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Thread: Jessie Lee Dotson, Jr. - Tennessee Death Row

  1. #11
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    July 28, 2010

    Defense wants to talk to child victims in Lester Street murder case


    Defense lawyers for a man accused of killing six people and critically injuring three children on Lester Street told a judge this morning that they want access to the children before their client’s capital murder trial in September.

    Normally the defense is allowed to contact prosecution witnesses, although it is up to the witnesses whether to speak with the defense.

    In this case, the children now are 7 and 12. The third child was just 4 months old when the incident occurred in March of 2008.

    The oldest child identified the defendant, his uncle Jessie Dotson, as the lone attacker.

    State prosecutor Ray Lepone told Criminal Court Judge James Beasley Jr. that the children’s guardian has expressed concern about the children’s mental well-being if they were to be questioned by representatives of Dotson.

    Beasley told defense attorney Gerald Skahan to discuss the matter with Lepone and that if an agreement cannot be reached he will make a ruling in two weeks.

    Dotson, 35, told police he killed his brother with a shotgun during an argument and then began eliminating witnesses. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

    The capital murder trial is set for September in Memphis after a jury is brought in from Nashville/Davidson County.

    The four adult victims -- Cecil Dotson, 30; Marissa Rene Williams, 27; Hollis Seals, 33; and Shindri Roberson, 22 -- each were shot multiple times.

    The two child victims -- Cemario Dotson, 4, and Cecil Dotson II, 2, both sons of Cecil -- were stabbed and beaten to death.

    Three other children were stabbed and seriously injured, including Ceniyah Dotson, Cedric Dotson and Cecil Dotson Jr.

    Defendant Jessie Dotson, the uncle of the five children, told police he killed his brother during an argument and then began eliminating witnesses..

    Beasley also said this morning that his ruling last month banning prosecutors from showing jurors Dotson’s taped confession shown on national television was not meant to be a blanket ban.

    He said the tape from the A&E true-crime program “The First 48” could be shown under certain circumstances depending on how the trial unfolds.

    Defense attorneys say the tape was edited by Hollywood and that portions that have been discarded may have been favorable to the defense.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/jul/28/defense-wants-talk-child-victims-lester-street-mur/?partner=yahoo_feeds

  2. #12
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    September 21, 2010

    Prospective jurors still in Lester Street pool despite Titans tickets, pregnant pup

    Things that don't take precedence over possible jury duty in Memphis: having a pet expecting puppies, being a fan of "The First 48" and having season tickets for the Tennessee Titans.

    Jury duty in the Lester Street murder case, however, won't include a woman whose death penalty opinions changed after listening to a Miss Universe pageant contestant.

    "She said it was up to God to judge who gets the death penalty," a middle-aged woman told Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Beasley Jr. this morning. "I feel I'll be judged when I leave this earth. I can't condemn someone else to death. I can't do it."

    The woman was one of six prospective jurors excused from the panel of prospects who will be chosen later this week for the capital murder trial of Jessie Dotson.

    Dotson, 35, is charged in the worst mass-murder case in Memphis history - the March 2008 murders of six people, including two children, and the attempted murders of three other children. One adult was his brother, while the six children were his nephews and a niece.

    Because of the saturation news coverage of the case in Memphis, Beasley is having the 12 jurors and four alternates chosen here, where few have ever heard of the case. They will be bused to Memphis this weekend and will be sequestered for the duration of the trial which begins Monday and is expected to last up to three weeks.

    So far, 34 of the 56 questioned this week have been qualified as possible jurors. Final selections will be made later this week.

    Several prospects have said they watch the true-crime program "The First 48," an A&E network production whose crews once roamed the streets of Memphis, which they found to be a gold mine for programming.

    They accompanied police to the 722 Lester Street crime scene and devoted an entire program to the case, including Dotson's admission to police that he was responsible for the murders.

    One woman who said she is a fan of the show said she didn't recall the Lester Street case, but did remember seeing other shows involving Memphis. She said she was familiar with Memphis police detectives Tony Mullins and Caroline Mason, who were regulars.

    "I'm not star-struck, sir," said the woman who works in processing at the local sheriff's department. "I shoot straight from the hip."

    She was kept in the jury pool, as were the woman whose dog is expecting puppies any day and the man who has season tickets for the Titans.

    The judge told the man he likely has a large number of friends who would be glad to use the tickets.

