• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Del City Man Convicted in Death

Posted on: Friday, 31 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Jay F. Marks, The Daily Oklahoman

Mar. 31--A Del City man was convicted Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court of a murder that happened nearly 25 years ago.

Terry Lee Burnett was charged last year in the 1981 beating death of Harold Don Carpenter, 47.

A jury deliberated for more than five hours Thursday before finding Burnett, 57, guilty of first-degree murder. The seven-woman, five-man panel chose a sentence of life in prison.

Carpenter's Aug. 8, 1981 death originally was investigated as a hit-and-run accident, since his body was found in the street near 4213 SE 47 by a newspaper carrier, authorities said.

Investigators later concluded Carpenter's son -- who suffered from mental illness -- was the most likely suspect in his death, records show, but no charges were filed.

Police reopened the case after a tip pointed them to Burnett, who reportedly had talked about fighting with Carpenter the day he died. The tip came from Burnett's mother.

Burnett admitted to banging Carpenter's head against the street, according to court records, leading to the murder charge.

Prosecutors contended Thursday evidence presented during his three-day trial left no doubt Burnett was guilty of killing Carpenter.

"There's no evidence that anybody but the defendant killed Harold Carpenter," Assistant District Attorney David Brockman said in closing arguments Thursday morning.

Defense attorney Don Jackson argued witness testimony revealed too many other suspects for the jury to convict Burnett.

"Best-case scenario, if you believe everything they told you, there was a fight," he said. "Maybe that killed him."

Prosecutor Suzanne Lister said Burnett killed Carpenter so he could continue to stalk his ex-wife, who lived next door to the older man.

The two men met in the street as Burnett was heading to her house at about 3:30 a.m., she said. Burnett was afraid Carpenter would alert her to his presence.

Lister pointed to Burnett's confession and testimony about his temper, urging the jury to convict him of murder and sentence him to life in prison.

"Justice requires that Terry Burnett never be a free man," she said.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily Oklahoman

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Daily Oklahoman

More News in this Category