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Thread: Jury Sentences Dexter Lewis to LWOP in 2012 CO Murders of Five

  1. #21
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Denver jury hears about abusive childhood of bar killer facing death penalty

    DENVER — A Denver jury heard more details Wednesday about the abusive childhood of a man facing the death penalty for killing five people in a botched bar robbery.

    The mother of Dexter Lewis sobbed on the stand as she described beating her son and how he witnessed bloody fights between his parents.

    Lewis was convicted of murder Aug. 10 for stabbing five people to death three years ago.

    The jury is now considering the death penalty for Lewis, who prosecutors say went to Fero's Bar and Grill with three other men and led the attack. Two other men have been sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.

    The jury now is hearing testimony brought by Lewis' defense team as it tries to spare his life.

    Lewis' mother broke down in tears multiple times as she told jurors about his earliest years.

    Tammesa Jones described beating the boy with a metal 5-pound barbell. Jones said she once struck him in the back of his head until he lost consciousness.

    "I thought I killed him," said Jones, who repeatedly looked at her son in the courtroom. Lewis kept his eyes downcast, wiping away tears with a handkerchief, and didn't look back at his mother.

    Jones also spoke about how Lewis witnessed her own physical and sexual abuse at the hands of men.

    One day, she said, Lewis' father threw a knife at her in front of the boy because he didn't like the way she chopped tomatoes for tacos she was cooking. The knife severed an artery in her arm, causing 10-month-old Dexter to be covered in blood.

    "He crawled to me and was just grabbing my leg," Jones said through sobs. "He knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was."

    It was the third day of testimony about Lewis' abusive childhood. Jurors will decide after the defense team finishes arguments whether to sentence Lewis to life in prison or to proceed to the final part of Colorado's lengthy death-penalty sentencing phase. In the final phase, victims' relatives would talk about how their lives have been affected by the crime.

    Prosecutors say Lewis went to the bar with three other men in October 2012 and stabbed the bar's owner, Young Suk Fero, 53, and four customers — Daria M. Pohl, 21, of Denver; Kellene Fallon, 44, of Denver; Ross Richter, 29, of Overland Park, Kansas; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, of Denver.

    Brothers Joseph and Lynell Hill pleaded guilty under deals with prosecutors and received lengthy sentences. The fourth man, Demarea Harris, was a confidential informant at the time for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and reported the slayings to authorities. He was never charged in the case.

    Harris and Lynell Hill testified that Lewis stabbed all five people. Joseph Hill refused to testify.

    Lewis allegedly told his cellmate that he had to kill everyone in the bar because they'd seen his face as he killed the first victim.

    If sentenced to death, Lewis would become the first person sentenced to death by a Denver jury since 1986, and the fourth person on Colorado's death row.

    Colorado has not executed anyone since 1997.

    Earlier this month, a separate jury in suburban Arapahoe County rejected the death penalty for another mass murderer — Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes, who killed 12 people in the 2012 attack.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...r-Bar-Killings

  2. #22
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Denver Bar Killer Dexter Lewis Will Be Sentenced to Life

    Jurors have spared Denver bar killer Dexter Lewis the death penalty, and he will instead be sentenced to life in prison.

    The jury made its decision Thursday. It is the second time in a month that a Colorado jury has decided against execution for a mass killer.

    Lewis was convicted Aug. 10 of five counts of murder for stabbing five people to death in a bar robbery in October 2012 that netted $170.

    Prosecutors said Lewis led a four-man robbery crew at Fero's Bar and Grill. He killed the bar's owner and four customers. Two of the men at the robbery testified that Lewis, 25, went down a line stabbing his victims while they were held at gunpoint.

    "He simply went down the line, not caring about them, not showing any of them any mercy," prosecutor Matt Wenig told jurors when they began considering execution for Lewis.

    The bar was set ablaze before the men fled.

    Lewis' defense carefully detailed his abusive childhood, which included Lewis watching his father brutally treat his mother and taking beatings and verbal abuse of his own.

    His mother, Tammesa Jones, described beating the boy while she abused drugs and alcohol.

    "I'd hit him with a belt, hit him with my fists. ... I would hit him all over," Jones said, breaking down in tears. "I hit him, probably like, every day."

    Killed in the robbery were the bar's owner, Young Suk Fero, 53, and four customers — Daria M. Pohl, 21, of Denver; Kellene Fallon, 44, of Denver; Ross Richter, 29, of Overland Park, Kansas; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, of Denver.

    Brothers Joseph and Lynell Hill pleaded guilty to murder under deals with prosecutors and received lengthy sentences. The fourth man, Demarea Harris, was a confidential informant at the time for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and reported the slayings to authorities. He was never charged in the case.

    Harris and Lynell Hill testified that Lewis stabbed all five people. Joseph Hill refused to testify.

    Earlier this month, a separate jury in suburban Arapahoe County rejected the death penalty for another mass murderer — Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes, who killed 12 people.

    In the Holmes case, the defense argued not that Holmes was abused as a boy but that he was mentally ill.

    Under Colorado law, juries must unanimously agree to impose death sentences. In this case, at least one juror sided with Lewis' defense team that his abusive childhood was a mitigating factor in the case.

    No Denver jury has sentenced someone to death since 1986.

    Colorado has not executed anyone since 1997.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/d...-life-33369154
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  3. #23
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
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    Colorado sucks....Kill 5 and they keep him alive.....

  4. #24
    Senior Member Member OperaGhost84's Avatar
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    The die was cast with Holmes. There's frankly no reason to even bother seeking the Death Penalty in Denver. Those Liberals are just impregnable. And now they're stoned too.
    I am vehemently against Murder. That's why I support the Death Penalty.

  5. #25
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Fero's Bar & Grill killer will be formally sentenced in Denver

    Victims' families have a chance to address the court during Dexter Lewis sentencing

    By Jordan Steffen
    The Denver Post

    A Denver judge on Wednesday will formally impose a life sentence for the man convicted of stabbing and killing five people to death in a Denver bar.

    In August, a Denver jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision during deliberations in the second stage of the death penalty hearing for Dexter Lewis. As a result, Lewis will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Lewis, 25, was convicted in the attack at Fero's Bar & Grill that left five people dead in October 2012.

    Young Suk Fero, 63; Daria M. Pohl, 21; Kellene Fallon, 44; Ross Richter, 29; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, were killed in the attack.

    The jury convicted Lewis of 10 counts of first-degree murder, five counts of robbery and one count of arson.

    Lewis' sentence will be the final one handed down in connection to the attack.

    Brothers Joseph and Lynell Hill planned the robbery before Lewis joined, according to testimony during the trial. The two were charged with similar counts and accepted plea agreements.
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    Joseph Hill, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole, violated his plea agreement and refused to testify during Lewis' trial. Lynell Hill, sentenced to 70 years in prison, was the first witness called and testified that Lewis fatally stabbed all five victims.

    A fourth man connected to the crime, Demarea Harris, also testified during the trial. Harris was working as a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at the time of the attack and reported it to his handlers hours later.

    He was never charged or arrested in the case.

    The victims' families will have an opportunity to address Denver District Judge John Madden IV on Wednesday.

    Madden will decide whether Lewis serves his five life sentences — one for each victim — consecutively or concurrently.

    Lewis and his family will also have an opportunity to speak.

    The hearing is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. in Denver District Court.

    http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28...ll-be-formally

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