    "And if you're on this jury," Beasley added, "I'll make sure they have the game on."

    The selection process resumes this afternoon at the newly renovated Davidson County Public Building and Court House.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/sep/21/lester-street-jury-selection-bumps-along-nashville/?partner=yahoo_feeds

  3. #13
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    Lester street murderer found guilty; sentence pending

    Jurors took less than two hours Monday to convict a man of murdering his brother and five others, including two young nephews, in a bloody rampage in a Memphis home two years ago.

    Jessie Dotson, 35, faces the death penalty for one of the city's worst mass slayings. He showed no emotion, looking straight ahead as the verdict was announced.

    Jurors concluded that Dotson shot and killed his brother, Cecil Dotson, during a 2008 argument and then went after everyone else in the house with his gun and a knife to eliminate witnesses.

    Three other children were stabbed but survived. One of them, Cecil Dotson Jr., now 11, was found in a bathtub with a 4½-inch knife blade embedded in his skull. He was a key prosecution witness against his uncle.
    Also killed were 4-year-old Cemario Dotson and 2-year-old Cecil Dotson Jr. II; Cecil Dotson's girlfriend, Marissa Williams; and friends Hollis Seals and Shindri Robinson.

    Defense attorney Gerald Skahan said his client wasn't happy with the verdict, but understood it, as did the defense team. The defense was disappointed in the speed of the jury, said attorney Marty McAfee.

    "I don't see how they could have looked at everything in that time," McAfee said. "They might have been thinking about as it was being put forward. Everyone in town expected this to be a whipping. Instead it was a fist fight."

    Jessie Dotson, in his testimony, blamed the attack on gang members. He said he was at the house on Lester Street, a poor and crime-ridden part of Memphis, and hid under a bed during the slayings. He said he didn't report them to police because he feared for his life.

    However, prosecutors put Dotson Jr. - who was 9 at the time of the attack - on the stand last week. He testified that "Uncle Junior" shot his father and then attacked him with a knife. Another survivor, 8-year-old Cedric Dotson, also testified against his uncle.

    "CJ solved it," said prosecutor Ray Lepone, who said the family was pleased with the verdict. "He had the courage to come in here and point out his uncle."

    More than 460 exhibits were entered into the record, including knife blades, bullet casings, and grisly color photos that show the bodies and blood-soaked walls, furniture and carpets. Experienced police officers who have testified have said the March 2, 2008, attack left a crime scene that was the most gruesome they've seen.

    It was a day later before police were called and found Dotson Jr. in the bathtub. While he was recovering at the hospital he first told police a man named Roger or Roderick attacked his family. He later told officers it was Uncle Junior, the family's name for Jessie Dotson.

    Authorities said Dotson, who served prison time for murder and was released about seven months before the killings, escaped from the house by riding off on a child's bicycle. They introduced a confession to police and said he also confessed to his mother days after the bodies were found.

    Dotson threatened suicide as the investigation progressed, saying, "They're going to put this on me," according to testimony.

    Jessie Dotson's defense contended the massacre was done by gang members angry at Cecil Dotson and were seeking to punish him for telling police that one of his fellow "Gangster Disciples" had drugs in the apartment where he was staying.

    http://media.www.utmpacer.com/media/...25-page2.shtml

  4. #14
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    October 12, 2010

    Jessie Dotson Sentenced to Death in Lester Street Murders

    A jury said convicted killer Jessie Dotson should die for his crimes. Dotson received six death penalty sentences from a jury Tuesday for each of the 6 people he killed on Lester Street in 2008. He'll soon be headed to Death Row.

    Just after 5:00 pm Tuesday, Judge James Beasley read the jury's verdict, "We the jury unanimously find the punishment for the defendant Jessie Dotson shall be death."

    No reaction from convicted killer Jessie Dotson as a jury of 9 women and 3 men sentenced him to death for each of the six people he murdered on Lester Street in 2008.

    In the hallway, the Dotson family erupted in tears.

    Earlier in the day, Jessie's sister Nicole said life or death didn't matter to them as long as Jessie never got out of prison.

    "He took 6 to 7 lives. It's up to God to decide his fate," said Nicole Dotson.

    Monday, Dotson was convicted of killing 6 people including his brother and 2 nephews, ages 2 and 4 years old. 3 other children survived stab wounds and lived to tell what happened.

