Convicted murderer Max Tito will have to wait a little longer to learn whether he will be sentenced to death for the murder of 16-year-old Donnel Conover after his sentencing hearing, the first for a murder convict in the Bahamas, was adjourned to Thursday.
The Crown is asking for the maximum penalty of death but the defence is hoping to convince the court that a prison term is sufficient punishment for a man convicted of murdering the high school student.
When the sentence is handed down later this week, Justice Anita Allen will be the first judge to make such a decision in a Bahamian court.
After hearing submissions by Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Turner and defence lawyer Wayne Munroe, and testimony from a probation officer on Thursday, Justice Allen said she would review the details carefully, given this was the first sentencing in a murder conviction – a requirement now that the Privy Council has ruled that the mandatory death sentence in The Bahamas is unconstitutional.
Tito, 24, was convicted last month of killing Donnel Conover, whose body was found in a quarry pit off Cowpen Road in May of 2002.
In his attempt to convince the court that the death penalty was a fitting sentence, Mr. Turner pointed to the “heinousness” of the crime, specifically that Miss Conover’s head had been crushed, parts of her body burned after her death, and that she had been lured from her home in the middle of the night.
He also noted that the teenager’s body was covered with lacerations and bruises and that testimony during the trial revealed that she had been engaged in sexual activity shortly before her death.
However, Mr. Munroe argued that because it had not been determined if Miss Conover was killed by repeated blows to the head or a single action of a truck rolling over her, the court had to consider the lesser of the two acts, which he submitted was the “single action.”
He also argued that Miss Conover left her home willingly on the night before she was found dead, and there was no sign that the teenager had been raped.
Mr. Munroe pointed out that Tito had been abandoned by both of his parents as a young child – at the age of four or five – an event that the probation officer agreed may have impacted his social development.
He said Tito’s abandonment was exacerbated by the fact that his mother had taken along one of his siblings when she left, but Tito was left behind to live with the family of his brother who was 19 years his senior.
Mr. Munroe also noted that the majority of persons interviewed for the welfare report described Tito as a “peaceful and non-violent” person, adding that if the convict was beyond rehabilitation, he would not have admitted to previous wrongs, such as shoplifting as a young boy or using alcohol and drugs.
In her report, Acting Chief Probation Officer Deidre Hepburn said that Tito admitted to using alcohol and marijuana socially, but it did not appear that he abused the substances.
The report also revealed that Tito had an altercation with Miss Conover’s brother while on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison.
During his submissions, Mr. Turner argued that while sentencing guidelines had not yet been put in place since the Privy Council’s ruling, other legal authorities, specifically from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, provided the necessary guidelines.
Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson told The Bahama Journal in an earlier interview that the judiciary had come up with its own set of sentencing guidelines.
Asked by Justice Allen if he had anything to say at the end of the submissions and testimony, Tito continued to maintain his innocence. “I ain’t kill nobody,” he said.
The hearing continues, Thursday, April 21 at 10 a.m.
By: Erica Wells, The Bahama Journal
