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Decision Day?
Today is (hopefully) the day that the trial of Michael King will finally end, and the jury will hand down their decision as to whether or not King should pay for his crime with his life. I have total faith that the jury will have seen through all the nonsense that the defense put up there, and give him the death penalty. And if Carolyn Schlemmer is dumb enough to get up in front of the jury and say that there is not sufficient evidence that Denise suffered pain and/or mental anguish, that will seal the case. I understand that it’s her job to try and defend this monster, but I still don’t understand how she sleeps at night.
UPDATE: Jury expected to decide King’s fate Friday
By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
North Port Community News EditorSARASOTA — In her closing argument today in the penalty phase of the Michael King murder trial, Assistant Public Defender Carolyn Schlemmer likely will argue the state hasn’t proved Denise Amber Lee was killed in an especially “heinous, atrocious and cruel manner,” and that she didn’t “profoundly suffer” after being shot in the head in January 2008.
The jury is expected to deliberate on King’s fate today after attorneys present their closing arguments and 12th Circuit Judge Deno Economou gives them instructions. The judge will give their recommendation great weight in his decision.
King, 38, faces the death penalty after being convicted one week ago of the kidnapping, rape and murder of the 21-year-old North Port mother of two young sons.
After Economou dismissed jurors Thursday at the Sarasota County courthouse, Schlemmer, one of King’s three lawyers, and Assistant State Attorney Lon Arend argued whether the state had proved its four death penalty requirements — that the murder occurred during the commission of the kidnapping; that the murder was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner; that King had avoided a lawful arrest; and that it was committed in a heinous manner.
“There is no strong proof of witness elimination,” Schlemmer said, adding “no one heard King say to Lee, ‘I’m going to kill you now.’ We do not know what happened. The last time we know what Mr. King was doing was at 6:15 p.m. when he was seen by his cousin, Harold Muxlow (Jr.).”
Arend countered, saying after Lee was kidnapped, she made a desperate 911 call from King’s cell phone to try to save her life.
“We have a tape that presents the victim’s perspective,” he said.
Schlemmer said the state didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lee suffered mental anguish.
“There is absolutely no evidence from the medical examiner that there was unnecessary or prolonged suffering,” Schlemmer said, as she read several court cases to prove her point. “He never said there was suffering or pain … Speculation of what the victim went through is not enough.”
Arend said King calculated Denise’s murder by borrowing a shovel from Muxlow to dig a hole off Toledo Blade Boulevard in which to bury her. He said King also buried her clothing — the evidence of the rape.
“He made no effort to conceal himself,” Arend said. “He was seen in the car. He could have let her go after he kidnapped and raped her.”
Arend said the crime did create mental anguish, especially when Denise saw the gun pointed just above her right eyebrow.
Schlemmer said those facts did not meet the criteria for the judge to impose the death penalty. She “respectfully” disputed that Lee being shot execution-style was grounds to call it an “especially heinous, atrocious and cruel” killing under the law.
Prior to the two sides arguing, Economou held a competency hearing for King Thursday morning. King’s competency was challenged Wednesday after Arend mentioned he sits in court in a catatonic-like state.
Economou ordered two mental health experts to evaluate King overnight. After spending an hour with King, and an attorney from each side, Dr. Eddy Regnier told the judge he completed his report at 1 a.m. He found King competent. He said King remembers his childhood and details of the case quite well and denied having “any mental health issues.”
“He says he’s innocent,” Regnier said, adding King said “too many officers were against him,” and he believes the county created factitious videotapes of his nine-hour interview after he was arrested. North Port police investigators originally interviewed King on Jan. 17, 2008.
Forensic psychologist Gregory DeClue said he didn’t consider King “borderline mentally retarded,” as suggested earlier in the week by a psychiatrist. However, DeClue said King complained that he hears a nonhuman voice in his head that tells him whether or not to go to the bathroom ever since he was arrested.
“It’s not God or the devil,” DeClue said. “He believes it’s real. It distracts him. He hears it sometimes by his right ear, making it virtually impossible for him to pay attention.”
Jurors were called into court to listen to testimony from three of King’s family members.
King’s 42-year-old brother, Gary, a semi-truck operator who lives in Tennessee, told jurors he was pulling the sled that accidentally created a lifelong head injury for Michael in 1978, when he was 6.
Gary said he believed the injury caused Michael to do strange things like chase him through the house when they were teenagers with a running chain saw and cutting up his dad’s manicured trees in front of the house.
Looking at Michael, Gary recounted the incident.
“Why did you do that?” Gary said, looking at Michael instead of the jury. “Dad is going to be so mad.”
He said Michael was ghostlike and expressionless after the chain saw event.
“He never spoke of it,” Gary said. “I never told my parents about it. I didn’t want to get Michael in trouble.”
King’s other brother, Rodney, 36, said he spent plenty of time with Michael, who said he saw ghosts sometimes.
He said when they were younger, King convinced him there were “witches” in the woods where they rode their bikes. They had to cut trees down to make the witches go away.
He also said that in 2007, King was still showing signs of paranoia after spending time in the woods looking for the wolves that were chasing him.
Outside the courtroom, Denise’s mother, Susan Goff, said she believes King’s low IQ doesn’t excuse what he did to her daughter.
“A lot of people have a low IQ, but they don’t harm people,” she said.
E-mail: eallen@sun-herald.com
This heinous crime is beyond belief and the perpetrator warrants to lose his life for what he chose to do with deadly premeditation. The evidence is overwhelming and the defense had no recourse to mitigate this crime. I was not impressed with the performance of Assistant Public Defender Carolyn Schlemmer who seemed to come across more like an android than a human being. I wished that the judge had admonished her to cease saying, “okay” after the replies of people testifying since this became quite annoying. The defense of a childhood injury never completely validated never passed the basic test of validity and Dr. Wu’s testimony was destroyed by the state prosecutor. My heart goes out to the family of Denise for they will have to live with their grief for all time. Michael King derves the ultimate sacrifice and I am confident that the jury will do the right thing.
The Sarasota, FL jury voted 12 to 0 to sentence Michael King to death after deliberating about two hours.
It’s gratifying to see a jury of everyday people make the correct decision. Kudos to this Florida jury who were able to sort the wheat from the chaff!
The 21 year old victim was happily married and a mother. Her father is a police detective. In lieu of lethal injection, in order to expedite elimination of this convicted dirt bag, I vote to turn over the perpetrator to the victim’s family for justice as soon as the judge ratifies the jury decision.
In this case which I have followed closely, the evidence is beyond reproach that the perpetrator kidnapped, raped, and murdered Denise Amber Lee.