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CNN Live Saturday

King Brothers Convicted of Second Degree Murder

Aired September 07, 2002 - 17:08   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, on to Florida and the latest on the separate trials in the murder of 40-year-old Pensacola resident Terry King. King's sons have been convicted of second degree murder, while the man whom the boys accused of killing their father was found not guilty by a different jury. As Mark Potter reports, the verdict may be in, but the arguing is just heating up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury find as follows as to count one of the indictment. Guilty of second degree murder, a lesser included offense, without a weapon.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jurors who convicted brothers Alex and Derek King of second degree murder and arson say they were stunned by the acquittal of Ricky Chavis in a separate trial. The prosecution argued the two teenagers beat their father to death and set his house on fire. But the defense claimed the real killer was Chavis, a family friend and convicted child molester. In an announcement after trial that surprised the prosecution, the jury agreed.

LYNNE SCHWARZ, JURY FOREWOMAN: We came up with a scenario that he was -- heard Ricky Chavis come into the house, we'd figured he went to get out of the chair. He hit him, he hit him, knocked him back into the chair, and then hit him on the head.

POTTER: Because the jurors felt the two boys only helped set up the killing, they convicted them of second degree murder, rather than first degree. Chavis, in an unusual legal move, was tried by a different jury on the same murder charges and was found not guilty.

Legal experts harshly criticized the prosecution for arguing the cases separately.

KENDALL COFFEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: It was wrong in the sense of fairness, and it was certainly wrong in the sense of a prosecutor's duty to not hedge bets, not place bets on two different horses in the same race.

POTTER: Jurors in the boys' trial argue the cases belong together. Prosecutor David Rimmer says he had to try the cases separately, in part because Chavis wouldn't agree to a joint trial. He also says he didn't get to argue the case he wanted in the Chavis trial, that the boys killed their father with Chavis' help. DAVID RIMMER, PROSECUTOR: I wanted to argue to Chavis' jury that he helped, he motivated, he assisted, he encouraged them, but the judge ruled I didn't have enough evidence to proceed on that theory.

POTTER: Rimmer also said it would have been much harder to convict the boys of murder if Chavis was tried with them.

RIMMER: If I tried all three of them together, you've got the two boys, those angelic appearances, you know, they look like little choir boys, they're sitting there, and you have Chavis sitting there, who looks like the child molester that he is.

POTTER (on camera): Despite his acquittal, Chavis remains in jail facing two other charges, accessory after the fact and evidence tampering in the murder case, and improper sexual behavior with Alex King, the 13-year-old boy now facing sentencing here with his older brother.

Mark Potter, CNN, Pensacola, Florida.

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