we the jury in the aboved entitled action, find the defendant guilty of the crime of murder. reporter: this was a death penalty case. jurors now had to decide if dan should live or die. the defense attorney scat sanders made absolutely no executes for his client. we did nothing in the guilt phase of this case to indicate that they were challenging his responsibility for the crime. reporter: but he did ask the jury to consider if dan would deserve the death penalty if someone else influenced his decision to kill. that person, in the defense s view was dan s fiance, rachel buffet. a girlfriend. reporter: they talk about the moment that she went to the police department to see dan. she s learning about all of this incredible stuff and she
Convicted killer Peter Avsenew will represent himself next month when a jury is convened to determine whether he deserves to live or die. Avsenew, 38, was convicted last year of the murders of Kevin Powell, 47, and Stephen Adams, 52, a Wilton Manors couple who took him into their home during the holiday season in 2010 only to have him turn on them, steal their car and escape to his mother’s .
the aggravating markets are just so overwhelming, the prosecution has a good chance of meeting its burden of beyond a reasonable doubt, just as it did in the guilt phase. and in either case, the appeals process kicks in? not only does the appeals process kick in, but it is even much more complicated in a death penalty case. you can expect death penalty appeals to last for decades. i mean, the statistics are that of all the people on federal death row, a tiny fraction of them are ever actually executed. i m talking a handful in the last several decades, so you re just not going to see statistically a lot of people put to death. that s because the appeals process is so robust. you have direct appeals and collateral attack and hab yous petitions. the likelihood of success on appeal is tiny but in the united states, the defendant is entitled to all of those appeals
furiously scrubbing it out later behind the home where her body was later found. i point out, too, in tennessee they just reinstated the death penalty in 2018. the last person they executed was 2020. this is a right time. a tragically right case for this to apply here. the d.a. spoke with the family, the fleschers. they support this 100%. they support capital punishment. bill: you said two things. is this a slam dunk case? it should be. in addition to dna evidence that led to the original link in the first place. this defendant left his shoes at the scene. dna linked them to the shoes where her body was found. aishah: it puts added pressure on prosecutors. harder case to go through, right? the standard of evidence is the same. first there is the guilt phase and sentencing phase.
two trials in one. the guilt phase and sentencing phase. the defense laid out part of defense claiming there was d.n.a. to others and there is no connection between the victims and the defendant. it is early, what do you make of the defense efforts at that point? bad facts make bad lawyers, is that their best hand, the victims didn t know the defendant? some of the testimony, some of the proceedings that have come to life, the defense said to the judge, this is not a fishing expedition. when the defense says this is not a fishing expedition, you can be sure it is a fishing expedition. they are going at the office and going at d.n.a. evidence and