Woman gets life in prison in murder over $280 debt

Alicia Lattimore's mental health, troubled past and lack of prior convictions are factors in the jury's decision.

By TOM ZUCCO
Published June 2, 2005

TAMPA - Alicia Lattimore was either a ruthless drug-addicted killer, or a confused, easily swayed kid who stumbled into a murder plot.

Those were the options presented to her jury Wednesday.

Already convicted of first-degree murder and armed kidnapping for her part in the June 2003 murder of Gregory Steven Fisler II over a $280 debt, Lattimore faced a jury Wednesday in the penalty phase of her trial. There were only two possibilities: the death penalty or life in prison.

Defense attorney Bob Fraser presented witnesses who said Lattimore, 22, is mentally ill, profoundly immature, and, as evidenced by the nearly 40 tattoos on her body, searching for an identity.

Assistant State Attorney Jay Pruner argued she has a normal IQ, knows right from wrong, and helped mastermind a kidnapping and murder that played out over four hours and involved Fisler, a 23-year-old who could barely read and write, begging for his life.

It took the 12-member jury one hour and 50 minutes to reach a decision. As Lattimore awaited the announcement, she held her hand to her face and wept.

By an 8 to 4 vote, the jury recommended that the former middle school cheerleader be spared the death penalty. Moments later, Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Lattimore to life in prison without parole.

Evidence painted a detailed picture of Fisler's last horrific hours. A group of five friends - led, prosecutors said, by Lattimore and her boyfriend, Ethan Peterson - abducted Fisler, made him kneel in a shallow grave, and then beat, shot, stabbed and strangled him to death. The motive was $280 worth of adulterated methamphetamine Lattimore and Peterson had given to Fisler, which he couldn't pay for.

After Lattimore's conviction last week, the jury had to decide whether circumstances in her life and her mental health were enough of a factor to spare her.

"The eight of us who voted for life realized she needed to pay for what she did," said juror Doris Brantley. "But she had a lot of issues."

Issues that included the death of Lattimore's father when she was 4, an incident of sexual abuse when she was 12, and a chaotic upbringing with a mother who was an alcoholic and a drug addict.

Brantley, 63, also said jurors considered that Lattimore had never been convicted of a crime until the murder conviction, that she was 20 at the time of the murder, and the fact that two co-defendants, including one who strangled Fisler, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and received sentences of 25 and 35 years in prison.

Jurors who favored the death penalty, Brantley said, felt consideration had to be given to the manner Fisler died and the effect on his family.

[Last modified June 2, 2005, 01:07:17]