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CNN Live Today

Jury Handed Case of Two Boys Charged With Beating Father to Death

Aired September 06, 2002 - 12:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In Pensacola, Florida, another jury has just been handed the case of two young boys, charged with beating their father to death with a bat. It is the second trial in this case. The first involved a man the boys say is the killer.
CNN's Mark Potter is at the courthouse now with more -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

The jury got the case actually about two hours ago, and they began their deliberations. We have seen them once since then. They came back into the courtroom, asking to see an autopsy photo, but they were told that it had not been entered into evidence, so they would not get a chance to see it, and they went back into the courtroom, into the jury room. Now the two boys, Alex and Derek King are charged with first degree or premeditated murder, for allegedly beating their father to death with a baseball bat. They are also accused of arson.

The jurors were told that they could also if they did not believe that they committed first degree murder, they could find them guilty of lesser charges, second degree murder or manslaughter.

In closing arguments, the prosecutor said the boys confessed last November with the tales that only killer would have known, and he urged the jury not to be influenced by a motion, and by the youthful ages of the defendants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID RIMMER, PROSECUTOR: Ladies and gentlemen on November 26th, the work Derek and Alex was not pure and it was not right. You should judge them by their actions, not their ages, by their intent, not by your emotions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now later, the boys would recant confessions, and they said they were manipulated by 40-year-old Ricky Chavis, the man the defense claims actually killed their father. Chavis, a convicted pedophile, was family friend. He spent time with the boys. He is also actually charged by the state in another case, with having sex with Alex, the younger brother.

In their closing arguments, the defense attorneys criticized the murder investigation for being incomplete, and they told the jury that there was no credible forensic evidence linking the boys to the murder scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES STOKES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Did the state prove beyond and to exclusion of every reasonable doubt that my client, the then 12- year-old Alex King, was a principal in murder? And did the state prove that he committed arson?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now in a most unusual legal move, Chavis was indicted and tried separately on exactly the same charges facing the boy That trial ended last week. There was a verdict, but it was sealed. We will not know that verdict until the verdict comes in, in this case, involving the two boys.

If anyone is convicted of first-degree murder, they would face automatically a life prison term -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, Mark, how is the judge going to reveal the two verdicts in the two different trials?

POTTER: Well, they are going to have one and then the other. The verdict will come in involving the boys. That will be completed. They will clear the courtroom, and then they will bring Chavis and his attorneys and the people associated with that case in, and then they'll read that verdict. It'll all happen the same day.

PHILLIPS: All right, Mark Potter, in Pensacola. Thanks, Mark.

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