    It took a jury 90 minutes to decide Dotson's guilt and just a little longer to sentence him to death.

    "When you have mass murder, all these people killed, women, children, the worst of the worst, I think any jury more than likely would come back like this jury," said prosecutor Reginald Henderson.

    The defense was admittedly more surprised with the relative speed of the verdict than the verdict itself.

    "I can't say it was totally unexpected with the aggravating factors they had the facts that they had, children involved in it, you know," said defense attorney Marty McAfee.

    Before the jury deliberated Jessie's sentence, he changed into his prison garb, prosecutors say it was a sign of defeat.

    "After being convicted of 6 counts of 1st degree murder at that point I think he was done with the process I don't think he really cared if it came back death or not and that's why he got out of his clothes, initially we thought he'd not come out at all," said Prosecutor Ray Lepone.

    Prosecutors attribute the verdicts to a number of things, including Dotson's outburst on the stand. They say they took a risk but showed the jury the "real Jessie Dotson."

    "If he's the individual who sliced up children with kitchen knives there's something inside him that he can't control and turn off and I knew I could get there," said Lepone.

    Prosecutors say the case has affected them unlike any other. They and the Dotson family vow to follow and support the three surviving children through the rest of their lives.

    "This is a miracle story on what they went through. A 2-month old laying next to her dead parents for 40 hours in a house of death is just mind boggling and this community cannot forget these kids just because this case is over," said Lepone.

    "Anything that God has for them they're going to get. They got a chance, a second chance at life," said their aunt Nicole Dotson.

    As for Jessie Dotson, a judge has scheduled lethal injection for March 2nd, 2012, the four-year anniversary of the Lester Street massacre.

    In court Jessie nodded and half smiled when the judge said, "may God have mercy on your soul."

    Jessie will be housed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville where he'll be on Death Row.

    It's also where the execution chamber is located.

    While on Death Row Dotson will be in a cell by himself. He'll be on lock down 23 hours a day and gets 1 hour of exercise.

    He'll be sentenced for the three attempted murders of the surviving children, November 12th.

    http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...street-murders

  5. #15
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    Dotson set to join 87 other inmates on death row

    Some stay there longer than their victims' entire lives.

    Last month, 12 jurors and 4 alternates from Nashville were brought to Memphis, where they convicted and sentenced Jessie Dotson last week to death for the murders of 6 men, women and children.

    Soon, Dotson will be leaving Memphis for Nashville, where he will join 87 others on death row.

    Among them will be 33 fellow Shelby County residents.

    In the past 10 years, Tennessee has carried out six executions, including three — Robert Glen Coe, Sedley Alley and Philip Workman — convicted by Shelby County juries.

    With the lengthy appeals process, 2 of them lived longer on death row than their victims lived their entire lives. Dotson, 35, who had a prior 2nd-degree murder conviction, will be among the worst of the worst, having received 6 separate death sentences.

    Paul Dennis Reid has seven death sentences for those he killed in 1997 during restaurant robberies in Nashville and Clarksville.

    Inmates sentenced to death are housed primarily at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on the west side of Nashville along the bending Cumberland River.

    One notable exception is Memphian Tony Carruthers, who has 3 death sentences and is housed at the Morgan County Correctional Complex near Knoxville because of disciplinary problems.

    Reid is there as well.

    The lone woman on death row, Christa Pike from Knoxville, is housed at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville.

    Bartlett native Gaile Owens was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder-for-hire of her husband, Ronald Owens, but this summer her sentence was commuted to life in prison by Gov. Phil Bredesen.

    The others wait.

    (Source: The Commercial Appeal)

  6. #16
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    Dotson murder trial cost nearing $450K; believed to be city's most expensive

    Justice does not come cheaply, especially when the defendant is accused of being the worst mass murderer in the city's history.

    Jessie Dotson, a previously convicted killer, was found guilty earlier this month of shooting to death his brother and three other adults, stabbing to death two small children and nearly killing three others.

    A jury imported from Nashville convicted the 35-year-old Dotson on all counts and wasted no time in giving him six death penalties.

    The trial is believed to be the most expensive in Memphis history. To date, the cost to taxpayers stands at nearly $450,000.

    More bills are pending and years of automatic appeals will have no cap on expenses.

    "People will say there was an eyewitness, why have a trial, but what if the guy'd been found innocent?" said Criminal Court Judge James Beasley Jr. "Do we put a price tag on the freedoms we have in our country? Is there a price tag for the justice system? When do we say that's too much?"

