Dead Reckoning

"Do not let the defense distract you from what you took an oath to decide. Do not let the defense distract you from the issues in this case. Don't lose sight that we're here to judge the defendant's conduct on February 24, 1999. Don't lose sight of the selfish, callous motives that were behind what the defendant did in this case. Don't lose sight of the cold-blooded, intentional, purposeful way this defendant behaved both before and after he killed Peyton Tuthill...The evidence of intent and deliberation, ladies and gentlemen, is overwhelming. He placed his own freedom ahead of Peyton Tuthill's life.

"Ladies and gentlemen...I'm asking you to deliberate and reach a verdict that says, 'Mr. Page, we have examined all the evidence. You had a rough childhood, but that's no excuse for what you did...We believe you deliberated, and we believe you are guilty of first-degree murder."

And with those words, the trial ended. Judge Meyer read the jurors their instructions and then sent them off to deliberate.

Pat Tuthill returned to her hotel room to cry. She'd forced herself into the courtroom each day, bringing with her two photographs of Peyton, including the one taken in Wyoming. And she'd brought flowers -- daisies, Peyton's favorite. She wanted to remind everyone that her daughter had once been a beautiful young woman with her whole life in front of her, not a body to be argued over by lawyers.

She thought Judge Meyer had managed his courtroom well and ruled fairly for both sides. But the defense lawyers had driven her to distraction with their arguments about whether Page had deliberated. Of course he deliberated, she thought. He could have left when he heard her come in; she hadn't even seen his face. If all he wanted to do was rob her and get away, why did he have to rape her? And not just rape her, but beat her around that room and then sodomize her? He wanted no witnesses, but did that include mutilation and torture? He wanted to rape her. He wanted to terrorize and kill her. He'd deliberated.

The jury agreed. After two days, on November 21, they returned with their verdict: guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder after deliberation. Peyton's friends and family released a collective sob. Page looked down at the defense table, betraying no emotion.

Because Page was now facing a death-penalty hearing, the prosecutors wouldn't comment after the verdict. Page's attorneys also left the courthouse without making a statement. They released one later: "Our hearts go out to the Tuthill family. Our sincerest hopes and prayers are that they can begin the process of healing.

"Whether or not Donta Page lives or dies is now up to a panel of three judges. Our remaining hope is that his life as the victim of severe abuse, neglect, rape, brain damage and mental illness will lead these three judges to a decision which will recognize that a life sentence without parole is a just result."

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The death-penalty hearing for Donta Page began on February 20, 2001, in front of trial judge Meyer and two judges selected to serve on the panel with him, Leland Anderson and R. Brooke Jackson, both of Jefferson County District Court. But the legal maneuvering had begun well before that.

Soon after the trial, Page's defense team had sent a letter to local religious, business and community leaders asking them, as the "voice of the community," to weigh in against the death penalty. While statewide polls had repeatedly found that Coloradans supported the death penalty, in Denver no man had been sent to death row since 1987, when a jury had sentenced Frank Rodriguez to death for the rape and murder of 54-year-old Lorraine Martelli. The letter was posted on the Coloradans Against the Death Penalty Web site. Peyton's family saw it as a hurtful attempt to drum up public support for Page.

Their anger grew when they learned that four jurors from the Page trial had signed affidavits asking that they be allowed to testify that they believed Page should be sentenced to life in prison.

The idea of jurors who had just convicted a murder defendant asking to testify in front of a death-penalty panel was a new twist on the state's death-penalty system. Lucas Salmon's attorneys had tried a similar tactic in June 1999, but the court had denied their request. Salmon was spared the death penalty when a lone judge voted against it.

Denver prosecutors quickly filed motions objecting to any testimony from jurors or community leaders, arguing that it was "irrelevant."

"These people are citizens who willingly served as jurors in a very difficult case and sifted through hours and hours of evidence and testimony," countered Don Bounds, president of Coloradans Against the Death Penalty. "District Attorney Ritter is effectively telling them that their opinion about such a literally life-and-death issue as the appropriate sentence doesn't matter.