Serial Killer may walk free.

[younggiftedandblack]

Serial Killer Called a 'Predator' in Court
By SARAH KARUSH
Associated Press Writer

PONTIAC, Mich. - A man who confessed to killing 13 women more than a quarter-century ago is a "stalking predator" who should be convicted in the slaying of another woman, a prosecutor said during closing arguments Tuesday.

Coral Eugene Watts, 51, is accused of stabbing Helen Dutcher to death in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale in 1979.

Watts was given immunity for 12 of the killings in a 1982 plea deal that sent him to prison for 60 years for aggravated burglary. Authorities said he confessed to a 13th slaying in Texas, but charges were never brought in the case.

Because of mandatory release laws and an appeals ruling that lopped more than 35 years off his sentence, he is now set to go free in April 2006.

If convicted of Dutcher's slaying, Watts faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.

"For 25 years, Helen's screams have been silenced," Assistant Attorney General Donna Pendergast told jurors. "But she speaks to you now through the evidence - the evidence that points in one direction and one direction only: Directly at a stalking predator with a diabolical pattern and scheme."

Defense attorney Ronald Kaplovitz asked jurors to focus their attention on what happened the night of Dutcher's death, not what Watts had done in the past.

"We've heard about a lot of other incidents, a lot of other bad acts," Kaplovitz said during his closing argument. "What happened on Dec. 1, 1979 is the issue in this case."

The defense rested earlier Tuesday after recalling a Michigan State Police sergeant who testified that the prosecution's key witness in the case was about 84 feet away from the suspect the night of the killing.

Watts' lawyers have questioned whether the witness could correctly identify Watts from that distance in the dark.

In testimony Monday, three women described how Watts allegedly slashed, stabbed and strangled them in separate attacks more than two decades ago. Two survivors said he appeared to enjoy the violence.

Her hand shaking as she was sworn in, Julie Sanchez, 46, recounted how Watts allegedly attacked her on the side of a Texas highway in January 1982 as she tried to change a flat tire - and laughed as he ran away.

"He stopped completely and turned around and looked at me and smiled. He was laughing," Sanchez testified.

[nonamerasian]

Is this the same creep who said he'll continue killing if released?

[younggiftedandblack]

Originally Posted by nonamerasian

Is this the same creep who said he'll continue killing if released?

Yeah that's him.

[younggiftedandblack]

NA,

The jury just came back with a guilty verdict.