http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABO ... /1149.html [excerpt]
That's just what jury members will have to decide when they begin hearing
testimony today in the case against Perry.
Perry stands accused of the October 2001 murders of 50-year-old Sandra
Stotler, her son Adam Stotler, 16, and his friend, Jeremy Richardson, 18.
Perry and co-defendant Jason Burkett, both 19 at the time of the crime
and facing charges of capital murder, punishable by death, have remained
in the Montgomery County Jail since they were arrested Oct. 30, 2001.
Perry told police that he and Burkett originally planned to spend the
night at the Stotlers' home and steal the family's red Camaro during the
night while Sandra and Adam slept. But Adam wasn't there when the
suspects, who allegedly had shotguns, arrived.
"Jason said that it would be easier to get the car with only one person
home," Perry's confession states.
Perry said they went back to the Highland Ranch home in west Montgomery
County Oct. 24, and Burkett distracted Sandra Stotler while Perry went
around to the back door through the garage.
"Once in the house, I hid in the laundry room between the kitchen and
garage," Perry wrote in his confession. "I then knocked on the back door,
and when Adam's mom came to the back door, I shot her one time in the
side near her back with the shotgun."
Perry said he and Burkett loaded the woman's body into the back of the
pickup truck they were driving and dumped the body in Crater Lake,
located near Grangerland.
The two went to pick up Burkett's girlfriend, Kristen Willis, at work,
then returned to the home to pick up the Camaro. They were unable to get
through the subdivision gate, so they waited until Adam Stotler and
Richardson came along a short time later.
That's when Perry, Burkett and Willis lured Adam Stotler and Richardson
to another nearby subdivision, where Perry said Burkett shot the 2 boys,
Richardson 1st then Adam Stotler, according to the confession.
Finally equipped with Adam's keys to the Camaro -- and the Isuzu Rodeo
Adam Stotler drove to the area where he was killed -- Perry and Burkett
returned to the Stotler home and took the Camaro, Perry said, with
Burkett driving the Rodeo and Perry the Camaro. Perry said that's when he
and Burkett "went home, smoked several cigarettes, and then got cleaned
up and went to Nite Life (a local bar)."
The 12-gauge shotgun used in the killings was stolen four days earlier
from a home in Conroe. Montgomery County Sheriff's Department deputies
later found the stolen shotgun in Adam Stotler's Rodeo with Perry and
Burkett after they became involved in a shootout with police Oct. 30 in
south Montgomery County. Burkett was shot in the confrontation, but he
recovered. Both suspects in the case have had previous run-ins with the
law after they turned 17.
Juvenile criminal histories are not accessible.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against both Perry and
Burkett, if they are convicted.
Burkett's trial date has not been set.
Testimony against Perry is expected to begin this morning in the 221st
state District Court with Judge Suzanne Stovall presiding.
(source: The Courier)
http://www.hcnonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=10485220&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532207&rfi=8
November 27, 2002
Will Suspect’s Triple Homicide Confession Be Admissible?
By Marcia Feldt Bates
“Michael ‘Romeo’ Perry is set for his capital murder trial in January and Jason Aaron Burkett soon thereafter for their alleged roles in a triple homicide last year that shocked the Conroe area,” says Sergeant Mace of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s department.
And now the games begin as Defense attorney Don Cantrell argued in court Monday of Perry never waiving his right to an attorney when he was arrested and getting treatment at Conroe Regional Medical Center. In addition, Cantrell stated, Perry was hungry, exhausted, intoxicated and injured when he wrote a confession to cold-blooded murder. Sounds like a Law and Order rerun and Jack McCoy would slice those arguments down with a few choice ‘legalese’ paragraphs before the next commercial.
On the other hand, destroying members of two families for a Camaro and Izuzu, the only apparent motive, could tend to be physically and emotionally wearing; although for these two 19 year-old men, nothing seemed to faze them. According to one statement, after the murders they headed for home, got cleaned up and went to Nite Life, a bar on Texas 105 east of Conroe.
Cathy Lazarine, the mother of Burkett’s girlfriend, recalled him driving by their apartment to show off ‘his new wheels’ and hearing him comment on ‘getting a good deal’. Neither Perry nor Burkett was new to the criminal justice system. Perry was out on bail for deadly conduct charges and possession of drugs. Burkett had two cases pending for credit card abuse and firearm theft.
