Posted on 11/05/2002 1:53:48 PM PST by Conagher
Reginald Carr watches as the jury is polled on their verdict in his murder trial, Monday, Nov. 4, 2002, in Wichita, Kan. Reginald, along with his brother, Jonathan, were found guilty of four counts of capital murder for the execution-style killing of four people two years ago in a soccer field. (AP Photo/Dave Williams, POOL)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Defense attorneys pleaded with jurors Tuesday to show mercy on two brothers who were convicted of five killings, including a quadruple murder of friends who were forced to engage in sex acts before each was shot in the head.
Reginald Carr, 24, and Jonathan Carr, 22, did not show any visible reaction when they were convicted Monday after a nearly two-month trial. On Tuesday, jurors began considering whether they should be sentence to death or to life in prison.
"We accept your verdict. We understand it. We respect what you have done in this case," Jay Greeno, an attorney for Reginald Carr, said in his opening statement in the penalty phase.
Defense attorney Ron Evans told jurors Jonathan Carr had no serious involvement with the law before the crime spree. And both attorneys said the brothers had a troubled childhood.
"This was a very dysfunctional family — they fought, they drank, they drugged in front of the kids," Evans said.
Prosecutors, who argued that the defendants were motivated by greed and lust, told jurors that the two should be put to death.
In December 2000, prosecutors said, the men entered a Wichita home and forced two women and three men inside to engage in sexual acts with each other and to withdraw money from ATMs.
The women were repeatedly raped before all five friends were taken to a soccer field, forced to kneel in the snow and shot in the back of the head.
The Carrs were convicted of capital murder in the deaths of four of them: Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26; and Heather Muller, 25.
"I ask you to extend mercy to Reginald Carr that he did not extend to those four individuals," Greeno said to jurors Tuesday.
The fifth friend, then a 25-year-old teacher, survived the shooting and ran bleeding and naked through the snow to seek help. She identified the Carr brothers as the assailants and testified how she remembered her boyfriend, Befort, beg "Please, no," as the shooting began.
The brothers were also convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting of Wichita symphony cellist Ann Walenta, also in December 2000.
During the main phase of the trial, lawyers for each of the brothers sought to blame the other. Jonathan Carr's attorney said Reginald was the leader in the quadruple murder. Reginald Carr's attorney contended that most DNA evidence pointed to Jonathan.
More than 850 pieces of evidence were introduced and 97 witnesses testified.
After Monday's verdict, the victims' relatives hugged one another, as well as prosecutors and an investigator who worked on the case.
"This should not happen in Wichita," Detective Ken Landwehr said outside of court. "That scene ... was a war, rather than anything else. It belonged in Bosnia."
The case has become a rallying cry for white supremacists groups across the nation because the defendants are black while the victims were white. But prosecutors did not cite racial hatred as a motive.
Why? What earns them the right to ask for mercy? What claim can they make on our consciences that would incite us to compassion?
I have less sympathy for this garbage than I would for a rabid dog. The dog can't help the way it behaves.
Here is this mornings thread from The Wichita Eagle: GUILTY - Now jury decides if they will live or die [Wichita Massacre]
Instead of roasting them over a very slow barbeque, let's just pour gas on 'em and light 'em off.
< /sarcasm >
Crimes this ugly and brutal do not deserve mercy. They deserve swift, severe and well-publicized punishment.
How did he say this with a straight face?
I've never served on a jury, but would have NO problem voting to toast these two animals.
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