November 15, 2002

Circuit Judge Frank Bell sentenced the boys after they pleaded guilty to beating their father to death with a baseball bat to his head, recanting their earlier trial testimony that friend and convicted child molester Ricky Chavis committed the murder.

Their new confessions offered chilling details of the 41-year-old Chavis' entreaties that the boys move in with him and of Chavis' yearlong sexual obsession with Alex. But the confessions gave no indication that Chavis committed the murder, was present when it occurred, knew of it in advance or suggested it.

"Derek got bat and hit dad in hed," Alex said in his handwritten confession on a legal pad. "After wile dad didnt mov. We set bedro on fire. Then we went to stor and cald Rik. Rik pickd us up."

Sheriff Ron McNesby said Escambia County sheriff's deputies were to drive Derek and Alex to the prison system's North Florida Reception Center in Lake Butler shortly after midnight Thursday. After two weeks of orientation and screening, they will be transferred to a prison for offenders 18 and younger in either Vero Beach or Tampa.

The resolution to the grueling, yearlong drama of the King boys came after Bell ordered Pensacola attorney Bill Eddins to attempt to mediate an out-of-court settlement, a first-ever in a local criminal case.

The mediation ended Wednesday night with an agreement that the boys would plead guilty to third-degree murder and arson and give a truthful account of the death of Terry King, their 40- year-old single father, last Nov. 26 at his Cantonment home. In exchange, they received a lesser sentence than the 12 to 45 years called for under state guidelines.

The boys initially were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, carrying a mandatory sentence of life in prison. A jury convicted them of second-degree murder and arson, although Bell overturned the verdict, saying he did not believe the boys received a fair trial and promising a new trial if mediation failed.

Immediately after their arrests, Derek and Alex gave detailed confessions to killing their father. But several months later, they recanted before a grand jury and put the blame on Chavis, resulting in Chavis also being charged with first-degree murder and arson.

Prosecutor David Rimmer said he was satisfied with the mediation outcome because the boys admitted their guilt.

"What I wanted in this case is what I got: the truth," Rimmer said. "I wanted them to take responsibility for their action. They've taken the first step to straightening their lives out."

Rimmer has been the target of vicious criticism over his handling of the case.

Television commentators and average citizens on Web sites have criticized his dual, back-to- back prosecutions of the King boys and Chavis and the fact that the Chavis jury verdict was kept secret until the King verdicts were returned.

"I promise you that I will personally come all the way to Florida and make your life a living hell," one critic e-mailed Rimmer.

"Rimmer should be jailed for life without parole!" wrote another.

"Rimmer needs a doctor's help," wrote yet another.

Rimmer, mostly unsuccessfully, repeatedly said he didn't argue in one trial that Chavis committed the murder and in the other trial that the King boys committed it, as many critics charged. Rather, in both trials, he argued that Derek wielded the bat, Alex suggested the murder, and Chavis may have influenced the children.

Chavis was acquitted by his jury. In one of the numerous odd twists to the case, separate jurors in the King boys' case said they believed Chavis was the one who committed the murder with the boys present.

Even the forewoman of the Kings' jury second-guessed her decision, saying she never would have found the boys guilty if she'd known Chavis was acquitted.

Bell's decision to order a new trial followed the outcry of public criticism over Rimmer's handling of the case and apparently reflected his own feelings.

Officials' reactions

Defense attorneys, who have insisted that the boys told the truth at trial when they pinned the murder on Chavis, nonetheless were satisfied with the settlement.

"We wanted a not-guilty verdict at trial," said Dennis Corder, one of Derek's attorneys. "But when you start with first-degree murder and life in prison and get eight years, that's something to break out champagne bottles over, not hold a wake."

Sharon Potter, Derek's other attorney, said her disappointment at not ending with an acquittal was countered by her relief that "we don't have this horrible, black cloud out there anymore."

James Stokes, Alex's attorney, said he urged Alex to go to trial again, rather than settle.

"I think we could have won at a new trial, but I don't have to run the risk of going to prison my whole life," Stokes said.

Sheriff's Investigator Terry Kilgore remains bitter about the firestorm from people who suggested officers bungled the case and Chavis actually committed the murder.

"We're not idiots. We know how to investigate a homicide," he said.

Kilgore also noted that a vicious murder for which the boys showed no discernable remorse was lost in an uproar over their tender age.

