Possible death sentence awaits murderer of four

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000 | 11:06 a.m.

Jurors took four days to decide that Richard Powell was guilty of four first-degree murders. They must now decide if he should die for his deeds.

The punishment phase of Powell's trial is scheduled to start Wednesday before District Judge Michael Douglas.

The jurors, who began deliberating Wednesday morning, reached their verdict about 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Powell showed no reaction as a court clerk read the verdicts. Attorneys for both sides declined to comment afterward.

Powell was convicted of shooting Samantha Scotti, 24; Lisa Boyer, 26; and 19-year-olds Germaine Woods and Stephen Walker to death on May 1, 1992.

Prosecutors believe Powell wanted Scotti dead because she set up a drug deal between him and an undercover police officer in December 1990.

As the 4-year-old daughter of a roommate watched, Scotti was shot eight times while she showered. The other three were killed, prosecutors said, simply because they were there.

Although the state of Florida, which now has custody of the girl, would not allow her to testify during the trial, she still ended up being one of the state's main witnesses.

During the trial, jurors watched videotapes of when the girl told a child psychologist how she saw "Little Ray" and a man with "scary eyes" kill her friend Scotti. They also heard about how the girl identified Powell as "scary eyes" at his federal drug trial.

Powell's attorneys argued the child's identification of Powell was tainted and four informants who testified Powell bragged of the killings were not to be believed.

There was no physical evidence tying Powell to the crime scene.

The defense attorneys argued Vernell "Little Ray" Evans Jr., who was convicted and put on death row in 1994, committed the crimes with another drug dealer Scotti informed on.

In reaching their decision, the jurors had to consider the evidence of 28 prosecution witnesses and 27 defense witnesses.