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Mo. man gets life for killing 3 at Texas farmhousewas emotionally neglected byLUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury spared a Missouri man the death penalty Tuesday, sentencing him to life in prison without parole for the 2005 slayings of a pregnant woman, her husband and son inside their farmhouse.Levi King, 27, pleaded guilty last month to killing Michell Conrad, 35, her husband Brian Conrad, 31, and her 14-year-old son, Zach Doan. Michell Conrad was six months pregnant The Lubbock County jury had to answer two questions in order to give King the death penalty: Is he a continuing threat to society? Did mitigating circumstances exist that warranted mercy?Jurors were only able to answer yes to the first and wereunable to answer the second, making the life sentence automatic.We're gratified the system worked like we wanted it to,said defense attorney MaxwellPeck III.Prosecutor Lynn Switzerdeclined to comment on the sentence.During nearly a month of testimony in the sentencing trial, prosecutors presented photographs showing the three family members' bullet-ridden bodies lying in or near their beds and played audio from the 911 call made by the sole survivor, Robin Doan, who was 10 years old at the time of the killings.The girl called authorities after King left the family’s farmhouse near Pampa andcould be heard sobbing as she told the dispatcher: I want my mommy.The now 14-year-old girl Robin Doan testified that she awoke to her mother's screamsthe night of Sept. 30. 2005, and heard the killer go from one room to another, shooting her family members.After the verdict, Robin Doan told King she forgives him. Shealso said she felt guilty about not being able to save her family, The Pampa News reported.Why did God pick me to be here and not them? she said.Peck had pleaded for King's life, asking jurors to resist vengeance.The court-appointed attorney had told jurors that King grew up in poverty in Missouri andboth parents, who used drugs regularly. King had earlier told the judge that he'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia;he also has been told he was psychotic. Peck said King hadbeen suicidal.King also pleaded guilty last year in the shooting deaths ofOrlie McCool, 70, and his 47-year-old daughter-in-law, DawnMcCool. Their bodies were found by a relative in a rural Pineville, Mo., home on Sept. 30, 2005 — the same day authorities in the Texas Panhandle discovered the bodies in the Conrads' home. Authorities said King drove Orlie McCool's pickup truck from Missouri to Texas.
Newspaper Details
Orange Leader
Orange, Texas, US
Wed, Oct 07, 2009
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared T.
NA, NA 05 Jun 2023
Other Publications Near Orange, Texas
Orange Leader and Citizen Record Consolidated
Orange Leader
