Life in prison or death

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A jury is likely to decide today whether Mark Anthony Gill, 33, of Cape Girardeau, should live or die for killing Ralph L. Lape Jr. of rural Jackson.

Sobs and muffled cries rose from the benches of a New Madrid County courtroom Thursday morning as the judge announced that a jury had found Gill guilty of first-degree murder in the July 7, 2002, shooting death of Lape.

Gill, who had worked as a laborer in several different jobs, also was found guilty of kidnapping, robbery, armed criminal action and tampering with a motor vehicle, crimes that led up to the killing. The case was moved on a change of venue.

His alleged accomplice, Justin M. Brown, 24, faces a jury trial Sept. 7 in Pulaski County on a change of venue and also could receive the death penalty.

The jury returned to the courtroom with its verdict at 11:05 a.m. Thursday, having spent less than two hours in deliberation. After a lunch break, the trial resumed with the penalty phase and testimony from relatives and character witnesses. Testimony was completed Thursday evening, and deliberations on whether Gill deserves life in prison or execution begin this morning.

Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle reminded the jury of the horrific circumstances of Lape's murder -- each of which are included in the statute that sets out the death penalty's qualifying factors -- which included kidnapping, robbery and brutal acts that showed a "depravity of mind" on the part of Gill. Swingle also presented information about Gill's prior convictions for forgery, traffic offenses, retail theft and domestic battery.

Public defenders Sharon Turlington and David Kenyon told the jury the death sentence "wasn't necessary" in this case and that ordering Gill's execution wouldn't amount to justice.

Four members of Lape's family gave victim impact statements to the jury. Lape was a retired railroad worker and U.S. Air Force veteran who enjoyed fishing and camping, relatives said. He had also been a process server and investigator for Cape Girardeau lawyer Patrick Davis, who introduced Lape to Gill in 2002 and asked him to let Gill live on his property as a favor. Davis had also represented both men in the past.

At least three times, Turlington interrupted the emotional testimony of Lape's sister, Diane Miller, twice calling parts of her statement "hearsay" when she attempted to discuss her brother's generosity and racial beliefs.

Haunting death

Miller said she can't come to grips with the death and said it haunts her.

"It's a story so horrible you can't even believe it's real," she said. "When you find out it was for money -- a few thousand dollars -- it seems even more surreal."

Shortly after her brother's body was found, Miller and her husband, Mitch, went to the shallow grave near Portageville where investigators found Lape's body buried in a cornfield. They placed a wooden cross and filled the hole with soil, she said.

"We like to travel a lot," Miller said tearfully. "But everywhere we go, I see cornfields. I never realized there were so many cornfields -- they're everywhere."

Also testifying were Mitch Miller, the victim's brother, Steve Lape, and lastly, Megan Lape, who talked about what losing her father meant to her future.

"I can't sleep at night anymore," she said. "I lie there, and I think about what he went through and how scared he was. It kills me inside to know he had to go through that. I'll never see him again.

"Someday, I'll graduate college and he won't be there to tell me how proud he is of me. And someday, I'll get married and I won't have my dad to walk me down the aisle and tell me how proud he is of me."

The defense presented testimony by Gill's mother, Mary Alice Gill of Portageville, Mo.; a video statement by his brother, Carl Gill; testimony from deputies at the county jail; and former teachers and coaches.

Neither Mark Gill nor his wife, Katina, gave testimony.

Mary Alice Gill recounted her family's history of mental illness. Her older son, Carl, has schizophrenia, as do other relatives, she said.

"He was a good child," she said of Mark Gill. "It hurts me because I just can't believe he'd get involved with people who would do this kind of stuff. I just can't believe it."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160