Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
A Virginia Beach Circuit Court jury of six men and six women who convicted Michael D. Clagett after 41/2 hours of deliberations then began hearing testimony on whether Clagett should be sentenced to life in prison or to death.
The jury left for the night at 5 p.m. and was to return today.
The jury recommended a 20-year prison term for Clagett on a robbery conviction and 23 years on firearms convictions.
Clagett, shortly after he was arrested for the June 30, 1994, slayings at the Witchduck Inn, a bar near the quiet, blue-collar neighborhood where he lived, said he committed the crimes and expected to die for them.
Authorities said Clagett, 33, and his 30-year-old girlfriend, Denise R. Holsinger, planned to rob the Witchduck Inn after Holsinger was fired from her job there as a waitress.
The owner of the bar, two employees and a customer each were shot in the head, and the cash register was emptied of about $400. But the bar owner's 4-year-old son, sleeping in a back office, was found unharmed when a customer entered a back door after finding the front door locked before closing time.
Clagett's lawyers acknowledged he was in the bar that night but said only Holsinger had motive to hurt anyone.
Tom Watkins, one of Clagett's public defenders, said Clagett considered the victims his friends. But Watkins described Holsinger as a ``spider woman'' who convinced Clagett, who was high on drugs and alcohol, that he killed the four.
Watkins said Holsinger could just as easily have committed the shootings.
But Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys said Clagett knew he couldn't get away with the robbery unless he eliminated the witnesses.
Holsinger pleaded guilty May 1 to first-degree murder and robbery. She could get five life terms at her sentencing July 19.
by CNB