Post by ex member on Jun 29, 2005 11:57:43 GMT -5
Penalty phase offers two portraits of Fell
June 29, 2005
By Alan J. Keays Rutland Herald
BURLINGTON — He's a cold-blooded killer who deserves execution, or the victim of a miserable upbringing whose life should be spared.
Those two portraits of Donald R. Fell, 25, were presented by prosecutors and defense attorneys to a federal jury Tuesday on the first day of the penalty phase of Fell's capital trial in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
The same jury now weighing Fell's fate found him guilty Friday of the federal charges of carjacking and kidnapping, both with death resulting, in the slaying of Tressa King, 53, of North Clarendon, on Nov. 27, 2000. Both charges carry the possibility of the death penalty.
"We will ask you to do the right thing in this case rather than the easy thing," Assistant U.S. Attorney William Darrow told jurors Tuesday morning in his opening statement of the trial's penalty phase. "We will ask you to sentence him to death."
The prosecutor said Fell killed King in a premeditated and depraved manner.
"He has earned the ultimate punishment," Darrow said of Fell, adding that Fell kicked King's teeth out and stomped her throat with his boots, before wiping them off on her shirt when he was done.
Gene Primomo, an attorney representing Fell, also addressed the jurors with opening remarks.
"In essence, Donnie is pleading, 'Don't kill me,'" Primono said, later adding, "Five hours in this man's life does not make him the worst of the worst."
The jury is the first in Vermont in more than 40 years asked to decide whether to impose a death sentence.
Darrow spoke to the jury first Tuesday.
He said Fell and his late accomplice, Robert J. Lee, were fleeing a scene of a double homicide in Rutland early in the morning on Nov. 27, 2000, when the two men carjacked and kidnapped King as she arrived to work at the Price Chopper grocery store in downtown Rutland.
"They came up with a plan to carjack someone and get out of town to evade responsibility," Darrow told the jury. "You heard (Fell) describe (King) as the perfect victim for his next crime."
Earlier that morning, the prosecutor said, Debra Fell, 47, and her friend, Charles Conway, 44, had been stabbed to death after a night of drinking and playing cards in Fell's mother's apartment on Robbins Street in Rutland.
Donald Fell said in a police statement that he repeatedly stabbed Conway, killing him, while Lee stabbed Debra Fell to death. Lee has since died in prison in September 2001. His death was ruled accidental.
Dr. Paul Morrow, chief medical examiner for Vermont at the time of the slayings, testified Tuesday that both Conway and Debra Fell died from multiple stab wounds, with Conway stabbed about 50 times, and Debra Fell stabbed about 40 times.
Fell and Lee were arrested three days after the killing spree in Arkansas driving King's vehicle.
King's body was found shortly after the two men were arrested, well off the side of the road in Dover, N.Y., where she was beaten to death. Fell said he repeatedly kicked her in her body with his boots, while Lee smashed her face with a rock.
"She was a fine human being and good woman," Darrow said of King in his opening statement. "Her family is devastated by her murder."
The prosecutor added that while Fell may have had a difficult childhood, he was 20 at the time of the killings and the choices he made were his own.
"Ask yourself, does it lessen Donald Fell's responsibility for killing Terry King?" Darrow said to the jury.
Primomo then spoke, taking Darrow's spot at the podium. He showed the jury photographs of Fell as an infant and later as a smiling toddler.
The defense attorney said Fell's kindergarten teacher remembered him as a "sweet little boy," who was taken aback by the respectful environmental of the kindergarten classroom, which was so different from his home life.
Primomo said Fell's parents were both alcoholics who abandoned him and his younger sister early in his life, often leaving the two children in the care of others.
"They gave him no love, care or affections," the defense attorney said of Fell's parents.
At one point, when Fell was around the age of 5, his babysitters included a couple in their 20s.
"The couple took pleasure in sexually torturing Donny and his sister," the defense attorney said.
Primomo said Fell began drinking young in life, taking alcohol from a beer keg his father had in the basement.
"Starting at 8 years old, he was drinking to intoxication," the defense attorney said. "Welcome to Donny Fell's life."
Primomo said Fell then progressed to drug abuse, using marijuana and LSD by the sixth grade.
Eventually, Fell and his younger sister were placed in the care of his 21-year-old stepsister.
Fell dropped out of school at 16, and the rest of his teenage years were filled with drug use, temporary hospitalizations and juvenile detention, the defense wrote.
The defense attorney added that the death penalty should be reserved for the very worst of the worst criminals.
"Donald Fell is not the worst of the worst," he said. "His life is worth saving."
He said Fell accepts responsibility for his actions and even offered to plead guilty to the charges against him.