"I never heard the words `I'm sorry,"' he said. "But I don't think Ted Bundy said `I'm sorry' either. These guys are little Ted Bundys. Ted Bundy conned his victims. These boys conned the public. Everyone thought they didn't do it."

John Sanderson, another investigator, said he feels vindicated by the boys' admissions.

"If they come out of prison productive citizens, that's great with me," he said. "If I never have to talk to them again in a law-enforcement capacity, that's great."

Kilgore and Sanderson also point to two upcoming trials of Chavis as proof that he will be held accountable.

Chavis faces two February trials: One is on charges of accessory after the fact of murder and tampering with evidence; the other is on a charge of lewd and lascivious assault on Alex.

As part of his plea agreement, Alex agreed to testify truthfully at both trials.

Mother's request

Derek and Alex, clad in green jail-issue jumpsuits, showed little emotion during the hourlong hearing Thursday.

Their mother, Kelly Marino, showed up at the hearing with Pensacola attorneys Leo Thomas and Ron Johnson and with two Miami attorneys hired by celebrity Rosie O'Donnell in an 11th- hour effort to derail the plea agreement and sentencing.

Marino has resided in Kentucky since 1998 and has seen the boys only five times for less than four hours since their arrests.

But, in a letter Marino sent to Bell on Thursday morning, she said that as the boys' mother and legal guardian, she did not believe the children were competent to enter a plea, and she wanted them examined by a psychiatrist or psychologist to assess their understanding of the court proceedings.

She wrote that she was firing Potter and Stokes in favor of Miami attorneys Ben Kuehne and Jayne Weintraub. She also complained she had been left out of the plea negotiations.

Bell would not allow Thomas, Johnson or the Miami duo to participate in the hearing. Court security officers relegated Marino and the four attorneys to the back row of the courtroom, then stood directly next to where they were seated.

Bell repeatedly asked the boys if they were entering their pleas because they wanted to, if they understood what they were doing and if they were acting voluntarily. Derek, diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder, fidgeted and twice had to ask Bell to repeat his question. But he repeatly gave strong answers of "Yes, your honor" as the judge ensured the child was satisfied with the plea. When asked how he pleaded, he answered, "Guilty, your honor."

A quieter Alex consistently said, `Yes, sir" as Bell asked the same series of questions about his plea. Asked how he pleaded, he, too, responded, "Guilty, your honor."

Stokes, Potter and Corder all said they believe the boys were competent to decide their own fate.

"They're children, but they're very intelligent children," Corder said. "They're much more intelligent than many of the adults we deal with on a day-to-day basis."

Attorney Johnson was undeterred by Bell's rebuke.

He said he plans to file a motion within the next few days to set aside the convictions. "I think we have a good legal basis," he said.

Rimmer said he did not believe Marino has legal standing to act on the boys' behalf.

He also scoffed: "They wouldn't be going to the state pen if she would have paid more attention to them in their playpens."

The confessions

The boys were convicted of killing their father as he slept in a recliner at his home.

According to Derek's confession, Alex told him the night of the slaying that Chavis was coming by to pick them up at midnight.

They had run away from home the previous week and, unbeknownst to their father, spent it at Chavis' house. Derek returned two days before the murder; Alex returned the previous day.

"Alex suggested that I kill dad," Derek said, recounting a conversation just before the murder. "I murdered my dad with an aluminum baseball bat. I set the house on fire from my dad's bedroom."

Derek also said Chavis allowed them numerous freedoms at his house, including skipping school, using marijuana and smoking cigarettes. He said Chavis "spent a lot of time kissing Alex while Alex sat on his lap."

In Alex's confession, he said Chavis began a sexual relationship with him shortly after his 12th birthday.

"Rik told me he lovd me," Alex wrote. "Rik told me I was gay and only he understood me."

Rimmer noted after the hearing that he found the misspellings in Alex's confession curious, since previous notes found in his home and written to Chavis had not contained them.

"I think he's just trying to get across the idea of `poor, little me,"' Rimmer said.

Quest for stability

During the sentencing hearing, there was only scant mention of Terry King.

At one point, Bell referred to "the death of Terry King, which we can't forget here." At another point, he said, "It was a horrible crime."

But most of the discussion revolved around the boys' futures.

Mediator Eddins said the focus of the mediation was ensuring a better future for each of the boys and giving them hope of productive lives.