This horrifying story actually began last October 24th, 2001. On that day, James Adam Stotler, 16, and Arnold Jeremy Richardson, 18, attended classes at Conroe High and Sandra Stotler, 50, a nursing assistant, helped patients at Conroe Regional Medical Center for the last time (ironically, this is where Perry wrote his confession).
Soon the evidence started dribbling in by bits and pieces. Friday afternoon, October 26th, detectives pulled over a red Camaro on Texas 105. The driver ran away, was captured a short time later, and identified himself as James Adam Stotler. After being arrested for fleeing earlier, the driver made bail and disappeared. When the fingerprint analysis came back, detectives realized that they had apprehended Perry, a fugitive from justice on outstanding warrants. So where did he get Stotler’s identification?
On Saturday afternoon, October 27th, two fishermen on Crater Lake near Grangerland reeled in a dead body. The woman, wrapped in a blanket, appeared to have been shot. Who was she and where did she come from?
By Sunday, October 28th, Sandra Stotler’s co-workers knew something was wrong. Sandra did not usually miss work and definitely not without calling. They notified police and requested they search her house in Highland Ranch Estates, west of Conroe. The house became a crime scene as soon as the officers discovered blood on the floor, walls and ceiling. Their records showed two vehicles registered to Stotler-a red Chevy Camaro and an Isuzu Rodeo. Neither was in the garage or driveway. Where was Sandra’s son, James Adam, and why wasn’t her Camaro in the garage?
Tuesday, October 30th, patrol officers located the Isuzu in a parking lot in Spring. Burkett, who was behind the wheel, saw the officers and plowed into Deputy Lee Smith. Smith was injured but managed to shoot out a tire causing Burkett to crash into a plate glass window at German Auto Center. Officers from various agencies had arrived by that time, firing at Burkett, Perry and a third individual, later found out to be Aaron Quinn Davidson, 19, as they ran out of the car and into a nearby apartment complex. Davidson was apprehended and later released.
Blood from the suspects lead the officers to Lazarine’s apartment where they were arrested. Upon questioning, the whereabouts of James Adam Stotler and his friend, Jeremy Richardson, were discovered as Perry and Burkett confessed to investigators they had shot and killed both boys, left their bodies near Highland Ranch Estates and stole the Isuzu. The shotgun used had been stolen a few days earlier from a home in Conroe and was found in Stotler’s Isuzu after Burkett crashed the car.
Over a year later, on Monday, November 25th, 2002, State District Judge Suzanne Stovall notified the court that she will rule on the admissibility of Perry’s confession on December 18th. At least Perry, who has been in jail since his arrest on October 30th, 2001 won’t need a car to get to court.
Same crime, but different sentences
One sits on death row. The other won't see the outside of a prison until at least 2043.
Both were convicted of capital murder for their roles in the October 2001 murders of Sandra Stotler, 50, Adam Stotler, 16, and Jeremy Richardson, 18.
Both are only 21 years old.
Michael James "Romeo" Perry was convicted in February of the murder of Sandra Stotler. Jurors never heard about the murders of her step-grandson, who she had adopted when he was six months old, and his friend until the sentencing phase of the trial. Perry now sits on death row.
Jurors in Jason Aaron Burkett's capital murder trial were exposed to the details of all three murders, including a graphic video tape of the bodies of the boys in the wooded area where they were killed, during both the guilt/innocence and the sentencing phases of his trial. Burkett received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole in 40 years.
The differences in the sentences have many people wondering what is wrong with the justice system, and it may have given Perry's attorneys even more hope for a victory in his appeal attempts.
"There is a recent high court opinion that says there is a problem if one person gets life -- the other can't get death, so I think the door has been opened for Mr. Perry," said Steve Jackson, who represented Burkett.
Jurors split 10-2 on the sentence, with 10 in favor of the death penalty.
Prosecutors chalked Burkett's conviction up as a victory, but said they still would have liked to have seen the death penalty imposed.
"We're not happy about it," Assistant District Attorney Robert Bartlett said of the sentence, "but we can live with it."
