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.

Michael King- GUILTY!!

(CNN) -- A Florida plumber was found guilty Friday of kidnapping and murdering a police detective's daughter at a trial in which his victim's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

Jurors deliberated just two hours before finding Michael L. King, 38, guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the January 17, 2008 abduction and slaying of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two.

Lee's family, including her father, Charlotte County Sheriff's Det. Rick Goff, cried as the verdict was announced; King showed no reaction.

The jury must next decide whether King, who was a stranger to Lee, should be executed for his crimes.

According to testimony during the weeklong trial, Lee was taken from her home sometime after 2 p.m., driven to King's home, sexually assaulted, then shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave in a marshy vacant lot.

King's attorney, Jerry Meisner, did not present any witnesses. But prosecutors told the jury that Lee's ring was found in King's car, and hair matching hers was found on duct tape found 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.

Lee's body was found on January 19 near where police stopped King's car some six hours after the abduction.

The jury heard two 911 calls -- Lee's and one from a concerned witness.

Lee used one of King's cell phones to call 911 as she was driven across three counties. As the six-minute tape was played for the jury, her voice sounded tremulous at times, and frantic at others.

The call came in at 6:14 p.m. on January 17. 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."

The man, whose voice was identified in court as King's, curses at her for trying to attract attention. A radio plays loudly in the background. The 911 operator asks her address. Eventually, she says, "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."

The 911 operator asked where she was, and then whether she knew the man. The operator asked if she knows her location. "Please just take me to my house. Can you take me home?" Lee said. The connection was then lost.

Sixteen minutes later, driver Jane Kowalski called 911 to report what she thought was a child abduction. She said she was stopped at a light and could hear screaming from another car "and not a happy scream, a get-me-out-of-here scream."

She testified that she saw someone banging on the car window, slapping her hand hard to demonstrate. "It was very loud," she told the jury. "It was completely horrific, terrified, panicky. I can't think of enough words, it was terrible."

She followed the car for a while, but lost it.

Police quickly traced Lee's call to King's cell phone, and were looking for him. But Kowalski's call was never passed on to officers.

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

Other witnesses also helped establish the timeline for the terrifying final hours of Lee's life.

Lee's former neighbor, Jennifer Eckert, 24, testified that she saw the green Camaro circle the block three or four times between 1 and 2 p.m. and pull into the Lees' driveway. She said she was certain of the time, because she was watching her favorite TV soap.

King's cousin, Harold Muxlow, testified that King stopped by his house between 5:30 and 6 p.m., and asked to borrow a flashlight, a gas can, and a shovel.

He testified that a "girl's voice" from the car asked him to "call the cops" but Muxlow said King told him, "Don't worry. It's nothing."

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

Jury to Deliberate in King Death Penalty Case

SARASOTA, Florida–Closing arguments are now underway in the death penalty trial of Michael King, accused of raping and murdering 21-year-old Denise Lee in January 2008. Jurors should begin their deliberations later today.

On Thursday, medical examiner Dr. Daniel Schultz testified to an execution-style shot to the head that caused the death of Lee, which he demonstrated to the jury with a wooden pistol. Schultz’s demonstration showed that the gun used to kill Lee would have been touching the young mother’s right temple at her upper eyebrow when the one shot was fired. Her right eye was ruptured from the force.

Prosecutors have already identified a fluid on King’s car consistent with the DNA of Lee. Schultz also told jurors, “If you tell me blood spatter was around it, I do believe the contents of the young mother’s eye was on the defendant’s car.”

This testimony is vital to the prosecution’s case against King. A murder weapon was never found and the defendant was never seen with bullets, so Lee’s bodily contents on the defendant’s car link him directly with the murder itself.

Defense attorneys questioned Schultz about the contact shot and the potential spatter and eye fluid on the defendant’s car, but stressed King himself did not have any of Lee’s blood on him. Testing of the defendant’s clothes showed no sign of the victim’s blood or bodily fluid.

In other testimony, a supervisor with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department forensic unit testified about the gravesite where investigators found Lee’s body. Louis Wood, who is also a trained archeologist, testified that the grave area looked different from other vegetation in the area even on first observation.

Investigators dug three feet, three inches from the surface of the soil and encountered the right shoulder of the victim. Lee was nude, curled in a fetal position with bloody duct tape on the back of her head. Once her body was removed, the entire grave was determined to be 4 feet 1 inch deep.

The gravesite included new and fresh plant life substantially below the surface showing recent movement of the soil, Wood testified.

–Stay tuned to In Session for all the latest from inside the Florida courtroom.

Jury Sees Car at Center of Murder Trial

SARASOTA, Florida–In the Florida death penalty trial of Michael King, the jury view took place Wednesday of the dark green Camaro belonging to the defendant.

Jurors slowly walked around the car that had been brought to the courthouse at the request of prosecutors.

While some jurors took notes, the defendant was seated at a table, shackled at his ankles, but his confinement was hidden from jurors because of a skirt in place around the table.

In other testimony, Robert Salvador admitted he had gone to a shooting range with the defendant the morning of the murder of Denise Lee and had personally placed King’s 9 mm pistol back in the defendant’s car when their target practice concluded.

The defense, on cross-examination, focused on Salvador’s lack of truthfulness when originally questioned by police and even suggested to Salvador that he met King close to the murder site later that afternoon and shot Denise Lee himself. “Absolutely not!” Salvador answered. He allowed to stand, however, the question asking Salvador if he killed Lee.

That exchange created a vigorous argument by attorneys out side the presence of the jury. The result was an instruction to the jury from Judge Deno Economou telling them to completely disregard the majority of that line of questioning by the defense.

Chilling 911 Call from Victim Played in Court

SARASOTA, Florida – The trial of Michael King, a man accused of kidnapping, raping and killing a 21-year-old Florida mother continues today with testimony from a crime scene technician.

On Tuesday, a jury reading transcripts followed along in silence as the more than 5 minute 911 call made by victim Denise Lee was played in court.

Lee was inside the defendant’s Camaro when she used his cell phone to call a 911 operator and screamed: “My name is Denise and I just want to see my beautiful husband and kids again.” She also answers the 911 operator when asked, “do you know this guy?” Crying into the phone, Lee yells “NO.”

Prosecutors say Lee had been abducted by King and was shot to death with one bullet to the head shortly after this call. Family members of Lee left the courtroom before the tape was played, but Lee’s father Detective Rick Goff stayed, telling me after court, “Its my daughter…I’m not going to leave.”

In other testimony Jane Kowalski pounded the witness stand with her fist, demonstrating the banging of what she thought was a child’s hand against the passenger window of a dark Camaro, accompanied by horrific screaming. The vehicle had pulled up to her left as she was traveling south on US 41 in Sarasota on January 17th — the date Lee was killed.

Kowalski’s emergency call to authorities was also played in court and the Charlotte County 911 operator seemed to verbally repeat to others in her dispatch room what Kowalski said as she described every street the Camaro was passing, but that information was never communicated to law enforcement on the ground in the area.

Tammy Treadway, who heads up Animal Services with the Sarasota Sheriff’s department, testified her golden retriever “actively engaged” in a rural site in the North Port area the evening of January 18, 2008.

Crime scene investigators soon found sand and dirt out of place and blood saturating the earth. Investigators had found the burial site of Denise Lee.