Kimberly Vo
The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday it is seeking the death penalty against a man accused of beating the mother of his child to death with a hammer last year.
Derrick Wayne Stith, 25, is the fifth defendant among four pending cases in which prosecutors have requested jurors have the option to consider capital punishment.
Stith is charged with first-degree murder over the Nov. 25 death of 21-year-old Kimberly Vo, whom he’s accused of striking with a framing-style hammer at least 50 times inside the couple’s midtown Tulsa apartment.
A bill of particulars filed Monday morning — the same day as Stith’s trial court arraignment — alleges Vo died in a manner that was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel and that there exists the probability Stith would be a continuing threat to society. The case has been assigned to District Judge Sharon Holmes.
Preliminary hearing testimony in March revealed Stith spoke on jailhouse phone calls about his hopes that his case would be reduced to manslaughter and that he lied to authorities about being under the influence of drugs when Vo was attacked.
Tulsa Police Detective Justin Ritter testified that the injuries in the case are “definitely the worst I’ve ever seen” from a beating.
Ritter said a hammer recovered from the apartment had a pattern that matched marks observed on Vo’s body.
Last year, the state filed its intent to seek the death penalty against Gregory Epperson for his alleged role in the strangulation death of 19-year-old Kelsey Tennant in March 2017. Epperson’s case is scheduled for a jury trial Dec. 3 before District Judge Doug Drummond.
A separate death penalty case against Jacky Mayfield related to a double homicide at Chamberlain Park in June 2016 has a trial date set for Jan. 7 before District Judge James Caputo.
Prosecutors also have sought the maximum punishment against Gerald Lowe and Michaela Riddle in connection with the gang-related beating death of 23-year-old Courtney Palmer in November 2016. That case, also assigned to Holmes’ courtroom, will go before a jury April 22.
https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/cour...033c51169.html
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