Citrus: Jury recommends life sentence

Jury recommends life sentence

The judge in the case of the 1990 murder of Warren ""Kelly'' Elkins will sentence Alexander Myers on Friday.

By BILL VARIAN

INVERNESS -- Defense attorney Genie Toner described the death penalty as a punishment reserved for contract killers and "sick individuals" who enjoy torturing their victims.

That doesn't describe Alexander Myers, she said. Toner told a Citrus County jury Monday that under the worst light, Myers shot Warren "Kelly" Elkins, 16, to death in the Withlacoochee State Forest to help his ex-girlfriend, whom Elkins had been harassing.

"No matter how idiotic it was," Toner said, "his justification was helping Kim (MacDonald). This was done in the heat of passion in a lot of ways."

A majority of the 12-member jury appeared to concur. After deliberating for 30 minutes Monday, jurors recommended life in prison for Myers, whom they found guilty of first-degree murder last week in the 9-year-old case.

The recommendation appears to spare Myers from death row, though not from some degree of irony. Myers had won the new trial on grounds that he received poor legal advice seven years ago when he pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of second-degree murder and received a 75-year sentence, which was reduced significantly by gain time.

Circuit Judge Michael Blackstone, who granted Myers the new trial and is hearing the case, scheduled sentencing for 9 a.m. Friday. He is not bound by the jury's recommendation, though he is required by state law to give it great weight.

Blackstone also will sentence Myers Friday on an armed kidnapping count. The jury found last week that Myers carted Elkins at gun point from Pine Ridge, where he ambushed and shot Elkins in the leg after school in early October 1990, 14 miles to a remote location in the forest.

Once at the forest, Myers shot Elkins five times in the face. Elkins' skeletal remains were discovered seven weeks later by hunters.

The state attorney's office was still trying Monday to locate a score sheet from 1990 that the judge will use to sentence Myers on the kidnapping charge. Myers must be sentenced under the guidelines in effect when he was arrested.

Assistant State Attorney John Moore, one of the prosecutors on the case, said Myers could receive up to another life sentence on the kidnapping count. Blackstone has said he has the option of having the sentences run at the same time, or back to back.

Myers would be eligible for parole in 25 years on the first-degree murder sentence, though Stephen Toner Jr., Genie Toner's husband and co-counsel, said that is unlikely. The seven years he has served, bouncing from Citrus County jail to different prisons, counts toward the new sentence.

The jury's recommendation Monday brings some degree of closure to the family members and friends of Elkins and Myers, though neither side said it was entirely happy with the outcome.

Keith Elkins, Kelly's father who had traveled with his wife, Nancy, from northern Indiana to witness the trial, said he was disappointed with the jury's recommendation,The jury's recommendation Monday brings some degree of closure to the family members and friends of Warren "Kelly" Elkins and Alexander Myers, though neither side said it was entirely happy with the outcome.

though he recognized the difficult task of jurors. He said he felt jurors should have been informed of Myers' parole eligibility.

"Day one, from when he was arrested, comes off of that sentence," he said. "They had no idea, I don't believe. Basically, we're very disappointed."

Nor were Myers' attorneys happy with a verdict last week that all but guaranteed he will spend more time in prison that he would have if he had not gambled on a new trial. Given two unpleasant sentencing options -- life in prison or death -- they were pleased with the recommendation Monday.

"We think the jury made the right decision," Genie Toner said of the sentencing recommendation. "The fact that they came back so fast showed that they understood this murder didn't deserve the death penalty."

Earlier Monday, jurors heard from Myers' parents, who declined to comment on their recommendation afterward. Gloria and Wilton Myers described a boy who was 18 when Elkins was murdered, but otherwise led a role-model life, never causing them problems. Wilton Myers described his son as his friend.

"He's my heart," Mrs. Myers said.

Psychologist Sidney Merin, who examined Myers twice in August, said he tested with a 130 intelligence quotient, a score higher than 98 percent of the population. But Merin said he was prone to acting on impulse when aroused, and likely was under emotional distress at the time of the murder.

Myers took his own defense, once again, to describe stacks of citations he received before prison as a Boy Scout, and in JROTC. The recognition has continued in prison, where he has earned vocational certificates and serves as a mentor to teen offenders.

Moore, however, used the description to describe a person plenty smart enough to know right from wrong, and capable enough to formulate and execute a plan for murder.

"He had all of the advantages in life that most people don't have," Moore said. "Alexander Myers could have shown mercy. The time for mercy has passed and the time for justice has come."