Jackson said he and co-counsel Frank Blazek were very pleased with their client's sentence, but would have liked to have seen a verdict of not guilty.
"To be dealing with the largest murder in Montgomery County history and get a life sentence is a huge victory," he said.
But that victory highlights the inequities of the death penalty system.
"If you believe what the prosecution was trying to prove, you have a poor kid, who they say killed two people, who gets life, and you have a rich kid, that only pulled the trigger on one person, who gets death," Jackson said.
Burkett's troubled upbringing probably saved his life.
Defense attorneys presented several witnesses who testified that Burkett's mother used methamphetamine while she was pregnant and neglected all her children. They also documented the abuse inflicted on Burkett by his father, who is currently in prison, and the squalid conditions Burkett was raised in..
"All they proved to me is (Burkett) can't live in society or the penal system," said Lisa Balloun, Sandra Stotler's daughter.
Balloun said she didn't necessarily want to see Burkett or Perry sentenced to death, but she believes the life sentence with the possibility of parole in 40 years is too light.
"Before my mother and brother were murdered I used to fully believe in the death penalty, but now I think it's too easy a way out, but I think life in prison with the chance of parole is unfair, too," she said. "So what, (Burkett will) be 60 when he gets out. He could still have 20 good years ahead of him. I definitely think life without parole would be an appropriate punishment."
But Texas law does not allow for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and the burden falls on the state to prove that the defendant's future threat to society outweighs any mitigating factors in the case, including the upbringing of the defendant.
"Mitigation is not an excuse for doing an act," Jackson said. "It is circumstances surrounding the person and the crime that might lessen the reason to get death."
Balloun said she was not at all moved by the testimony of Burkett's parents as they admitted to drug use, neglect and abuse during Burkett's childhood and as the pleaded with the jury not to sentence him to death.
"They kept calling him a kid," Balloun said. "He's a man, and he was a man when he killed my mother and brother. My brother was a kid. He was 16 when he died.
"(Burkett's) mom and dad got to plead for his life. He heard the last words of my mom and brother. Did they beg for their lives? He didn't show them any mercy so why should we show him any mercy?"
Currently attorneys are working on both the Habeus corpus and direct appeals in Perry's case, and Burkett is deciding whether he will pursue any appeals.
"I believe the case is going to be appealed," Jackson said. "We've made our recommendations, and I believe Jason is going to appeal."
A motion for a new trial for Burkett is likely to be filed within 30 days.
After months of preparation and two rounds of motion hearings, attorneys in the capital murder trial of Michael "Romeo" Perry will get their first look at prospective jurors today.
Judge Suzanne Stovall of the 221st state District Court will qualify the jury panel this afternoon. After some preliminary procedures, the jury selection process is expected to begin Wednesday. Stovall already ruled that Perry's three confessions to a 2001 triple homicide will be admissible in the trial. Testimony is expected to begin Feb. 18. Stovall agreed to have the prosecutors perform criminal history checks on all witnesses and potential jurors in the case. Perry is accused of the murders of Sandra Stotler, 50, her 16-year-old son Adam Stotler and his friend, Jeremy Richardson, 18. Perry's attorney, Don Cantrell, tried to have Perry's confessions suppressed because Perry was somehow coerced into making the statements that implicate him and Jason Aaron Burkett in the case. Perry and Burkett, both 19 at the time of the crime and facing charges of capital murder, punishable by death, have remained in the Montgomery County Jail since they were arrested Oct. 30, 2001. Perry said in statements to police that he and Burkett originally planned to spend the night at the Stotlers' home and steal the family's red Camaro during the night while Sandra and Adam slept. But Adam wasn't there when the suspects, who allegedly had shotguns, arrived. "Jason said that it would be easier to get the car with only one person home," Perry's confession states. Perry said they went back to the Highland Ranch home in west Montgomery County, and Burkett distracted Sandra Stotler while Perry snuck around to the back door through the garage. "Once in the house, I hid in the laundry room between the kitchen and garage," Perry wrote in his confession. "I then knocked on the back door, and when Adam's mom came to the back door, I shot her one time in the side near her back with the shotgun." Perry said he and Burkett loaded the woman's body into the back of the pickup truck they were driving and dumped the body in Crater Lake, located near Grangerland. The two went to pick up Burkett's girlfriend, Kristen Willis, at work, then returned to the home to pick up the Camaro. They were unable to get through the subdivision gate, so they waited until Adam Stotler and Richardson came along a short time later. That's when Perry, Burkett and Willis lured Adam Stotler and Richardson to another nearby subdivision, where Perry said Burkett shot the two boys, Richardson first, then Stotler, according to the confession. Finally equipped with Adam's keys to the Camaro -- and the Isuzu Rodeo Adam Stotler drove to the area where he was killed -- Perry and Burkett returned to the Stotler home and took the Camaro, Perry said, with Burkett driving the Rodeo and Perry the Camaro. Perry said that's when he and Burkett "went home, smoked several cigarettes, and then got cleaned up and went to Nite Life (a local bar)."