    The price tag included security inside and out of the courtroom, court-appointed attorneys and investigators, and sequestering and feeding 16 jurors and alternates for more than two weeks.

    Allegations of gang involvement prompted a strong presence of uniform and plainclothes officers in and around the courtroom during the 14-day trial and the five-day jury selection in a Nashville courthouse.

    All involved in the mammoth trial say that security likely was the reason that the emotion-charged, six-victim capital-murder case went without incident.

    "We put months of planning into this and we pretty much had every entity involved," said Sheriff's Office acting-inspector Larry Hill. "We used staff from the court division, jail division, SWAT, Homeland Security. We were prepared for it."

    The Sheriff's Office tab came to $167,310.11, covering overtime, meals and other expenses, including those of the jury.

    Of the cost, Hill added, "This one tops them all."

    The major portion of the Dotson expense -- more than $250,000 -- was for court-appointed attorney fees and expenses for lead defense counsel Gerald Skahan, co-counsel Marty McAfee, a private investigator, a mitigation expert and an expert witness.

    Both attorneys, however, said they actually lost money on their Dotson defense work that has spanned the past 21/2 years.

    "I shut down my law practice for six weeks heading into the trial and trying the case," said Skahan, a veteran of high-profile murder cases over the past two decades. "I don't take any new cases, I don't deal with my clients and I don't make any money since I don't pick up any new clients. I will feel the effects of this trial until April or May."

    Prosecutors are paid a fixed salary regardless of the case load or number of hours worked, said Dist. Atty. Bill Gibbons. They do not receive overtime, nor do judges.

    In death-penalty cases, the state pays the lead defense counsel $100 an hour in court, $75 out of court; co-counsel receives $80 in and $60 out. In civil cases, private attorneys are paid two or three times more than that by the state, Skahan noted.

    "Where the big money is going is to big-time lawyers reviewing a contract," he said. "How hard is that? I invite any civil law firm to come try a death penalty case for 75 bucks an hour."

    McAfee said death-penalty cases, especially one with six murder victims, are more expensive to try because they are more complicated, involve so much testing and because the stakes are so high.

    "Because it's so final, they've got to spend resources," said McAfee, who, with Skahan, recently was appointed on a retrial of another death-penalty case. "We could save a lot of money by not having the death penalty in Tennessee. Life in prison is enough to break even the worst of the worst. That would be a better use of Tennessee's resources.

    "It's sensational to say, 'Bad people, big penalty,' but it's not very smart."

    The only Tennessee inmate with more death penalties than Dotson is Paul Dennis Reid of Nashville, who has seven. His taxpayer-funded legal fees now stand at $420,034.23 and counting.

    A 2004 report by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury found that capital-murder trials are nearly twice as expensive as murder trials in which prosecutors seek life without the possibility of parole.

    Capital case attorney claims for 2009-2010 indigent defense funds in Tennessee totaled $1.03 million.

    On the other hand, the comptroller report also said executions save taxpayers $773,736 in prison housing costs compared to incarcerating inmates sentenced to life without parole.

    Tennessee spends $93.33 a day to house a death-row inmate or $34,065.45 a year, according to Dorinda Carter, spokesman for the state Department of Correction.

    The cost for an inmate doing life without parole is $64.93 a day, or $23,699.45 a year.

    There are 88 inmates on death row in Tennessee, including the soon-to-arrive Dotson.

    Six inmates have been executed in the state since 2000, with an average of 22 years of appeals between sentencing and death.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...-nearing-450k/

  7. #17
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    Dotson given 120 more years in prison

    MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Jessie Dotson, who earlier was sentenced to death in a rampage that left six people dead in Memphis, has been given an additional 120 years in prison.

    Sentences of 40 years each on three counts of attempted murder were pronounced Tuesday by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Beasley, who ordered the terms to run consecutively. Beasley said Dotson should never be allowed on streets again.

    "I think we all expected the sentences to be maxxed out," defense attormey Gerald Skahan said. "There weren't any surprises today."

    The attempted murder charges relate to three children who survived the March 2008 slayings at the home of Dotson's brother, Cecil Dotson, who was one of those killed. They involved the wounding of Cecil Dotson Jr., Cedric Dotson and Ceniyah Dotson. The girl was 2 months old when the killings took place.