"The defense took the position that it was very important to give these boys who had instability in their lives some sort of stability," Eddins said.

He also said Rimmer was receptive to the idea of "trying to fashion a program that will allow them to rebuild their lives."

The boys' early lives were punctuated by their father struggling to raise them with few resources, the mother who virtually ignored them, placements in various foster homes and the intrusion of Chavis.

Initially, the defense attorneys wanted the children sent to Girls and Boys Town in Omaha, Neb., whose executive director had offered to take them in.

But Eddins said Florida Department of Department of Corrections officials provided valuable information on prison programs for young offenders that seemed to provide hope.

The inmates at the Hillsborough Correctional Institution in Tampa and the Indian River Correctional Institution in Vero Beach are mostly younger than 18, although some inmates are allowed to stay an additional three years.

The prisons offer educational and vocational programs. Medical and mental health treatment also are available 24 hours a day.

Defense attorney Potter said the prison might provide the first stable life the boys have ever known.

"Maybe they have a chance at a life now," Potter said. "It will be hard for them, but maybe they'll have a chance. Maybe that is the best you can hope for, given their lives up to now."

The charges

Alex and Derek King pleaded guilty to the following charges through mediation: THIRD-DEGREE MURDER

The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated without any design to effect death, by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, a felony.

If found guilty of third-degree murder, a person faces a maximum 15 years in prison.

ARSON

The willful and unlawful act of causing damage to a structure by fire or explosion.

If found guilty of the arson, a person faces a maximum of 30 years in prison. Source: Florida statute

What's next

Alex and Derek King were scheduled to leave Pensacola early this morning for the Department of Corrections' North Florida Reception Center near Lake Butler.

There, the brothers will undergo medical, educational and mental health evaluations to determine the prison to which they will be assigned.

Officials in Lake Butler should assign the brothers to a prison within two weeks.

NOVEMBER 15, 2002

Chavis lawyer doubts 'truth' of confessions

Prosecutor David Rimmer proclaimed on Thursday the confessions of Alex and Derek King as the truth. But Ricky Chavis' attorney said the confessions to Terry King's murder, which will play a pivotal role in two upcoming trials against Chavis, are just the latest in a long string of lies the teens have told.

Chavis attorney Michael Rollo laughed out loud as he read through the brothers' confessions to killing their father, part of an agreement in which they pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and arson in exchange for shorter prison terms.

"I think that Alex and Derek are smarter than everyone else involved in this case, and they proved it by lying their way out of a first-degree, premeditated murder that they committed all by themselves," Rollo said. Chavis faces two trials in February. One is on charges of accessory after the fact in King's murder and tampering with evidence; the other is on a charge of lewd and lascivious assault on Alex. Rimmer said he plans on calling at least one of the brothers in each of Chavis' trials and feels confident in their testimony.

"Those cases are not built solely on their testimony, so I see no problem proceeding in those cases," Rimmer said.

Rollo disagreed, even questioning why the brothers were not being prosecuted for perjury. "If (State Attorney) Curtis Golden is such a stand-up guy, why isn't he going after these kids for lying three and four times before a jury," Rollo said. "Most of these confessions are just the boys making sure they blame things on (Chavis)."

Rimmer said he didn't want the threat of a perjury charge to keep the brothers from telling the truth. "Perjury would have just complicated things," Rimmer said. "If they were willing to tell the truth, they might have held back had I thrown the idea of perjury at them."

Changing stories

There is no doubt that the King brothers have changed their story several times.

When they turned themselves in the day after Terry King's death on Nov. 26, they told Escambia County investigators that Alex hatched the plan and that Derek beat his father to death with an aluminum baseball bat. They said they hid out in a wooded area in Pace until they called Chavis to turn themselves in.

They were charged with an open count of murder that night.

But in April, they changed their story and pinned the murder on Chavis, saying they were in the trunk of his car while Chavis beat their father to death. That story led to a first-degree murder indictment against Chavis.

When Alex testified during his trial four months later, he told yet another version.

Alex told the April grand jury Chavis told them nothing of King's murder. But when Alex testified during his trial, he said Chavis spelled out the murder in detail to the boys.

As soon as Alex finished testifying, Circuit Judge Frank Bell called the attorneys to the stand and asked whether Alex should be warned about perjury.

On Thursday, the brothers gave Bell a slightly different version of events.