The 12-gauge shotgun used in the killings was stolen four days earlier from a home in Conroe. Montgomery County Sheriff's Department deputies later found the stolen shotgun in Adam Stotler's Rodeo with Perry and Burkett after they became involved in a shootout with police Oct. 30 in south Montgomery County. Burkett was shot in the confrontation, but he recovered. Both suspects in the case have had previous run-ins with the law after they turned 17. Juvenile criminal histories are not accessible. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against both Perry and Burkett if they are convicted. Burkett's trial date has not been set.
02/19/2003
Testimony begins in triple murder trial
By: Rachelann Ferris , Courier staff
On their first day, jurors in the capital murder trial of Michael James "Romeo" Perry spent much of their time looking at photographs and evidence collected from the area where Sandra Stotler's body was found Oct. 27, 2001.
Although prosecutors claim Perry and alleged accomplice Jason Burkett, both 20, were responsible for a series of three murders Oct. 24, Perry has been charged with the first of the three murders, that of Stotler, 50.
A Montgomery County grand jury nonetheless agreed to charge Perry with capital murder, punishable by life or death, based on the allegation that Perry killed her while also committing burglary of a habitation, another felony offense.
Prosecutors claim -- but will not attempt to prove in the current trial -- that Perry and Burkett returned to the Stotler home later that night, where they encountered Stotler's 16-year-old son Adam and his friend, Jeremy Richardson and later killed the two teen-agers.
Although Perry gave three confessions to investigators after his Oct. 30, 2001, arrest, he again pleaded innocent to the charge Tuesday morning before testimony in the case began.
In his opening statement to the jury, prosecutor Robert Bartlett vowed to prove to the seven-man, five-woman jury that it was Perry and Burkett who "brutally murdered" Sandra Stotler "in her own home" in Highland Ranch by shooting her twice with a shotgun. Bartlett said he and First Assistant District Attorney David Bluestein will show that the two accused teens then loaded up the body and dumped it in a rural fishing area, known as "Crater Lake," near Grangerland.
Bartlett said the only motive for the crime was to steal Stotler's red Chevrolet Camaro convertible.
Defense attorneys Don Cantrell and Steve Taylor reserved their right to make an opening statement until after prosecutors presented testimony from all of their witnesses.
The first witness to testify was Randy Pond, a 27-year-old sign builder who was fishing alone at Crater Lake near his home off of FM 3083 when he discovered the body Oct. 27.
One of the first officers to arrive on the scene was patrol deputy Mary Haver with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. Haver said she took initial crime scene photos once the scene was secured.
Crime scene investigator Damon Hall, who was present when the body was removed from the water and pulled up onto the shore, was the next to testify.
Hall described the process he went through when collecting evidence from the scene, including the body, which had a gunshot wound to the back "about the size of your fist," he said.
"We were fairly certain it was going to be from a large-caliber shotgun," he said.
Hall also testified about the chain of custody of the evidence.
An assistant medical examiner with the Harris County Medical Examiner's office testified he ruled Sandra Stotler's death as a homicide, with the cause of death listed as two overlapping gunshot wounds to the left side of the back. He said the shots were likely fired from 3-8 feet from the body.
Jurors also heard testimony from Arlene Gibson, who was a nurse at Conroe Regional Medical Center in 2001-02, working with Sandra Stotler, who she also befriended.
