THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 12, 1995 TAG: 9507120369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
A jury convicted Michael D. Clagett of all the charges against him Tuesday, including capital murder, for killing four people at the Witchduck Inn last year.
The Circuit Court jury deliberated 4 1/2 hours before rejecting the claim by Clagett's lawyers that their client's detailed confession to police was phony.
Now jurors must recommend Clagett's sentence: life in prison or death.
They heard prosecution testimony late Tuesday from Clagett's ex-wife that he threw her down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant and tried to rape her two weeks after she had delivered their baby.
The defense will present witnesses today in an effort to avoid the death penalty. The jury could recommend the sentence as early as today.
When the guilty verdicts were announced, family of the victims wept in the front spectator row, directly behind Clagett. One pumped his clenched fist and said, ``Yes!''
Clagett showed no emotion. He has said repeatedly to news reporters, police and a judge that he committed the murders and deserves to die. He pleaded not guilty when the trial began June 26.
Outside the courtroom, the mother of one victim - bar handyman Wendel G. ``J.R.'' Parrish Jr. - said the death penalty would be too easy. She hopes Clagett spends the rest of his life in prison.
``He needs to grow old and think every day about what he's done,'' Carolyn Cussins said.
Other relatives said they want Clagett, 34, to die for his crime.
``He deserves every bit of hell he can get,'' said Kevin Rounds, husband of slain bartender Karen S. Rounds. ``He didn't just kill four people. He has disrupted hundreds of lives.''
Clagett was accused of shooting four people - bar owner LamVan Son, patron Abdelaziz Gren, Rounds and Parrish - in the head inside the neighborhood bar on June 30, 1994. In his confession to police, Clagett said he and his lover, Denise Holsinger, planned the robbery and killing while having sex on a couch in his house. They took about $400 from the bar's cash register.
Holsinger has pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder. She will be sentenced July 19, but cannot receive the death penalty.
Clagett's lawyers tried to explain away his confessions by arguing to the jury that Holsinger probably committed the killings, then deluded her drunken boyfriend into thinking he had pulled the trigger.
Despite this argument, relatives of the victims expected quick verdicts. They became nervous when the jury stayed out for 4 1/2 hours.
``I was very worried,'' said Gren's sister, Khadija Johnson. She said she slept only two or three hours Monday night, after the jury had deliberated two hours but still had no verdict.
Earlier Tuesday, the jury recommended 20 years in prison for a robbery conviction and 23 years in prison for five firearm charges. The jury could have recommended life in prison on the robbery charge.
Now the defense will rely on Clagett's tearful confession to police to try to avoid the death penalty.
``The heart of the defense in this phase is the defendant's remorse,'' Public Defender Peter T. Legler told the judge.
Prosecutors on Tuesday told the jury of Clagett's prior criminal convictions in Norfolk and Virginia Beach for burglary, grand larceny and credit card theft.
Son's widow said she has no strong preference for life in prison or death because neither would bring back her husband. Monday would have been his 43rd birthday.
``As long as he (Clagett) is guilty, I'm fine. I feel good about that,'' Lanna Son said. ``I've already lost big-time for me and my son.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff color photos
Michael D. Clagett, above, showed no emotion when the guilty
verdicts were announced Tuesday.
At right, Tony Dziadul hugs Lanna Son, wife the slain bar owner
LamVan Son. Dziadul was a family friend and was in the Witchduck Inn
on the night of the slayings.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING TRIAL VERDICT by CNB