A tentative plea deal reached in October 2001 would have spared Fell the death penalty. It was a deal that needed only then-U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft's approval.
Ashcroft rejected the plea deal that would have required Fell to plead guilty to charges of kidnapping with death resulting in exchange for a lifetime jail sentence with no chance for parole.
"Donny offered to plead guilty in return for one thing, his life," Primono said. "That offer was denied by the United States. The government wants death … That's why we're here."
Since King's killing involved crossing state lines, federal prosecutors took jurisdiction in her death and have sought capital punishment for Fell. State prosecutors have not filed charges in the death of Debra Fell and Conway pending the outcome of the federal prosecution in King's slaying.
After the opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors called witnesses and presented their case.
Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, who performed the autopsy on King, was called to the stand. He described her injuries as "overkill."
"There were many more injuries than necessary to cause her death," Baden said, pointing out that King suffered several fractures included bones in her head, neck and face.
He said he ruled the cause of her death as homicidal assault, with injuries leading to brain damage and asphyxiation.
"I think Mrs. King suffered grievous multiple injuries in a short period of time," Baden said.
Baden said an injury to the base of her nose appeared to have been caused by a large rock found near her body. That injury, he said, damaged her brain.
"It would have made her lose consciousnesses as soon as the brain injuries occurred," he said.
The injuries and abrasions on her neck, Baden added, were consistent with having been struck in that area with a boot. "That can all be done with one forceful blow, a stomp," he said.
No injuries were apparent below King's neck, Baden said.
As Baden testified, jurors were shown photographs of her injuries. However, Judge William Sessions had earlier ruled that one photo, a close up image of King's face, was too prejudicial to admit into evidence.
Alexander Bunin, another attorney representing Fell, asked Baden about his use of the word "overkill," questioning him whether the person assaulting King would have known which injury or at what point King died.
"I can't know what's in the mind of the assailant," Baden said. "The assailant might not have known she was dead."
The prosecution is expected to wrap up its penalty phase case today with King's relatives testifying. Several members of King's family, who support the death penalty for Fell, have been in the courtroom throughout the many hearings in the case and the recent trial.
Fell's defense team plans to start presenting its case Thursday and continue into next week.
The defense is expected to point out at least 21 mitigating factors, ranging from his past sexual abuse to his impaired mental capacity, they argue should lead the jury to spare his life and result in a sentence of life in jail without the possibility of parole.
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.
June 29, 2005
By Alan J. Keays Rutland Herald
BURLINGTON — He's a cold-blooded killer who deserves execution, or the victim of a miserable upbringing whose life should be spared.
Those two portraits of Donald R. Fell, 25, were presented by prosecutors and defense attorneys to a federal jury Tuesday on the first day of the penalty phase of Fell's capital trial in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
The same jury now weighing Fell's fate found him guilty Friday of the federal charges of carjacking and kidnapping, both with death resulting, in the slaying of Tressa King, 53, of North Clarendon, on Nov. 27, 2000. Both charges carry the possibility of the death penalty.
"We will ask you to do the right thing in this case rather than the easy thing," Assistant U.S. Attorney William Darrow told jurors Tuesday morning in his opening statement of the trial's penalty phase. "We will ask you to sentence him to death."
The prosecutor said Fell killed King in a premeditated and depraved manner.
"He has earned the ultimate punishment," Darrow said of Fell, adding that Fell kicked King's teeth out and stomped her throat with his boots, before wiping them off on her shirt when he was done.
Gene Primomo, an attorney representing Fell, also addressed the jurors with opening remarks.
"In essence, Donnie is pleading, 'Don't kill me,'" Primono said, later adding, "Five hours in this man's life does not make him the worst of the worst."
The jury is the first in Vermont in more than 40 years asked to decide whether to impose a death sentence.
Darrow spoke to the jury first Tuesday.
He said Fell and his late accomplice, Robert J. Lee, were fleeing a scene of a double homicide in Rutland early in the morning on Nov. 27, 2000, when the two men carjacked and kidnapped King as she arrived to work at the Price Chopper grocery store in downtown Rutland.
"They came up with a plan to carjack someone and get out of town to evade responsibility," Darrow told the jury. "You heard (Fell) describe (King) as the perfect victim for his next crime."
Earlier that morning, the prosecutor said, Debra Fell, 47, and her friend, Charles Conway, 44, had been stabbed to death after a night of drinking and playing cards in Fell's mother's apartment on Robbins Street in Rutland.
Donald Fell said in a police statement that he repeatedly stabbed Conway, killing him, while Lee stabbed Debra Fell to death. Lee has since died in prison in September 2001. His death was ruled accidental.