It was Gibson who reported Stotler hadn't answered her telephone or showed up for work Oct. 25-26, 2001.
Deputy Mandy Pieper said she was one of the officers sent to the Stotler home on Highland Pass in northwest Montgomery County to check on Sandra Stotler Oct. 28 after Gibson called authorities.
"I noticed the blood spatter all over the walls and the ceiling and the floors" and a spent 12-guage shotgun shell, Pieper said. "When we saw the blood, we backed up and finished clearing (searching) the house."
Hall testified again about his collection, preservation and testing of evidence, this time taken from Stotler's home. Hall also said the marks on the closet door upstairs tested negative for blood, and were likely some other substance.
Downstairs, there were bloody shoe prints and bloody drag marks "as if a bloody object had been drug out across the concrete" into the garage, he said.
When questioned by Taylor, Hall admitted his office was never able to find the pair of shoes that matched the marks left behind in the blood on the foyer floor, and no evidence left at the Stotler home to directly link Perry or Burkett to the scene.
Det. Monte Morast testified he was looking for Jason Burkett -- for whom he had an arrest warrant -- on the morning of Oct. 26 when he spotted someone in the red convertible Camaro Burkett had been seen driving. Morast said he began to follow the Camaro and tried to stop the vehicle after the driver passed another car "on the shoulder," ran a red light and violated several other traffic laws, he said. Morast said the driver finally lost control and wrecked the car, and a "white male jumped out the driver's-side door and fled in a northerly direction," while the passenger surrendered.
Other officers located the driver a short distance away, and Morast confirmed it was the man he had seen fleeing from the car. The driver identified himself as Adam Stotler, the son of the registered owner, Sandra Stotler, Morast said. After the driver, who showed Adam Stotler's driver's license for identification, was released on bond, it was discovered he was actually Perry, Morast said.
Cantrell questioned why Morast -- who knew Burkett from prior encounters -- couldn't immediately identify the driver as someone other than Burkett. But Morast said he didn't know for sure the driver wasn't Burkett until the driver had committed several traffic violations and the pursuit was under way.
Even when he saw several shotgun shells inside the Camaro, Morast said he had no way of knowing the later significance of the incident. It wasn't until the next day that Sandra Stotler's body was found in the lake, and the day after that when investigators recovered a similar shotgun shell from inside the Stotler home.
Prosecutors leaped forward then to the morning of Oct. 30 with the testimony of Corporal Howard Lee Smith III with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, who was involved in the search for Burkett and Perry after they had been identified as the prime suspects in Sandra Stotler's homicide.
Smith said he spotted the white Isuzu Rodeo belonging to Adam Stotler behind the Mobile Sun Mart next to Carpet Mills along Interstate 45 in far south Montgomery County and could see there were three people inside.
Smith said after he identified himself the driver started the car and "came straight at me." Smith said the Isuzu struck him in the legs, "but I managed to stay on my feet and shot out the back passenger tire."
Smith got in his patrol car and followed the vehicle until it crashed into a building. By then, other officers were arriving on scene, and one of the men in the Isuzu, Aaron Davidson, then 19, surrendered, while the other two fled on foot through the Carpet Mills building they had driven into.
Cantrell pointed out that the driver was Burkett, not Perry, and that Perry appeared to be following Smith's instructions to put up his hands, remain in the vehicle, and so forth. Perry, however, was one of the two men who fled the area after the Isuzu crashed into the building, he said.
Aaron Davidson took the stand next to tell how he hooked up with Perry and Burkett through some mutual friends. Davidson said he was basically homeless at the time, and had only known Perry and Burkett "for about 24 hours" prior to the shoot-out early Oct. 30. Davidson said he, Burkett, Perry and some others made several stops Oct. 29 at people's houses, an ice cream parlor, and a park in The Woodlands "to drink beer."
Davidson said he noticed a shotgun in the Isuzu on Oct. 29.
Davidson said Perry became "intoxicated" that night and made a comment that the police were looking for him and said "'They're going to have to put a bullet in me to take me down.'"
Eventually, the three made their way to the Sun Mart, where they went to sleep, he said. Davidson said he slept until they were all awakened by Smith ordering them to put their hands up. He said Burkett tried to drive off, so he jumped out of the vehicle while it was still moving.
