Post by Anja on Jun 18, 2006 7:33:14 GMT -5
Man's Death Sentence Is Vermont Anomaly
A man who kidnapped a supermarket worker and killed her as she prayed for
her life was sentenced Friday to die, the first person to get the death
penalty in Vermont in almost half a century.
Donald Fell, 26, was sentenced by a federal judge who had ruled the
federal death penalty unconstitutional in Fell's case but who was
overruled. The state does not have the death penalty.
Speaking in court for the first time after years of court appearances,
Fell apologized twice in a brief statement for stomping 53-year-old Terry
King to death in November 2000 on a roadside in Dover, N.Y.
"The words are inadequate," Fell said, his voice barely audible. "I truly
am sorry for my crime. What I did was horrible and wrong. I know the
wounds will never heal. If it comes down to it in the end that I do die, I
understand that it's no less than what I deserve. I truly am sorry."
U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III imposed the sentence, which
was issued nearly a year ago by the same jury that found Fell guilty.
Sessions had ruled in 2002 that a death sentence for Fell would be
unconstitutional, but he was overturned on appeal.
King's sister, Barbara Tuttle, criticized the judge for the amount of time
that had passed between the killing and the sentencing.
"For almost 6 years this family has been held hostage by this court,"
Tuttle said.
Then she turned to Fell, saying: "There is no way you will ever comprehend
what you did to this family, not for lack of intelligence, but because you
are less than human."
Fell was the first person sentenced to death in Vermont since 1957, and no
one has been executed in the state since 1954. The state abandoned the
death penalty in the mid-1960s, although the law remained on the books for
another 20 years.
Federal prosecutors brought charges under a U.S. law that allows the death
penalty for a carjacking that results in a death. Then-U.S. Atty. Gen.
John Ashcroft rejected a plea bargain that would have given Fell life in
prison.
Death-penalty opponents who held a rally against capital punishment
Thursday appeared in the courtroom Friday and denounced the federal
government for pursuing the case.
Fell's lawyer Alexander Bunin said he did not argue against the sentence
because federal law required that it be imposed. But he filed an immediate
appeal, which he said would lead to the first direct appeal in 40 years of
the death penalty in the judicial district covering Vermont, New York and
Connecticut.
"We will continue to defend and stand by Donnie in the years ahead," Bunin
said in a statement.
(source: Associated Press)
A man who kidnapped a supermarket worker and killed her as she prayed for
her life was sentenced Friday to die, the first person to get the death
penalty in Vermont in almost half a century.
Donald Fell, 26, was sentenced by a federal judge who had ruled the
federal death penalty unconstitutional in Fell's case but who was
overruled. The state does not have the death penalty.
Speaking in court for the first time after years of court appearances,
Fell apologized twice in a brief statement for stomping 53-year-old Terry
King to death in November 2000 on a roadside in Dover, N.Y.
"The words are inadequate," Fell said, his voice barely audible. "I truly
am sorry for my crime. What I did was horrible and wrong. I know the
wounds will never heal. If it comes down to it in the end that I do die, I
understand that it's no less than what I deserve. I truly am sorry."
U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III imposed the sentence, which
was issued nearly a year ago by the same jury that found Fell guilty.
Sessions had ruled in 2002 that a death sentence for Fell would be
unconstitutional, but he was overturned on appeal.
King's sister, Barbara Tuttle, criticized the judge for the amount of time
that had passed between the killing and the sentencing.
"For almost 6 years this family has been held hostage by this court,"
Tuttle said.
Then she turned to Fell, saying: "There is no way you will ever comprehend
what you did to this family, not for lack of intelligence, but because you
are less than human."
Fell was the first person sentenced to death in Vermont since 1957, and no
one has been executed in the state since 1954. The state abandoned the
death penalty in the mid-1960s, although the law remained on the books for
another 20 years.
Federal prosecutors brought charges under a U.S. law that allows the death
penalty for a carjacking that results in a death. Then-U.S. Atty. Gen.
John Ashcroft rejected a plea bargain that would have given Fell life in
prison.
Death-penalty opponents who held a rally against capital punishment
Thursday appeared in the courtroom Friday and denounced the federal
government for pursuing the case.
Fell's lawyer Alexander Bunin said he did not argue against the sentence
because federal law required that it be imposed. But he filed an immediate
appeal, which he said would lead to the first direct appeal in 40 years of
the death penalty in the judicial district covering Vermont, New York and
Connecticut.
"We will continue to defend and stand by Donnie in the years ahead," Bunin
said in a statement.
(source: Associated Press)