Post by sclcookie on May 31, 2006 2:27:16 GMT -5
Penalty arguments heard in Bellamy case
Calling convicted Jermaine Bellamy mentally retarded who suffered brain damage at birth, public defender Mark Lanning pleaded with a jury this morning to spare his client's life.
"He is borderline mentally retarded with an I.Q. of 75," Lanning said, adding that doctors damaged Bellamy's brain when they used forceps in the delivery.
"He is 24 years old but he has the emotional age of 13. He was forced to learn right from wrong through the prison of a brain-damaged mind," Lanning said.
The same jury that convicted Bellamy last week of killing a Palm Bay woman and her unborn child in 2002, will issue a sentencing recommendation to Judge Tonya Rainwater.
Bellamy and Willie Nowell broke into a private residence on June 15, 2002 and ransacked the home. When the couple who lived there - Kelvis Smith and Michelle Gill - arrived, they were bound and shoved into a closet where they were shot multiple times execution-style.
Police believed the shootings stemmed from an April 2002 shooting incident in Palm Bay in which Nowell and Bellamy were wounded. Nowell was shot in the upper groin; Bellamy in the lower abdomen. All 3 men were believed to be connected to drug dealing.
Smith survived the shootings and identified Bellamy and Nowell as the killers. Nowell was convicted and sentenced to death late last year.
Assistant State Attorney Rob Parker, who prosecuted the case, called the killings "cold, calculated and pre-meditated."
Often during his closing argument Parker stood directly beside Bellamy who leaned back in his chair at the defense table showing no emotion.
"By his voluntary actions Mr. Bellamy has forfeited his right to live among us," he said. "I argue to you in the strongest fashion that he deserves nothing less than to lose his life for the killing of Michelle Gill."
Nowell was found guilty of the murder late last year and was sentenced to die. If given the death penalty, Bellamy would become the 13th Brevard County resident on death row.
(source: Florida Today)
Calling convicted Jermaine Bellamy mentally retarded who suffered brain damage at birth, public defender Mark Lanning pleaded with a jury this morning to spare his client's life.
"He is borderline mentally retarded with an I.Q. of 75," Lanning said, adding that doctors damaged Bellamy's brain when they used forceps in the delivery.
"He is 24 years old but he has the emotional age of 13. He was forced to learn right from wrong through the prison of a brain-damaged mind," Lanning said.
The same jury that convicted Bellamy last week of killing a Palm Bay woman and her unborn child in 2002, will issue a sentencing recommendation to Judge Tonya Rainwater.
Bellamy and Willie Nowell broke into a private residence on June 15, 2002 and ransacked the home. When the couple who lived there - Kelvis Smith and Michelle Gill - arrived, they were bound and shoved into a closet where they were shot multiple times execution-style.
Police believed the shootings stemmed from an April 2002 shooting incident in Palm Bay in which Nowell and Bellamy were wounded. Nowell was shot in the upper groin; Bellamy in the lower abdomen. All 3 men were believed to be connected to drug dealing.
Smith survived the shootings and identified Bellamy and Nowell as the killers. Nowell was convicted and sentenced to death late last year.
Assistant State Attorney Rob Parker, who prosecuted the case, called the killings "cold, calculated and pre-meditated."
Often during his closing argument Parker stood directly beside Bellamy who leaned back in his chair at the defense table showing no emotion.
"By his voluntary actions Mr. Bellamy has forfeited his right to live among us," he said. "I argue to you in the strongest fashion that he deserves nothing less than to lose his life for the killing of Michelle Gill."
Nowell was found guilty of the murder late last year and was sentenced to die. If given the death penalty, Bellamy would become the 13th Brevard County resident on death row.
(source: Florida Today)