Washington Missouri - Parks: No Plea Deal on Table Yet for Devlin

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Parks: No Plea Deal on Table Yet for Devlin

By Ed Pruneau

03/09/2007

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Franklin County Prosecutor Bob Parks said he's puzzled by the response from Michael Devlin's attorneys to this week's announcement that prosecutors plan to offer a plea bargain to the accused kidnapper. Following Devlin's arraignment Tuesday on child kidnapping and armed criminal action charges, Parks told reporters that federal and county authorities will prepare a combined plea agreement for the man accused of forcibly kidnapping Ben Ownby, 13, Jan. 8 and Shawn Hornbeck, abducted from Washington County in October 2002.

Ethan Corlija, one of two attorneys representing Devlin, rejected the idea of a plea deal outright and told reporters he would rather take the cases to trial than agree to consecutive life prison sentences for his client.

"Let's see what 12 people can decide," Corlija told an Associated Press reporter. "Because I think we can do far better with a jury. You've heard one side of a story. That's it. At trial, both sides are going to come out."

Corlija told the AP that neither he nor his partner, Michael Kielty, would consider a plea deal until they have reviewed the evidence against their client.

"I don't know what they're talking about," Parks said Thursday. "We haven't offered any kind of deal yet. They haven't even gotten to see the evidence in the case.

"There's absolutely no offer on the table. There's nothing for them to accept or reject," Parks told The Missourian.

Parks did say he's unwilling to endorse a deal that doesn't include several consecutive life sentences. He said his goal is to ensure Devlin is never free again.

"I cannot see any plea agreement that would not include consecutive life sentences, because, what good would that do?" he told the AP.

"We'll be getting together the evidence and reports to give to them soon," Parks told The Missourian. He said he doesn't know when prosecutors will put the plea bargain together.

"We have had some preliminary discussions but we haven't come up with anything to present to them," Parks said. "We're still waiting for Washington County to issue indictments. They have impaneled a grand jury for this case."

Devlin, 41, faces a total of 81 state and federal charges. He is charged with kidnapping and armed criminal action in Franklin and Washington counties and with multiple sexual assault charges in St. Louis County. He was indicted by a federal grand jury recently on charges of producing child pornography and transporting a boy across state lines.

Ownby was missing for four days after he was snatched from the road near his Beaufort home Jan. 8. Authorities found him Jan. 12 in Devlin's Kirkwood apartment along with 15-year-old Hornbeck.

None of the charges against Devlin carry the death penalty.

Corlija told the AP there could be room for the defense to win some freedom for Devlin, even if he is convicted and receives multiple life sentences.

For example, if Devlin receives 10 life sentences, he might get the option of serving them concurrently instead of consecutively. In some cases, Missouri inmates serving life sentences are automatically paroled at the age of 70, Corlija said.

Parks said in Missouri, a life sentence is considered to be 30 years. However, there is no upper limit for the charge of armed criminal action.

"They're looking at the best-case scenario," Parks said. "My experience is if you go to trial you don't get the best-case scenario. If you go to trial you're taking a big risk. A jury could recommend a 100-year sentence on the armed criminal action charge. With a plea agreement everyone knows what you will get . . . and it keeps those boys off the witness stand."

Corlija told the AP that avoiding a trial isn't much of a perk for Devlin, who would not be forced to testify himself.

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Added: Tuesday March 13, 2007 at 11:31 AM EST

Devlin

He (Devlin) doesn't deserve life in prison. he deserves and SHOULD receive death by lethal injection or to make him really suffer, he should be stoned or at least hung in the public's eye.

Delores Coe, Ferguson, MO

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