http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/4445523.htmExperts, community aren't surprised by verdicts
BY TIM POTTER AND LORI O'TOOLE BUSELT
The Wichita Eagle - Tue, Nov. 05, 2002When a jury convicted Reginald and Jonathan Carr of capital murder Monday, it did not surprise legal experts or community leaders.
They predicted the verdicts partly because the crimes were so heinous -- one of the worst killing sprees in the history of Kansas, said former Sedgwick County District Attorney Vern Miller.
They also expected the verdicts because the prosecution presented overwhelming proof of guilt.
"There would have been no way for a jury to listen to the evidence... and not come up with capital murder," said Miller, also a former Sedgwick County sheriff and Kansas attorney general.
But the verdicts might not have occurred, he said, if a woman had not survived an execution-style shooting in a snowy field that left four of her friends dead after they had suffered a night of rape and robbery.
Because she managed to run -- bleeding in the freezing cold -- for help, she immediately put police onto the trail of the killers. As a result, Miller said, police gathered a remarkable amount of physical evidence against the Carrs. Then she testified against them.
"She's got to be one of the strongest persons," Miller said.
Prosecutors expertly pieced the evidence together, said Jackie Williams, a former U.S. attorney.
"They caught the jury's attention," Williams said. "They made you feel you were there," with grisly photographs, with blood-stained clothing, with a tour of the crime scenes.
The evidence in the case should put to rest assertions by some that the Carrs, who are black, were motivated by race because the victims were white, Williams said. The evidence, he said, clearly shows the spree was motivated by robbery.
With evidence so strong and crimes so horrible, the race of the defendants should not have mattered to the jury anyway, said the Rev. Lincoln Montgomery, senior pastor at predominantly black Tabernacle Baptist Church.
In the days after the crime spree and another quadruple killing that preceded it, the church hosted a citywide prayer vigil to remember all of the victims.
Although Montgomery saw clear proof of the Carrs' guilt, he said he remains opposed to the death penalty because it has been disproportionately used against the poor and minorities.
In Augusta, where one of the victims, Jason Befort, had been a popular high school science teacher and coach, the verdict brought relief to some.
Augusta High School junior Laura Garcia remembered when Befort was her middle school basketball coach. She said he was funny and a good coach.
Sammy Paul, another junior who had Befort as a coach, recalled the quiet day following his murder.
Stunned students huddled in hushed, tearful clusters. High school officials canceled weekend athletic activities, and 38 counselors made themselves available to students.
At the Augusta school district office Monday, employees listened to the verdict on the radio.
"This is a trying time for us all," Augusta superintendent Jim Markos said.
Contributing: Stan Finger of The Eagle
Where was the profit in humiliating the victims for three hours prior to their execution? No, hate was most definitely involved.
Not that it should make a difference in the sentencing, but it irritates me that they just can't bring themselves to admit that this crime involved SIGNIFICANT hatred.
Hate crimes laws are a farce.
Sammy is lucky, most people who are murdered usually cannot recall the next day, even if it is quiet.
The only exception I am aware of are dead Democrat voters.
They are often recalled to come back to vote.
The Eagle might want to hire a home schooler to edit their articles.