BURLINGTON, Vt. -- A man who kidnapped a supermarket worker and fatally beat her as she prayed for her life was sentenced to death Thursday by a federal jury in Vermont's first capital-punishment case in almost a half century.
The jury took only about 10 hours to decide that 25-year-old Donald Fell should be executed. The last execution in Vermont was in 1954.
"We'll be there in the front row," promised Lori Hibbard, a daughter of victim Terry King.
Fell was found guilty June 24 of kidnapping the 53-year-old King as she arrived for work in Rutland. He took her to New York state and bludgeoned her to death during an alcohol-and-drug-induced stupor. The abduction took place as Fell and his accomplice fled after having fatally stabbed Fell's mother and a friend of hers.
Vermont has no death penalty, but because the killers crossed state lines, U.S. prosecutors brought charges under a federal law that allows the death penalty for a carjacking that results in a death.
Fell had agreed in 2001 to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. But that deal was rejected by then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who insisted on the death penalty, partly at the urgings of Fell's relatives.
Fell showed no emotion yesterday as the jury's recommendation was read by the clerk. Defense lawyer Gene Primomo then stood and spoke to the jury on Fell's behalf.
"He respects your decision. He appreciates your hard work and wants to tell you and the family of his sincere remorse. He did not want to do it at any other time publicly as it would be construed to be less genuine," Primomo said.
Outside the courthouse, Primomo said of Fell: "If he could trade his life for Mrs. King's, he would."
U.S. Attorney David Kirby said the jurors' decision "expressed the conscience of the community."
"As the evidence shows, these were horrific murders," Kirby said.
Under federal law, a judge must impose the death sentence if that is what the jury recommends. Fell's sentence will be reviewed automatically by a federal appeals court. Officials have said death most likely would be by lethal injection at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind.
"It's justice for my sister," Barbara Tuttle said after the verdict. "What he put her through -- the car ride, the beating in the woods -- he is not a normal person like us. Subhuman."
Fell's trial had prompted protests and vigils by death-penalty opponents. A dozen demonstrators stood outside the courthouse yesterday while the verdict was announced.
"Certainly, our hearts go out to the grief-stricken family and friends of his victims," Bishop Kenneth Angell of the Catholic Diocese of Vermont said in a statement. "But the cycle of violence which began with these brutal, vicious murders must not be allowed to continue."
Robert Lee -- the man charged as Fell's accomplice in the crimes -- accidentally hanged himself in prison in 2001, authorities said.