Davidson did agree with Cantrell that Perry, in Cantrell's words, "did not do anything to threaten Deputy Smith in any way shape or form."
Special Agent Sidney Blair with the Office of Homeland Security testified he was a patrol supervisor with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department in late 2001 when the case now on trial unfolded.
Blair was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene after Smith had spotted the Isuzu. Blair recalled tracking Perry and Burkett -- after Burkett crashed into the building -- to a nearby apartment complex where a friend of the teens lived.
"I saw Jason BUrkett standing on the balcony beside (a woman)," so Blair rushed up the stairs to the second-story apartment, and "we went into the apartment, and both Michael Perry and Jason BUrkett were in the front room of the apartment."
Perry, who was "cooperative," was bleeding from a cut on his arm and Burkett had been shot "multiple times," Blair said, so paramedics were called to the scene. After treating both suspects on the scene, paramedics took them to Conroe Regional Medical Center for further care.
Testimony against Perry is expected to continue today at 9 a.m. in the 221st state District Court with Judge Suzanne Stovall presiding.
Burkett is expected to stand trial separately later this year, officials said.
Perry takes stand in his own defense
By: Rachelann Ferris, Courier staff
02/22/2003
With a last-minute decision by Michael James "Romeo" Perry to testify on his own behalf, jurors in the capital murder trial expecting to begin deliberations Friday won't determine a verdict until Monday.
Perry took the stand against the advice of his attorneys Friday morning to give his version of the events in October 2001. His testimony lasted the rest of the day.
Perry, 20, began by recounting his youth, much of which was spent in and out of facilities for troubled youngsters throughout the country.
Perry said he was released from the last facility April 9, 2000, when he turned 18, and was "basically homeless" until the time he was arrested Oct. 30, 2001, because his parents would not allow him to move back home.
Perry said he became involved in drugs shortly after he left Casa by the Sea in Mexico, a program for troubled youth, and lived in California until returning to Montgomery County about six months later.
"I learned to live a pretty rough life," Perry told the jury, "drinking on a daily basis and using drugs on a daily basis."
Perry said he also frequently used all sorts of illegal drugs and prescription drugs.
Perry said he finally moved back home with his parents in the Lake Conroe area for a short time, but then moved out again, shortly before he met Jason Burkett, Perry's alleged accomplice in the Oct. 24, 2001, shooting deaths of Sandra Stotler, 50, Adam Stotler, 16, and Jeremy Richardson, 18.
Perry was charged with the murder of Sandra Stotler. By alleging that Perry killed her while burglarizing her Highland Ranch home, prosecutors filed the charges as capital murder, punishable by life in prison or death.
Perry told the jury he moved in with Burkett in earlier October 2001 because "I was pretty desperate" and described that period of time as a continuous drug- and alcohol-induced fog.
Perry said he returned home one night to find Sandra Stotler's red Camaro there, but Burkett was gone. Perry said Burkett returned a short time later, driving Adam Stotler's white Isuzu Rodeo and Burkett "first told me about the murder." Perry said Burkett's girlfriend, Kristen Willis, later told him she had been there when Burkett had "killed someone for it."
Perry said Burkett later confessed to him in detail that he had killed Sandra Stotler while he was robbing her.
Perry said he was coerced into making the statements in his confessions about the three murders.
"At the time, I had had previous encounters with the law. ... I had been drinking heavily and taken quite a few amount of pills," Perry told the jury. "I was kind of scared and nervous at the time. I knew (Burkett) was capable of about anything by now."
Perry said the arresting officers threatened him, and "I was gonna tell this man anything he wants to hear."
Contrary to claims by defense counsel, Perry said he thinks officers did advise him of his Miranda rights before he was questioned, but he still claimed he asked for a lawyer, and those requests fell on deaf ears.
"Their response was to continue talking," Perry said. "I was just overwhelmed."
Perry said he was not at Sandra Stotler's home on Oct. 24, 2001, and had nothing to do with her death, despite statements to the contrary in his three previous statements to police.
First Assistant District Attorney David Bluestein attacked Perry's claims that he wasn't involved in the murders, calling Perry a "gutless murderer who shot a woman twice in the back with a shotgun."