Alex admitted to plotting the killing, and Derek admitted he swung the bat.

But this time, they said they ran to a pay phone nearby and called Chavis to pick them up.

"Rick drove us to a field just over the Alabama line and told us to take off our clothes," Derek said in his confession, written out by his attorney, Dennis Corder. `We rode in the trunk of his car in our underwear with the clothes to Rick's house. We rode in the trunk so nobody could see us. Rick washed our clothes as soon as we got to his house. That was Rick's idea."

The brothers said they then smoked marijuana with Chavis and fell asleep on his bed.

Alex said they spent the next day hiding from police in Chavis' mobile home. He said Chavis told them to tell officers they got in a fight with their father and killed him in self-defense.

Alex said Chavis promised the boys they could live with him once they were freed.

Whom to believe

With so many different stories, Rollo asked how anyone could believe the boys' latest story.

"They lied to the grand jury, they lied to Ricky's jury, they lied to their own jury," Rollo said. "How many lies are they allowed to tell until they're just not trusted?"

Despite Alex's testimony, Chavis was acquitted of the murder charge. Both of the February cases rely on testimony from Alex and Derek.

Escambia County investigators said Chavis admitted to hiding the boys and washing his clothes, bolstering the state's case against Chavis in that trial, which is set for February.

Rollo did not rule out the possibility of a plea bargain in that case.

But the main piece of evidence against Chavis in the trial for sexually molesting Alex, also scheduled for February, is the brothers' testimony.

Rollo wonders how that testimony will hold up in court.

"Where do they have the gall to prosecute him for anything on the basis of Alex and Derek King's testimony, which we now know can't be believed?" Rollo asked. "Where is my client's due process?"

Sons found guilty, pedophile acquitted

September 6, 2002

Two young brothers were convicted of murdering their father Friday, while a convicted pedophile also charged in the case was cleared by a separate jury.

A Pensacola, Fla., jury found Alex King, 13, and Derek King, 14, guilty of second-degree murder for the fatal bludgeoning of their father, but declined to convict them of first-degree murder. The verdict spares the boys mandatory sentences of life behind bars.

Ricky Marvin Chavis, 40, was also tried for Terry Lee King's Nov. 25, 2001, murder and faced life in prison, but was acquitted in a sealed verdict reached last week but announced Friday afternoon.

Neither Alex nor Derek displayed any visible reaction when the verdicts were announced. Their mother, Kelly Marino, who was seated in the courtroom, wiped away tears and held her head in the moments following the verdict.

About an hour later, Chavis appeared before Judge Frank Bell and choked back tears when hearing of the jury's decision to clear him of murder and arson. Chavis faces additional trials for charges that he was an accessory to Terry King's murder and also that he sexually molested Alex King.

While state law dictates a mandatory life sentence without parole for those convicted of first-degree, or premeditated, murder, it is up to a judge to determine an appropriate sentence for second-degree murder. Following a sentencing hearing slated for Oct. 17, Judge Frank Bell could give the boys terms from probation to life in prison, or even choose to sentence them as juveniles.

The jury chose to convict the two of second-degree murder without a weapon. Terry King was bludgeoned with a baseball bat as he slept in a recliner in his home, which was set ablaze following the killing in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence. During the trial, the defense claimed that Chavis, who was carrying on a sexual relationship with Alex, killed Terry King.

The six-member panel in the Kings' trial, which reached its decision after approximately five hours of deliberations, also convicted the boys of arson.

The day after King's body was discovered, the boys confessed to the crime during interviews with police. But they later changed their story, testifying that Chavis was the real killer and that they fabricated confessions to protect him.

Chavis contended that the boys committed the murder and that he only learned of the crime when they contacted him seeking harbor. He also denied molesting Alex King.

Prosecutor David Rimmer initially sought a murder conviction for Chavis on the premise that he was a principal in the murder — that he incited or encouraged the act, but didn't perpetrate the crime. But Bell granted a motion made by Chavis' lawyer, Mike Rollo, who contended that the prosecution provided insufficient evidence that Chavis had prior knowledge of the boys' plan to kill their father.

Bell ruled that the jury could only convict Chavis of murder if it determined that Chavis himself dealt the deadly blows to Terry King.

In a strange twist, Rimmer argued the opposite during the boys' trial, telling the jury that Derek King wielded the murder weapon, while Alex masterminded the killing.