    Defense attorneys put up no resistance at Tuesday's sentencing, though they promised to put up a fight through an appeal, about which they were optimistic.

    "These are hard verdicts," Skahan said. "Very hard. And they're emotional as we saw through the trial. And the appeal will be emotional. This begins a long process."

    Last month, a jury handed Dotson the death penalty for the Lester Street murders. Prosecutors expect 10 to 15 years, if not more, before Dotson faces lethal injection. Should he somehow avoid the death penalty he still must serve 120 years at least.

    "It insures, regardless of what may or may not happen to the death sentences, or any other part of it, that he won't be able to walk free in society again," prosecutor Reggie Henderson said.

    Besides Jessie Dotson's brother, two nephews and three other people were shot and stabbed to death.

    http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13468935

  8. #18
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    Dotson seeks new trial in Lester Street mass murder case

    Convicted Lester Street mass murderer Jessie Dotson, who received six death sentences in October, is asking for a new trial.

    Dotson's motion for a new trial was scheduled to be heard Friday in Criminal Court, but the hearing was reset for a month to give his attorneys more time to prepare.

    In a preliminary filing, however, the defense asked Judge James Beasley Jr. to throw out Dotson's conviction and death sentence because of insufficient evidence and improper jury instructions.

    A more-detailed motion is expected to be filed before the hearing which now is set for Feb. 3.

    Dotson, 36, who had served almost 14 years in prison for a 1994 murder, was convicted of shooting to death his brother, Cecil, 30, on March 2, 2008, at 722 Lester St. and then eliminating witnesses, including Marissa Williams, 27, Shindri Roberson, 22, Hollis Seals, 33, and Cecil's children, Cemario, 4, and Cecil II, 2.

    Jessie Dotson, the children's uncle, then beat and stabbed Cecil "CJ" Jr., 9, Cedric, 5, and Ceniyah, 2 months.

    CJ, who was found with a knife protruding from his skull, and Cedric both testified that "Uncle Jessie" was the lone attacker.

    The dead and injured were left in the house for some 40 hours before they were discovered.

    A special jury from Nashville gave Dotson six death sentences for the murders and later the judge gave him an additional 120 years for the attempted murders of the three other children.

    His execution date is set for March 2, 2012, four years to the day after the murders, though a delay is a virtual certainty. Automatic appeals in death-penalty cases typically continue for more than a decade.

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...er=yahoo_feeds

  9. #19
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    Judge Denies New Trial for Jessie Dotson

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A motion for a new trial by Jessie Dotson's attorneys was denied Wednesday morning. Dotson is awaiting the death penalty for the murder of six people in the Lester Street Massacre.

    On March 3rd, 2008 a total of 9 victims were found inside a house on Lester Street. Six were dead, but three survived.

    Five days later, Jessie Dotson was arrested and charged in the case. It wasn't until October 2010 that Dotson was convicted on all 9 counts and sentenced to death for six counts of murder.

    Dotson is already set to die by lethal injection, and was sentenced to an additional 120 years in prison for the attempted murders of three children, who were ages 9, 5 and 2 months old at the time of the massacre.

    Dotson's six murder victims included his brother and 2 nephews, ages 2 and 4 years old.

    http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...-jessie-dotson

  10. #20
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    'I'm Innocent': The Jessie Dotson Interview

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. - One of the most notorious mass murderers in Memphis history is speaking out from death row.

    He was just like he was during the trial, nonchalant and dismissive. But, he also got defensive quickly. Despite 6 death penalty sentences, Jessie Dotson is confident he'll get out of prison someday.

    The interview took place on death row at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville. He's never spoken to anyone else from behind bars about the murders.

    The interview was in a cell, divided by glass. Dotson was brought in wearing shackles and remained chained for the hour-long interview.

    While he answered all of the questions, he did not want to go back through his courtroom testimony or details of what happened in the Lester Street home the night of March 2nd, 2008.

    Dotson: "It was horrifying but at the same token, what do you want me to do? It was nothing for me to do."
    Jill: "You could have called police."
    Dotson: "Could've, I didn't."
    Jill: "Why?"
    Dotson: "Because... [long pause]."

    Dotson also talked about the jury verdict, what he thinks will free him someday and the testimony that upset him the most. Surprisingly, it did not come from his 9-year old nephew who identified him as the killer.

    http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...w-rpt-20110523

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