Jury deliberates whether to recommend death penalty for convicted killer Scott Lamar Abbott
Twelve people are meeting in Bessemer today to decide whether to recommend the death penalty for Scott Lamar Abbott, who was convicted Friday of stabbing and slashing four people to death in a Hueytown house last year.
The jury started deliberating about 11 a.m. after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense.
One of Abbott's defense attorneys asked the jury to recommend Abbott spend the rest of his life in prison without a chance for parole.
He encouraged the jury to consider that Abbott had no significant criminal record prior to the Hueytown slayings and that Abbott spent his childhood in the child welfare system and endured sexual abuse and maternal abuse. He also asked the jury to consider Abbott's self-mutilation and attempts at suicide.
The defense attorney quoted the Bible and Martin Luther King Jr., arguing for mercy and forgiveness.
A prosecutor told the jury it's not their role to decide whether Abbott deserves forgiveness. That's up to God and the families of the victims, he said. The jury's duty is to weigh the evidence to decide whether they should recommend the state kill Abbott, the prosecutor said.
Circuit Judge Mac Parsons will take the jury's recommendation into consideration in deciding Abbott's sentence but is not bound by the jury's recommendation.
Abbott, who attacked a Jefferson County sheriff's deputy Saturday night, came into the courtroom this morning in his orange jail clothes wearing shackles on his hands and feet, a chain around his waist and an electronic ankle bracelet. He went into another room, where he changed into a shirt and tie and had all restraints removed except for his electronic ankle bracelet. The jury never saw him in shackles.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/10/...her_to_re.html
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