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Man Gets Life In Prison For Murder Of Pasco Students

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

Sue Wood, left, mother of Derek Pieper, and husband Steven Wood react to the penalty phase jury recomendation of life in prison for Luc Pierre-Charles.

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By TODD LESKANIC | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2009

Updated: 03/19/2009 07:27 pm

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• Teens Left To Die

Luc Pierre-Charles

DADE CITY - Tales of mental illness and a hard luck childhood have become standard defense testimony in death penalty cases.

But jurors heard no such testimony today as they weighed an appropriate sentence for convicted killer Luc Pierre-Charles, Jr. To the contrary, more than a dozen witnesses testified that Pierre-Charles did well in school, was active in his church and respectful to adults.

"I couldn't ask for a better son," said his mother, Angela.

Such testimony could have saved her oldest son's life. Shortly after her testimony, a jury recommended that Pierre-Charles be sentenced to life in prison instead of death. Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa, who has final sentencing authority, followed the jury's recommendation.

On Wednesday, the same jury found Pierre-Charles guilty of the execution-style killings of Wesley Chapel teens Derek Pieper and Raymond Veluz. Pieper, 17, and Veluz, were shot dead on Harris Hill Road on July 28, 2006. Authorities have said they were killed after becoming entangled in a drug war.

The trial moved to the penalty phase today, during which the jury of eight men and four women heard defense testimony about Pierre-Charles' upbringing and background. Defense attorneys Lane Lastinger and Richard Watts presented the evidence in hopes their client would avoid a death sentence.

Assistant State Attorney Manny Garcia argued that Pierre-Charles deserved a death sentence for carrying out the "assassination" of the two Wesley Chapel High students.

"It's one thing to go out and commit murder and shoot somebody," Garcia told the jury in his closing statement. "What you have to look at in this case are the facts and circumstances. Driving those boys out there, telling them to get down on their knees and pray and shooting them execution style.

"That's what separates this case from other cases."

Garcia called just one witness Thursday, Associate Medical Examiner Noel Palma. Palma testified that Veluz was shot twice in the back of the head and four times in the back. Pieper suffered gunshot wounds to his right temple, back of the head and left cheek. He also was shot in his right arm and in the back.

The nature of the crime wasn't enough to convince jurors that Pierre-Charles deserved to die. As painted in the testimony of his friends, relatives and a former teacher, Pierre-Charles was nothing close to the cold-blooded killer described by prosecutors.

He had no prior criminal history, served as a junior deacon at church and looked out for his three younger brothers. He worked at Cracker Barrel and was attending Pasco-Hernando Community College in hopes of one day becoming a mortician. Pierre-Charles' former geometry teacher and basketball coach, Michael Wilkes, described his former pupil as "shy" and "polite."

Psychologist Richard Carpenter testified that Pierre-Charles had none of the characteristics that mark many serious criminals. He had never been physically or sexually abused, nor did he have a history of mental illness or substance abuse.

"He's not a psychopathic type," Carpenter said. "A psychopathic personality is the cold-hearted, ruthless, lack of remorse, parasitic type that preys on other people. He doesn't have any of those markers at all."

But Carpenter wavered when Garcia cross examined him and asked whether the crime Pierre-Charles was convicted of qualified as cold-hearted.

"To have shot someone in the back of the head multiple times does sound cold-hearted," Carpenter replied.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084.

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