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American Morning

Jury to Begin Deliberations in King Case

Aired September 06, 2002 - 09:02   ET

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

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: About an hour from now, a jury in the Florida panhandle gets some instructions from a judge. Then they will begin deliberations in a very bizarre trial of Alex and Derek King. These are two young brothers accused of murdering their father.
Mark Potter is standing by in Pensacola to kind of walk us through the drill the jury might go through a little bit later today -- good morning, Mark. This one has more twists and turns than any case I can remember recently.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It is a very difficult case. When the jurors begin their deliberations, they are going to have some tough choices to make between the two theories of the case, and also over whether there is enough evidence to prove it.

The prosecution claims that Alex and Derek King, ages 13 and 14 now, beat their father to death with a baseball bat and then set their house on fire. In closing arguments, the prosecutor said that in their confessions last November, the boys knew too many details to not be involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID RIMMER, ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: He is very, very specific, he is talking about what Derek did. He says he hits him with the bat the first time. Sounds like wood cracking or hitting concrete or something.

Question: what are you doing when Derek is hitting him with the bat? I was just standing there, watching him. And, of course, absorbing these details.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: The boys would later recant those confessions, and now blame 40-year-old Ricky Chavis for killing their father. Chavis is a family friend who spent time with the boys, and who is actually accused of having sex with the younger brother, Alex.

In their closing statements, defense attorneys said there is no credible forensic evidence linking the boys to that very bloody crime scene. They also said the police investigation was less than thorough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES STOKES, ALEX KING'S ATTORNEY: There were nine different stories that Ricky Chavis told concerning this, that the latest and greatest version that he is telling has the boys within minutes of having done this, crawl across the backseat of Chavis's car, and crawl into the trunk. And yet, there was not one strand of DNA found in that truck. There was not one piece of evidence, physical evidence, that was found there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now, in a most unusual legal move, Chavis was indicted and tried separately on the very same murder charges facing the boys. The verdict in his trial is sealed, and will not be announced until we get a verdict here in the case of the two boys. If there is a conviction, it will lead to an automatic life prison term, even for the two boys, who are in their early teens -- Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: So you could end up with a situation, once this other verdict is sealed, where three people will be accused of the same murder?

POTTER: Convicted of same murder.

ZAHN: Excuse me, convicted. Yes.

POTTER: Absolutely, and that is what bedevils a lot of legal folks around and leads people here to talk about the automatic nature not only of the sentence, but of an appeal.

ZAHN: Mark Potter. Thanks so much for the update. We'll be staying tuned to see what those very specific jury instructions are, and how those deliberations might go.

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