Bluestein prompted Perry to discuss his numerous run-ins with police, from allegations of burglary and vandalism to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, shoplifting, allegedly pointing a shotgun at a member of his family, stealing and pawning his mother's jewelry and taking money from his father's wallet.
"I have lied on occasion," Perry admitted. "I am human. I have lied."
Perry also confirmed he had issues with "authority figures."
Perry evaded answering many of Bluestein's questions about his criminal background with responses of "I don't remember," "I don't recall," "If that's what it says ..." or "If you say so."
Perry's memory, however, was clear about his version of the events surrounding the death of Richardson and the Stotlers.
"I never met Mrs. Stotler," Perry said. "I had only met Adam twice."
Perry said all the information he provided in the three confessions was information he had gleaned from Burkett, Willis, Det. Carey Mace (who took the statements) and newspaper articles. But Perry said again he was just telling Mace what he wanted to hear, but didn't deny making the statements.
"Anything that's on the tape, I can't dispute because it's my voice," Perry said.
Perry also couldn't dispute his handwriting in a letter he wrote to Burkett, although he said he didn't "recall" writing the note that said "make sure I said I wanted my lawyer ... if you don't want that needle. ... That's our only hope."
Perry admitted an earlier claim (to Burkett) that he had been offered 20 years in prison in exchange for his testimony was a lie.
"I wouldn't be here if I was," he said.
Attorneys will present their closing arguments at 9 a.m. Monday morning before the seven-man and five-woman jury begins deliberations.
Burkett is expected to stand trial for capital murder later this year. Prosecutors also intend to pursue the death penalty against Burkett if he is convicted.
Perry found guilty of capital murder
By: Rachelann Ferris, Couier staff
02/25/2003
Jurors deliberated for a little more than two hours Monday before finding Michael James "Romeo" Perry guilty of capital murder in the Oct. 24, 2001 shooting of Sandra Stotler.
Perry, who took the stand in his own defense Friday, said before the verdict that he expected to be found guilty.
"I'm pretty sure I know that's going to happen," he told The Courier moments before the jury entered the courtroom.
The 20-year-old Perry showed no emotion when the verdict was read.
Jurors were allowed to consider the lesser included charge of murder -- punishable by up to 99 years in prison -- if they thought the state failed to prove the elements of capital murder, which is punishable only by life in prison or death. After the verdict was announced about 1 p.m., attorneys immediately began testimony in the punishment phase of the trial.
The case was turned over to the jury just before 11 a.m. Monday morning after prosecutors Robert Bartlett and David Bluestein and defense attorneys Don Cantrell and Steve Taylor presented closing arguments. Attorneys in the case were restricted to 40 minutes for each side.
Bluestein told jurors the state had proven Perry intentionally killed Stotler, 50, while burglarizing her home.
"If you shoot someone in the back with this twice, that's intent," Bluestein told the jury, waiving the shotgun allegedly used to kill Mrs. Stotler before them and pumping it loudly once for emphasis.
Bluestein spent much of the time listing the numerous witnesses who testified that Perry admitted to them he killed someone for a red Camaro convertible he was driving.
"This guy's got a 10-gallon mouth," said Bluestein, pointing at Perry. "He was telling everyone what he did. He's proud. He valued property over life. What does that tell you?"
Cantrell continued to argue that Perry was seriously injured, had lost a large amount of blood, was intoxicated, intimidated, dizzy and hypothermic when he gave three confessions to Detective Carey Mace with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department after he was arrested Oct. 30, 2001.
Cantrell called Perry a "19-year-old kid" who "didn't know what was going on."
He argued that an officer who rode in the ambulance with Perry the morning he was arrested coerced him into making the taped confession when he arrived at the hospital.
"They've (the state) got some real problems, but here's the biggest one: About 24 hours after this very free, voluntary confession ... this same person (Perry) tells this very same detective, 'No, I don't want to give a statement to you without my attorney.' Does that tell you something?"
Perry's attorneys continue to claim it was Jason Burkett, a "big bully of a guy," who killed Sandra Stotler, her 16-year-old son Adam, and his 18-year-old friend Jeremy Richardson.