Dr. Paul Morrow, chief medical examiner for Vermont at the time of the slayings, testified Tuesday that both Conway and Debra Fell died from multiple stab wounds, with Conway stabbed about 50 times, and Debra Fell stabbed about 40 times.
Fell and Lee were arrested three days after the killing spree in Arkansas driving King's vehicle.
King's body was found shortly after the two men were arrested, well off the side of the road in Dover, N.Y., where she was beaten to death. Fell said he repeatedly kicked her in her body with his boots, while Lee smashed her face with a rock.
"She was a fine human being and good woman," Darrow said of King in his opening statement. "Her family is devastated by her murder."
The prosecutor added that while Fell may have had a difficult childhood, he was 20 at the time of the killings and the choices he made were his own.
"Ask yourself, does it lessen Donald Fell's responsibility for killing Terry King?" Darrow said to the jury.
Primomo then spoke, taking Darrow's spot at the podium. He showed the jury photographs of Fell as an infant and later as a smiling toddler.
The defense attorney said Fell's kindergarten teacher remembered him as a "sweet little boy," who was taken aback by the respectful environmental of the kindergarten classroom, which was so different from his home life.
Primomo said Fell's parents were both alcoholics who abandoned him and his younger sister early in his life, often leaving the two children in the care of others.
"They gave him no love, care or affections," the defense attorney said of Fell's parents.
At one point, when Fell was around the age of 5, his babysitters included a couple in their 20s.
"The couple took pleasure in sexually torturing Donny and his sister," the defense attorney said.
Primomo said Fell began drinking young in life, taking alcohol from a beer keg his father had in the basement.
"Starting at 8 years old, he was drinking to intoxication," the defense attorney said. "Welcome to Donny Fell's life."
Primomo said Fell then progressed to drug abuse, using marijuana and LSD by the sixth grade.
Eventually, Fell and his younger sister were placed in the care of his 21-year-old stepsister.
Fell dropped out of school at 16, and the rest of his teenage years were filled with drug use, temporary hospitalizations and juvenile detention, the defense wrote.
The defense attorney added that the death penalty should be reserved for the very worst of the worst criminals.
"Donald Fell is not the worst of the worst," he said. "His life is worth saving."
He said Fell accepts responsibility for his actions and even offered to plead guilty to the charges against him.
A tentative plea deal reached in October 2001 would have spared Fell the death penalty. It was a deal that needed only then-U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft's approval.
Ashcroft rejected the plea deal that would have required Fell to plead guilty to charges of kidnapping with death resulting in exchange for a lifetime jail sentence with no chance for parole.
"Donny offered to plead guilty in return for one thing, his life," Primono said. "That offer was denied by the United States. The government wants death … That's why we're here."
Since King's killing involved crossing state lines, federal prosecutors took jurisdiction in her death and have sought capital punishment for Fell. State prosecutors have not filed charges in the death of Debra Fell and Conway pending the outcome of the federal prosecution in King's slaying.
After the opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors called witnesses and presented their case.
Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, who performed the autopsy on King, was called to the stand. He described her injuries as "overkill."
"There were many more injuries than necessary to cause her death," Baden said, pointing out that King suffered several fractures included bones in her head, neck and face.
He said he ruled the cause of her death as homicidal assault, with injuries leading to brain damage and asphyxiation.
"I think Mrs. King suffered grievous multiple injuries in a short period of time," Baden said.
Baden said an injury to the base of her nose appeared to have been caused by a large rock found near her body. That injury, he said, damaged her brain.
"It would have made her lose consciousnesses as soon as the brain injuries occurred," he said.
The injuries and abrasions on her neck, Baden added, were consistent with having been struck in that area with a boot. "That can all be done with one forceful blow, a stomp," he said.
No injuries were apparent below King's neck, Baden said.
As Baden testified, jurors were shown photographs of her injuries. However, Judge William Sessions had earlier ruled that one photo, a close up image of King's face, was too prejudicial to admit into evidence.
Alexander Bunin, another attorney representing Fell, asked Baden about his use of the word "overkill," questioning him whether the person assaulting King would have known which injury or at what point King died.
"I can't know what's in the mind of the assailant," Baden said. "The assailant might not have known she was dead."
The prosecution is expected to wrap up its penalty phase case today with King's relatives testifying. Several members of King's family, who support the death penalty for Fell, have been in the courtroom throughout the many hearings in the case and the recent trial.
Fell's defense team plans to start presenting its case Thursday and continue into next week.
The defense is expected to point out at least 21 mitigating factors, ranging from his past sexual abuse to his impaired mental capacity, they argue should lead the jury to spare his life and result in a sentence of life in jail without the possibility of parole.
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.