Jurors consider death for Dotson

Erica D. Johnson

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

A defense attorney fought back tears Thursday as she pleaded with jurors to spare the life of a man convicted in the brutal killing of an elderly Las Vegas woman.

In a passionate opening statement in the penalty phase of Anthony Dotson's murder trial, Deputy Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson asked jurors to show mercy toward Dotson and not return with a death penalty verdict.

"At some point the tragedy, the killing, the dying has got to stop," she said. "There is a human element that needs to be injected."

Jackson said jurors were fair when they declared Dotson guilty of first-degree murder in the December 1999 death of Doris Bair, 79.

But death isn't the answer, she said.

"By your verdict yesterday you have stopped Mr. Dotson," she said. "Your mother and my mother will be safe. Tony can be justly punished without being killed."

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz had argued for jurors to return with a verdict of death after he detailed Dotson's laundry list of prior convictions.

Dotson has preyed on elderly women since he was first convicted of burglary in Los Angeles in 1976, he said.

"It's not going to be an easy thing to ask and it's never an easy thing to do," he said. "But we're going to ask you to return a sentence of death for the cruel pain and suffering he caused."

Bair's body was found in her home in the 1400 block of Bracken Avenue. She had been beaten and gagged and her hands were bound with shoelaces from her sneakers.

As Bair's family members gave emotional testimony about the toll her death has taken on their family, several jurors cried and one became so upset that she asked to leave the courtroom.

District Judge Michael Cherry asked attorneys to limit the number of witnesses, saying too much testimony could become repetitive.

"I've got a juror that almost collapsed here," he said. "This is very emotional."

Jurors also learned for the first time that Dotson had once pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges, including murder, in the case.

A new trial was ordered when the three-judge panel that was to determine Dotson's fate was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lorna Stevens, Bair's sister of Lancaster, Texas, described the pain of entering Bair's house following her death.

"To see her blood smeared on the wall and see the pile of blood where he left her to die ..." she said, crying.

Stevens has to take medication to sleep because she can't get images of her sister's brutal death out of her mind, she said.

"My whole world collapsed," she said. "We were as close as two people could be."

H.S. Stevens, Bair's brother-in-law, told jurors how difficult it was to identify Bair's beaten body at the morgue.

"Her face looked like Mike Tyson had used her as a punching bag," he said. "If I live 200 years I'll never forget it."

Schwartz said Dotson was convicted of three felonies in Los Angeles between 1976 and 1985. Most involved the brutalization of elderly women.

After his release from prison, his parole was revoked no less than three times, he said.

Jackson, who said she was not making excuses for Dotson's actions, urged jurors to consider Dotson's rough childhood when deciding his fate.

Dotson was sexually abused by an elderly family member as a child, which could explain his treatment of elderly women, she said. Dotson also has organic brain damage.

Jackson said Dotson was abandoned by his mother, who will not testify on his behalf during the penalty phase.

"Her exact words were, 'I decline,' " Jackson said. "And that's what she did all his life. She declined to be his mother."