"I don't think any of those arguments are valid," Bartlett told the jury, reiterating testimony that Perry's vital signs were all normal when checked by paramedics on the morning of his arrest.
Bartlett called Perry a "cold-blooded killer" who would say anything to avoid taking responsibility for what he had done. Bartlett urged jurors to review Perry's confessions, saying it was "the most compelling evidence of Mr. Perry's guilt in this case. He tells you he shot her in cold blood. ... It was a good plan. It worked. He killed her."
Testimony in the punishment phase of the trial started Monday afternoon and is expected to continue today.
Burkett found guilty of triple murder
By: Sue Thackeray, Courier staff
10/29/2003
A man on trial for the deaths of three Conroe residents will go to prison for those murders, but must wait to learn if he will live or die.
Jason Burkett, 21, was found guilty Tuesday night of capital murder, eight-and-a-half hours after jurors were given the case to deliberate his guilt or innocence.
Beginning at 9 a.m. today, they will hear evidence from both the prosecution and defense to determine whether Burkett should receive a life sentence or the death penalty.
Attorneys for both sides wrapped up closing arguments in the trial at noon Tuesday, sending the case to the jury.
Burkett was accused of the Oct. 24, 2001 shooting deaths of Sandra Stotler, 50, Adam Stotler, 16, and Jeremy Richardson, 18.
His alleged accomplice, Michael "Romeo" Perry, was convicted of the capital murder of Sandra Stotler in February and is currently on death row.
Burkett's defense team began working immediately after his conviction Tuesday night to prepare evidence for the sentencing portion of the trial, according to lead defense attorney Steve Jackson.
"I'm very disappointed," Jackson said. "I believed in our case. We're going to have to make a very difficult transition to the sentencing phase."
Jurors will hear the "very, very sad life that this boy has led," Jackson added. "We expect the evidence will lead the jury to give him a life sentence."
Jackson added that Burkett was very upset with the conviction. "He's a kid," he said. "It's very difficult for him to understand ... someone who's 21 and hasn't even begun to live yet.
"It's emotional."
During closing arguments, defense attorneys tried to place doubt in the minds of the jurors by offering an alternative to the prosecution's claim that Burkett and Perry committed the murders to steal Sandra Stotler's red Cheverolet Camaro convertible and Isuzu Rodeo.
Defense attorney Steve Jackson tried to convince the jury that Adam Stotler and Richardson had hired Perry to kill Sandra Stotler so Adam would receive insurance money, the house and an inheritance.
"Adam knew what was going on," Jackson said. "Why else would they have gone to a dark isolated area with people they hardly knew?"
Jackson said Richardson carefully followed Perry into the thick underbrush where his body was found, possibly believing that's where Sandra Stotler's body had been dumped.
"Why didn't Adam run when he heard the gunshots? There were at least three gunshots," Jackson said.
He claimed Adam Stotler knew Richardson would be killed, and he and Perry smoked a cigarette to calm their nerves afterwards explaining the cigarettes carrying their DNA found near Adam Stotler's body.
But, Jackson said, Perry got selfish and decided to kill his accomplices.
"And then Perry shoots Adam with Kristin Willis standing right there. That's how blood got on her shirt," Jackson said. "This is a reasonable deduction from the evidence."
Defense attorneys also tried to attack the credibility of the state's three main witnesses, Willis, Victor Neal and Shane Atkinson, pointing out discrepancies in their testimony.
But prosecutors said the testimony of those witnesses was the truth and was backed up by the testimony from the state's other witnesses.
"Kristin Willis -- love her, hate her, whatever your emotions are -- this is a 20-year-old girl who was in love," said Assistant District Attorney Mike Griffin. "She said she loved Jason Burkett. She was going to marry him. Look at the evidence. Look at her cellular phone records. She's telling the truth. She gave her cell phone to Jason Burkett. He called her place of work from that cell phone. She was not there when Sandra Stotler was shot."
Griffin said other witnesses testified that only the passenger-side door of Willis' pickup opened when it parked in the wooded area off Honea-Egypt Road, and Willis was not with Burkett and Perry at a local bar hours after the murders.
He added that numerous witnesses testified that Burkett and Perry had bragged about killing three people and stealing their cars days after the murder.
Courier reporter Nancy Flake contributed to this story.
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