Post by MXB on Aug 29, 2006 7:58:13 GMT -5
Court hears appeal for confessed serial killer in 1979 slaying
Brian Charlton / Associated Press
DETROIT -- A confessed serial killer convicted in a murder case brought by Michigan prosecutors to keep him from getting out of prison in Texas deserves a new trial, a lawyer argued Thursday.
Coral Eugene Watts, 52, was found guilty in 2004 of stabbing 36-year-old Helen Dutcher to death in a Detroit suburb in 1979. He was given the mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Watts' lawyer Gary Kohut told a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals that the scene of Dutcher's slaying was unfairly recreated for the trial. He also said the judge allowed the jury to hear too many gruesome details about other murders that Watts previously had confessed to.
The Michigan Attorney General's office argued against a new trial for Watts, saying the details were important to establish a pattern of behavior and that visiting the scene was not feasible because the home involved had been demolished.
The judges didn't indicate when they would rule.
Watts was due to be released from a Texas prison in spring 2006.
He had received immunity for 12 killings -- 11 in Texas and one in Michigan -- as part of a 1982 deal with Texas prosecutors that led to a 60-year sentence for burglary with intent to murder. But mandatory release laws and an appeals court ruling lopped more than 35 years off his sentence.
Police had suspected Watts in Dutcher's death for years, but never charged him because they assumed he would have been in his 80s if he ever got out of prison in Texas.
Law enforcement officials in Michigan, Texas and Canada suspect Watts in the slayings of dozens of other women. Watts had told authorities he would kill again if he ever got out of prison.
Brian Charlton / Associated Press
DETROIT -- A confessed serial killer convicted in a murder case brought by Michigan prosecutors to keep him from getting out of prison in Texas deserves a new trial, a lawyer argued Thursday.
Coral Eugene Watts, 52, was found guilty in 2004 of stabbing 36-year-old Helen Dutcher to death in a Detroit suburb in 1979. He was given the mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Watts' lawyer Gary Kohut told a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals that the scene of Dutcher's slaying was unfairly recreated for the trial. He also said the judge allowed the jury to hear too many gruesome details about other murders that Watts previously had confessed to.
The Michigan Attorney General's office argued against a new trial for Watts, saying the details were important to establish a pattern of behavior and that visiting the scene was not feasible because the home involved had been demolished.
The judges didn't indicate when they would rule.
Watts was due to be released from a Texas prison in spring 2006.
He had received immunity for 12 killings -- 11 in Texas and one in Michigan -- as part of a 1982 deal with Texas prosecutors that led to a 60-year sentence for burglary with intent to murder. But mandatory release laws and an appeals court ruling lopped more than 35 years off his sentence.
Police had suspected Watts in Dutcher's death for years, but never charged him because they assumed he would have been in his 80s if he ever got out of prison in Texas.
Law enforcement officials in Michigan, Texas and Canada suspect Watts in the slayings of dozens of other women. Watts had told authorities he would kill again if he ever got out of prison.