Victims diverge on death penalty
Toolbox
By Alan J. Keays Rutland Herald - Published: May 18, 2005
Sheila Rockwell lost her son seven years ago and was severely injured herself when a pipe bomb delivered to her son exploded in her Fair Haven home.
William Gregory of North Clarendon picked up a hitchhiker on Route 4 in Woodstock nearly four years ago. The hitchhiker, who later was found to be a triple-murder suspect, shoved a knife in Gregory's face and ordered him to take a dirt road away from the highway so he could kill him and steal his car.
Gregory escaped, jumping out of the vehicle. The man took off in the vehicle and was later arrested.
The two Vermonters say the upcoming death penalty trial in Vermont of Donald Fell has brought back memories of the capital punishment cases they were involved in as victims.
Rockwell, 59, and Gregory, 43, also hold differing views on the death penalty. Rockwell strongly opposes it and Gregory supports it, and their feelings reflect the divergent views that swirl around the issue.
"I don't really think anybody has the right to take someone else's life," Rockwell said, adding that a sentence of life behind bars without the possibility of parole is a harsher sentence than death. "(The death penalty) is the easy way out."
Gregory has a different opinion.
"When I was raised, there was nobody worth killing and then, with me, when something like what happened to me comes up and alters your life, you have to change your way of thinking," he said. "When you've got a crazed killer waving a knife at your throat and your chest, it happens."
Chris Dean, the Indiana man who sent the pipe bomb to Rockwell's home, and Gary Lee Sampson, the hitchhiker who later admitted killing three people before threatening Gregory with the knife in Vermont, both ended up charged with crimes that carry the death penalty.
Vermont abolished the death penalty in the 1960s, but the U.S. government has the authority to execute people charged with certain federal crimes. The last person to face the death penalty in Vermont was Dean, an Indiana truck driver who sent a fatal package bomb to Christopher Marquis in Fair Haven in 1998.
Dean avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to a charge of transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce, and was sentenced to serve life in prison. Sampson was sentenced to death in 2003 in federal court in Massachusetts for two of the killings.
Fell is facing the death penalty in federal court in Vermont for his role in allegedly carjacking Teresca King, 53, of North Clarendon in Rutland and then killing her in New York State. It is the first death penalty trial in Vermont in nearly 50 years.
Jury selection in the case is under way in U.S. District Court in Burlington, with a trial to start once a 12-member jury and additional alternates are seated.
Social activists, including the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, are planning a vigil for noon today outside the federal court building in Burlington.
Rockwell said that she would like to attend the noontime vigil today, but isn't sure she can make it.
She still is being treated for injuries to her leg and arms caused by the pipe explosion that ripped through her home, she said.
"I live with it every day," Rockwell said.
Rockwell said that in the case involving Dean, prosecutors sought out her feeling on the death penalty before striking a plea deal, which ultimately spared his life.
"I said I don't really want to see him get anything less than 40 years," Rockwell said she told prosecutors.
She also said she did not want to see him get the death penalty.
"Why not watch him suffer in jail," Rockwell said.
King's family has lobbied in favor of the death penalty in Fell's case, arguing that brutal nature of the case warrants capital punishment.
Fell and the late Robert Lee were arrested in 2000 and charged with going on an alleged crack-cocaine induced killing spree that led to the death of three people, including Fell's own mother and another man in Rutland.
Federal prosecutors have taken jurisdiction in King's case because Fell and Lee allegedly carjacked and kidnapped King as she arrived to work in Rutland early on the morning of Nov. 27, 2000, driving her across state lines into New York, and beating her to death as she pleaded for her life.
Fell and Lee were arrested three days later driving in King's car in Arkansas. Fell has been incarcerated since his arrest. Lee hanged himself in a prison cell in September 2001
Rockwell said her heart goes out of the King family
"I know what it's like," she said, "but the death penalty won't bring a loved one back."
Gregory said he hasn't spoken to the King family, but if he could, he would tell them they have his support, too.
"I feel really bad for them," Gregory said, adding that he agrees with their call for the death penalty in the Fell case. "Obviously, it's justifiable in (Fell's) case. It's a waste of money to incarcerate him for the rest of his life."
Sampson received the death sentence in a federal court in Massachusetts in December 2003 after his conviction on carjacking and murder charges in the killings Jonathan Rizzo, 19, and Philip McCloskey, 69, in July 2001 so he could take their vehicles.
Sampson is the first person in Massachusetts to receive a death sentence under the current federal penalty law. The last execution in Massachusetts took place in 1947.
Minutes after Gregory pulled over his 1989 maroon Chrysler convertible in August 2001 and let Sampson in, Sampson pulled out a knife, ordering Gregory to pull off the highway and onto an upcoming dirt road.
Gregory said the hitchhiker then told him that he planned to tie him to a tree, kill him and take his car. Gregory was eventually able to jump from the car and flee. Sampson tried to chase him down. However, Sampson then fled in Gregory's car before he was arrested by police.
Sampson was charged with going on a knife-wielding murder spree, killing two in Massachusetts and another in New Hampshire. Gregory said he almost became the fourth murder victim.
"I think the death penalty is a fair and just punishment for those who deserve it," Gregory said.
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.
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