Brothers convicted in murder of father
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – Jurors who tried two baby-faced boys on charges of killing their father with a baseball bat were aghast to learn that another panel had acquitted an adult accused in the case. But its conclusion that the boys only helped and didn’t swing the bat stunned the prosecutor who presented both cases.
Alex and Derek King, ages 13 and 14, were spared a life term when a jury found them guilty Friday of second-degree murder without a weapon.
The boys face 22 years to life without parole, but the judge is free to go below the minimum when they are sentenced Oct. 17. If they had been convicted of first-degree murder as charged, their only option was life sentences without parole.
Their convictions have rekindled talk about changing a Florida law that allowed them to be tried as adults.
In a separate trial, convicted child molester Ricky Chavis, 40, was accused of committing the crime by himself. He was acquitted and the verdict was sealed until after the boys’ trial.
Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer, who prosecuted both trials, said he thought the panel in the boys’ case had ignored the allegation they wielded the bat and simply gave the boys a “jury pardon” by convicting them of the lesser offense.
The jurors “know good and well he was killed with a weapon,” Rimmer said. “That’s a jury pardon. That’s OK, I don’t have a problem with that.”
The jury forewoman said that wasn’t the case, that the panel believed neither boy swung the bat but rather that Chavis carried out the slaying.
The jurors did not know that Chavis already had been acquitted in his separate trial.
Their decision to convict the boys of second-degree murder was based on their belief that Alex and Derek opened the door to let the killer into the house, forewoman Lynn Schwarz told the Pensacola News Journal.
That reasoning stunned Rimmer.
“I didn’t think that at all,” Rimmer said.
Rimmer had avoided asking the Chavis jury for a conviction, saying the only reason the case came to trial was that the boys had lied, either when they told police they killed their father or to the jurors when they said Chavis did.
He said it was up to the Chavis jury to decide which was the lie and added: “I don’t have a dog in this fight.”
Of the jurors’ reasoning in the boys’ trial, he said: “I thought perhaps he encouraged them to do it, but I never felt Chavis was there.”
Alex and Derek had testified that they opened the door and that they then went out to Chavis’ car, but no physical evidence was introduced at their trial showing that chavis had been in the house.
Schwarz said the jurors thought the boys’ recorded confessions were forced, rehearsed and unbelievable.
Schwarz said the King jurors were aghast when they heard Chavis had been acquitted.
“I was so shocked, I just couldn’t believe it,” said Schwarz, 52. She said the other jury “saw a different presentation and a different interpretation. It’s too bad they couldn’t have all been tried together. That might have been a fairer trial.”
The Rev. Thomas Masters, a leading opponent of prosecuting children as adults and death sentences for juveniles, said he thought the jury was sending a message to change the law.
“There’s no way in the world you can receive a fair trial in an adult arena where you’re looked upon as an adult when you have the mind of a child,” said Masters, a pastor at New Macedonia Baptist Church in Riviera Beach.
Masters became involved in the issue when one of his teenage congregation members was charged with murder as an adult.
Nathaniel Brazill was 13 in May 2000 when he killed Lake Worth teacher Barry Grunow, claiming the gun went off accidentally. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Florida law gives prosecutors only two choices when children are charged with major crimes such as murder. They can be prosecuted as juveniles or adults, with nothing in between.
Gov. Jeb Bush acknowledges being uncomfortable with some prosecutions of children as adults.
“I do think prosecutors ought to have the flexibility to determine the jurisdiction, whether it’s juvenile or adult,” Bush said.
State Sen. Skip Campbell sponsored a bill earlier this year to create a middle ground, giving juveniles who are sentenced to life for first-degree murder a chance for parole after turning 21.
“We’re not trying to be namby-pamby with everything, but at the same time we’re trying to recognize that punishments should not be so harsh,” Campbell said.
Campbell’s bill never received a hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee chaired by state Sen. Victor Crist, author of the present law.
Crist said he might consider some changes, but not giving juveniles with mandatory life sentences a chance at parole.
“At 12 or 13 they are old enough to know better,” Crist said. “If they have the potential to kill at that age, then that potential to kill will be even greater at an older age.”