims were San Bernardino National Forest firefighters who were overrun by flames while defending a rural home.

New Member Of Defense Team Has History Of Fighting Death Penalty

For the new member of Casey Anthony's defense team, the fight against the death penalty is a family affair.

Jennifer Lyon and her sister, Rachel, have teamed up to produce controversial documentaries covering media, race and their relationship to the death penalty.

In two documentaries produced by her sister, Jennifer Lyon has taken the position that the media unfairly portrays African Americans, and that stereotype contributes to people of color being dealt death sentences unfairly.

In a pair of documentaries produced by her sister, the lawyer who will lead efforts to keep Casey Anthony out of Florida's death chamber, said blacks and people of color are over represented on television as perpetrators of crime.

"All of those things are being sold as actually representative of what most African American and Hispanic people are," Jennifer Lyon said.

At the same time, Jennifer Lyon said television over represents the threat of crime.

"Crime has been going down for years yet it gets reported 500 or 600 percent more because of the 24 hour news cycle and the need to feed that entertainment beast," she said.

Experts in filmmaker Rachel Lyon's documentary entitled "Juror Number Six" suggest potential jurors may be biased against blacks and people of color based on those media stereotypes, and those biases result in people of color more often being sentenced to death.

Casey Anthony is not a person of color, but her defense team has cited negative coverage as one reason to move the trial out of Orange County. Lyon said her first priority is to convince the judge the evidence is not there to warrant the state seeking death.

Death Penalty for Ledford

DALLAS, Ga. -- A jury sentenced Michael Ledford to death Friday for the murder of Jennifer Ewing along the Silver Comet Trail.

The same jury found Ledford guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting and killing Ewing on the popular cycling trail in 2006.

"Death is the only penalty that fits this crime," said Paulding County prosecutor Drew Lane during his closing arguments.

During the sentencing portion of the trial, jurors heard from mental health experts who talked about Ledford's problems, including his alcoholism, and how it affects his actions. The defense team also brought in some of Ledford's family members to help plead for his life.

"It makes him crazy," said Sherry Byess, Ledford's sister.

Byess testified Wednesday that drinking turns him into another man.

Ledford's defense team took the jury on an in-depth journey into Ledford's troubled life.

Family members of the 53-year-old victim read emotional accounts of their grief in court Tuesday -- which caused some jurors to cry.