The first thing that struck me was that the room was fairly packed, but not as much as the other room I had been in. This is due to the fact that 20 lawyers were on the docket in that other room handling routine motions and hearings for their clients. The next thing that struck me was that this courtroom had other business to attend to before the capital one. The hearing right before was actually one with a classmate of mine from high school. He was defending a kid who kept getting into trouble and had reached the point where he would now be handled as an adult. Luckily he had a lot of family there, and the judge allowed his grandfather (a retired police sergeant) to speak. It looked like things might go well with that kid if he stays away from some of his friends. After that hearing, the judge tried to get another hearing off his docket, but that lawyer was out of the room on another case (with permission, of course).
So, the capital offense sentencing began. It took a few minutes to get the offender into the courtroom. Obviously he was not in some general holding cell. He was seated right in front of me, 12 feet away. Judge Randy Bellows did not explain anything, he did not discuss the severity of the situation, he just began the hearing. The Commonwealth spoke first, represented by a prosecutor named Horan that was brought out of retirement to try the original case. He discussed the elements of the case that the defending attorneys might bring up (mental situation of the defendant, years of good behavior while on a life sentence in California, and whether the first 16 years of the defendant's life has any bearing on the sentencing).
At this point, I took out my notebook and started sketching the courtroom from my corner position. The picture you see below (not scanned, but a phone pic of my notebook) was drawn in that courtroom. On the left is Prieto. His hands and feet were shackled, and I could see his feet shuffling and changing position like a restless student. Right behind him, and a little to his right is a Fairfax County Sheriff's Deputy. In the back is Judge Bellows, with his hand on his cheek for most of the hearing. If this was a photo, I could have also captured one of the defending attorneys, but I chose to not draw him due to time (and I liked the isolation look that I had).
The attorneys did bring up his mental capacity (IQ of 70 - but for some reason I could not buy that). They also brought up his rough life between 0 and 16 years of age. They said he was innocent until he was 16 (but this may only mean he was not caught for anything until that time). They brought up that the crime detectives captured some hairs and body fluid from the scene. The DNA in the body fluid is what tied the case to Prieto as he was held in California. The hairs, however, could not be identified because they were misplaced. This could bring in doubt that Prieto is only guilty of rape, but another person may have pulled the trigger. (The hairs could very well be Prieto's. His defense team didn't even offer who this other "person" could be.) The defense team mentioned that he was a model prisoner for the last 18 years (in isolation) and this should be weighed in for his sentencing. Finally, they mentioned that he was committed to religion now. The judge asked "what religion?" and the attorney went to Prieto and whispered back and forth for ten seconds before saying "Catholic, your honor." At the end he asked if Prieto had anything he wanted to say. Prieto said "Nothing, your honor, at the advise of my representation." (70 IQ?)After the Commonwealth briefly rebutted the points raised by the defense, Judge Bellows was ready to deliver the sentence. He explained his duty to abide by the Virginia Constitution. He discussed that this was a rape and double murder, and fit the death penalty. He discussed what pain the family members (who were in the room) had gone through and what was taken from them. At this point, Judge Bellows was holding back tears. He then said "I hereby sentence you to death..." for both murders. Oddly, the judge then gave jail sentences on top of the two death penalties for the rape, the gun discharge, and grand larceny (stealing the vehicle). He was compelled to do this, but it was a strange addition to the climax of this hearing.
As Prieto was being led out of the courtroom, the brother of the female victim said "Hey Prieto!" Prieto turned himself all the way around and stared into the eyes of the man. The brother yelled "go to your room." What an odd thing to say (...and later I read that he was showing that Prieto had no control over his situation, and had to go to his room just like he was told to). The bailiffs urged the small crowd to stop interacting with Prieto. At that point, another person said "Adios, pendejo!"
...and then it was over. The crowd moved out into the hallway, and Prieto was led back into his holding cell. Twenty minutes later, after I finally watched the other hearing that morning with my brother, I could see that the family was still in the hallway outside that courtroom.
It was an odd trip. The day before I was shaking hands with Senator Brownback (Kansas) in his office - and this day I was watching the formal process of a man condemned to capital punishment. I have no editorial on the death penalty itself, because it is something that I do not hold strong opinions on. It will be an experience I will remember for a long time.
--gh
