Posted on 02/28/2006 6:07:36 AM PST by tuffydoodle
Edited on 02/28/2006 7:08:30 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
Barbee sentenced to dieBy TRACI SHURLEYStar-Telegram Staff Writer Star-Telegram Staff WriterFORT WORTH — Stephen Barbee was sentenced to death this afternoon for killing Lisa Underwood and her 7-year-old son, Jayden. A jury of seven women and five men took more than three hours to reach their decision on Barbee, 38.
The jury could have sentenced him to life in prison. During closing arguments this morning, prosecutor Kevin Rousseau brought a dramatic end to the capital murder case against Barbee with a gripping description of the murder of a pregnant Underwood and her son. He talked about Barbee’s trip to Underwood’s north Fort Worth home in the early hours of Feb. 19, 2005, and the fight that left bloodstains all over her living room. When he finished describing how Barbee smothered Underwood by pressing her face into her carpet, he reminded jurors about her 7-year-old son’s last moments on earth. “Jayden couldn’t run,” Rousseau said. “You think of (Barbee) approaching that little boy and slappng him upside the head hard enough to leave a bruise and then holding him down until he’s dead, and I dare you to say there is a reason to save his life.” In a victim impact statement, Underwood's mother, Sheila Underwood, addressed Barbee: "I want you to know I’m 53 years old and I don’t have anything left. ... I want you to suffer like I suffer. You put me in hell." Last week, Barbee, 38, was convicted of smothering the two and dumping their bodies in a wooded area in rural Denton County. At about 10:20 a.m. today, a jury began deciding whether he would die for the crime.
Police investigators said Barbee thought that Underwood was carrying his child and claimed that she had threatened to break up his marriage. The unborn baby girl was not Barbee’s child, lab tests later confirmed. Underwood’s friends have said that she believed he was the father and wanted only for Barbee, who co-owned two businesses, to have the child covered on his health insurance. During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors Dixie Bersano and Rousseau cast Barbee as a selfish man who was willing to do anything to get what he wanted. They said the disregard he showed for the lives of Lisa Underwood and Jayden prove that he will be a future danger to society, a requirement for the death penalty. Defense attorneys Tim Moore and Bill Ray, however, pleaded with jurors not to use emotion to answer the question of whether Barbee should die. Moore cautioned them against asking why, if Barbee took these two lives, he shouldn’t die, too. “It’s not a proper question, and I’ll tell you why it’s not a proper question,” Moore said. “That is because it’s a question the answer of which is based on pure revenge, and you have to be careful, folks, not to let revenge creep into your deliberations.
There’s no place for revenge in our law.” Moore said Barbee was a law-abiding, productive citizen who changed into an “atrocious human being” for three hours on Feb. 19, 2005. He is unlikely to be violent in the future, Moore said. Rousseau, however, said jurors had plenty of reason to consider Barbee dangerous. Testimony from Barbee’s first wife, Theresa, was an example, he said. She testified last week that Stephen Barbee assaulted her four times during their marriage. Once, a candle he knocked off a wall hit her in the head and gave her a concussion, she said. “The pattern was there.
The warning was there,” Rousseau said. “Unfortunately, Lisa Underwood did not have the benefit of that warning. She never had a chance. She never had a chance.”
Maybe if he writes a Childrens book, people will rally to his defense...
"ken" is shocked, deeply saddened..
Ken deeply saddened
Hurts my eyes...[Capt Kirk voice]can...not...read...no...para...graphs...
"Moore said Barbee was a law-abiding, productive citizen who changed into an “atrocious human being” for three hours on Feb. 19, 2005. He is unlikely to be violent in the future, Moore said"
I do believe it is possible to kill an adult (for example in a fight) without being an unreformable murderer... but to kill a pregnant woman and then her 7 year old son - I don't see how this was even debatable.
Paragraphs are our friends...
Semper Fidelis
Let's hope this pile of subhuman garbage is eliminated without any juridial interference.
I copy and pasted from the Star Telegram website and that's how it came up. I didn't change anything.
I'm so sorry it's hurting your eyes. Take 2 aspirin.
Must have been a mighty big candle!
I wish him a speedy execution, not that it's likely ...
Barbee sentenced to die
People were debating the issue because the woman killed was messing with Barbee's life. From what is being said, she was telling Barbee that she would confront his wife about their unborn child. Through DNA testing we've since found out that the unborn child wasn't Barbee's.
The Schlosser baby murderer should get the same fate.
paragraph symbol (“¶”)
"I wish him a speedy execution, not that it's likely ..."
Stupid man. Never kill anyone in TX of FL. Go to California. If you're fortunate, some idiot judge might worry about your pain so much he might delay your execution for years.
The risk of being killed by your partner increases when you get pregnant. Sick.
Learn...to...post...can't...take...aspirin...take...time...to...read...html...sandbox...aaarrrggghhhhhh..
Wow, the self appointed posting police are out in full force today. I hope reading a story that doesn't have paragraphs is the worst thing that happens to ya'll today.
If....you....don't....like...it...don't....read...it.
Or is it more fun to bitch and complain?
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