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| Topic | Do you support the death penalty sentence in this case? |
| Cocytus 10/12/19 3:39:32 AM #2: | ""When I heard that you felt no remorse, something changed inside of me and I didn't know what to do with that change, and it was causing me a lot of hurt and anger because that was my closure. My closure was the hope that you would feel bad. I no longer had the desire for closure because this is it. There's nothing left on this Earth that will soothe my wounds and worries. Only God can help me now." Stay's testimony of how she survived her family members' assassination at the hands of a man she once knew as "Uncle Ron" anchored the prosecution's case. The defense never tried to challenge Stay. It couldn't. All it could do was argue that Haskell's trove of diagnosed mental illnesses prevented him from having any control over what he had done. And after a jury didn't believe that, the defense's last attempt was to convince the jury Haskell wasn't a continuing threat. Closing arguments span two hours Closing arguments on Friday drove home the defense's claim. "Until his last breath, he will die in prison, and he deserves that, without question," began Neil Davis III, one of Haskell's defense attorneys. "We know from the evidence that he's not a future danger. We know from the science and studies that he can spend the rest of his life in prison," he said. The prosecution argued Haskell's actions on July 9, 2014, merely further confirmed who he had been "and who he will always be: an abusive, angry, violent, manipulative, selfish, narcissist, blame-shifting monster" argued Lauren Bard, one of three prosecutors on the case. Jurors had two options to consider: life in prison or death by lethal injection. The prosecutors argued the right decision marked "the moment for justice," said prosecutor Samantha Knecht. Knecht then lined up seven bullets, one for each member of the Stay family including Cassidy, the lone survivor. "But his plan was not complete," she said after a pause, and lined up 22 additional bullets for the rest of Melanie Lyon's family members whom the state claimed Haskell had plotted to kill, as well. Melanie, the wife who testified she suffered 11 years of physical and verbal abuse by Haskell, was included in that second roundup. "If not this, then what?" Knecht asked. The defense said the prosecution's case was centered on the quest for vengeance. "Killing Ron Haskell is not going to make that grief go away. It may make them feel better for a second, but that's not going to last," said Doug Durham, another of Haskell's defense attorneys, referring to relatives of the Stay family, especially Cassidy. Durham asked the jury to consider if it found any sufficient mitigating factors about Haskell. "I'll be very candid with you and argue Ron Haskell had a severe mental illness, and he couldn't distinguish right from wrong," Durham argued. For the defense, a tough fight " ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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