Brown gets life in prison for '02 murder

~ The only other sentence option was death, which is what the prosecution argued for.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- A jury Saturday spared the life of a man convicted of killing a Cape Girardeau County resident for his money when they opted not to recommend a sentence of death.

Justin Brown, 26, of Cape Girardeau, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the 2002 death of Ralph Lee Lape Jr., 54.

Prosecutors accused him and co-conspirator Mark Gill, 35, of abducting Lape from his home near Jackson, shooting him and burying him in a New Madrid County cornfield.

After 3 hours and 15 minutes of deliberations Saturday, the eight-man, four-woman jury decided that Brown should serve a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of probation or parole. The only other sentence option was death.

"He still got a very thorough punishment," Cape Girardeau Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said. Swingle, who argued for the death penalty, suspected the jury decided against capital punishment in light of Brown's age and lack of criminal history.

"Justin Brown was not the right person to die for this crime, and the jury recognized that," public defense attorney Jan Zembles said after the sentence was announced.

Lape was attacked inside his garage the evening of July 7, 2002, when he returned from a Fourth of July celebration at Kentucky Lake.

Brown and Gill bound his hands with duct tape and plastic ties, gagged him, and drove 79 miles to a cornfield near Portageville, Mo., prosecutors said. There the two conspirators dug a hole, shot Lape in the head and buried the body.

Equipped with Lape's credit card and cash from his ATM card, Brown and Gill went to a St. Louis-area strip club and stayed the night at the Adam's Mark Hotel in the city.

Gill, who was convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder and kidnapping, was sentenced to death.

Jury selection in the trial began May 10, and opening statements were heard Monday.

Throughout the trial, defense attorneys suggested that Gill, not Brown, was the architect of the homicide and the one who pulled the trigger.

"Justin Brown is guilty of first-degree murder, but he is not the person who murdered Ralph L. Lape Jr.," Zembles said in closing arguments of the sentencing phase of the trial Saturday.

Zembles cited testimony from Brown's friends and family, who spoke of his spirituality and loving nature.

Several jail guards spoke Friday about Brown, calling him a "model inmate" who helped guards and broke up fights.

Zembles predicted that Brown would continue to behave in prison and that by sparing his life, he could be allowed to make a contribution to society.

His decision to go along with Gill would be something that her client would always regret, according to Zembles.

"Justin Brown did a stupid, stupid thing when he got hooked up with Mark Gill in the summer of 2002. It is a choice Justin Brown is going to pay for forever," she said.

But Swingle said Brown's decision was beyond just stupid.

"First-degree murder is the ultimate crime, and the death penalty is the ultimate punishment," he said.

The prosecutor suggested that sentencing Brown to die could send a message to potential kidnappers who intend to murder their victim.

"If you can save one life, it's worth the life of this cold-blooded killer," Swingle said.

Lape's family members said the jurors' decision for Brown's sentence was not their own but were pleased that "justice was done."

"We don't have to like it, and we don't, but we have to accept that," Lape's sister Diane Miller said of the sentence.

Lape's family could have ended prosecution years ago by allowing a plea agreement, but Miller said they wanted jurors to decide Brown's fate.

"We were not about to let Justin Brown get out of the process of this jury trial," she said. Miller called Brown's prosecution "his 79 miles," referring to the distance Brown and Gill took Lape from his home to New Madrid County.

When court adjourned Saturday afternoon, family members of Brown hugged his defense team. Outside of court, the family declined comment.

Circuit Judge Tracy L. Storie, who oversaw the case in Pulaski County on a change of venue, was expected to take up post-trial motions and impose Brown's sentence at 10:30 a.m. June 29.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127