MI MI/TX - CARL EUGENE WATTS, "The Sunday Morning Slasher"

Litlstar04

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Some of you may remember in the old forum I had started a thread about the release of admitted serial killer Coral Watts. There have been a couple of stories on him recently in the Houston area, including a news station which released clips of his taped confession. You have to sign in and have or download RealPlayer to view, but it's free:
http://www.khou.com/news/upclose/stories/khou031030_ds_WattsConfessions.26b73fa.html
I received an email from Harriett Semander, the mother of Watts' fifth victim Elena. She sounds positive that Watts will have to return to Michigan to face murder charges there for cases which he did not receive immunity on. This is the best news we've had lately concerning Watts impending release from the Texas prison system. My heart goes out to all of the families of Watts' victims as they have to relive the details of their loved ones' deaths with the release of these videotapes.
To learn more about Watts and his release, please go to http://www.murdervictims.com/watts.htm
 
A confessed Michigan serial killer who is scheduled for release from a Texas prison in two years is expected to be charged today with murder in a case officials hope will keep him behind bars for life, the Free Press has learned.

Coral E. Watts, 50, is serving a burglary sentence in Huntsville, Texas, despite admitting to killing 13 women, including three in metropolitan Detroit. One of the victims was former Detroit News food writer Jeanne Clyne, who was stabbed to death on a sidewalk in Grosse Pointe Farms in 1979

http://www.freep.com/news/metro/serial4_20040304.htm
 
If a Michigan jury can't convict confessed serial killer Coral Eugene Watts, another murder charge could await him in Texas, where he is set to be released from prison in 2006 on a burglary conviction, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

"We are not going to forget Coral Eugene Watts," Waller County District Attorney Oliver Kitzman said Tuesday shortly after Gov. Rick Perry signed an extradition request to send Watts to Michigan to face a murder charge. "We have a viable case against Coral Eugene Watts here in Waller County if it becomes appropriate to prosecute him."

Watts admitted killing 13 women in a 1982 plea agreement but received immunity in the slayings in exchange for a 60-year sentence for burglary with intent to commit murder.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2982755/detail.html
 
REMEMBER THIS SON OF A BEOTCH??

Jurors begin deliberations in murder trial of confessed serial killer

A poster of Coral Eugene Watts' prior victims was shown to the jury during the prosecution's closing arguments.

The fate of admitted serial killer Coral Eugene Watts went to a Michigan jury Tuesday after his defense mounted a brief, one-witness case and counsel delievered closing arguments.

While prosecutors trying Watts for Helen Dutcher's stabbing death urged jurors to consider similarities between her murder and 12 other slayings Watts confessed to, the defendant's lawyer implored the panel to "keep their eye on the ball."

"You heard about a lot of other incidents and bad acts," Ronald Kaplovitz said during his closing arguments Tuesday. "But the real issue in this case is what happened on Dec. 1, 1979."

Watts, 51, is accused of first-degree murder and faces a mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted.

The Michigan Attorney General's office argued throughout the weeklong trial that Watts brutally stabbed Dutcher 12 times in the left side of her face, neck and chest in a manner consistent with other murders he confessed to in a 1982 plea-bargain deal.

Among them, he admitted to stabbing Jeanne Clyne of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., 31 days before Dutcher's murder.

Confessed serial killer Coral Eugene Watts listens as the prosecution asks the jury to convict him of murder during closing arguments Tuesday.


As a result of the plea, Watts was sentenced to 60 years in prison. After receiving credit for good time, his sentence was shortened. He is due for release in 2006, unless he is convicted of killing 36-year-old Dutcher.

Unless this jury convicts him, this monster will be released in a little over a year!!!!!

Photos and the rest of the story at:

http://www.courttv.com/trials/watts/111604_ctv.html
 
I think he received a very good defense considering the facts. His attorney is rather admirable, IMO.

That said, I can't stand the DTHs on tv today saying that he should be acquitted.

How would society be protected from this man?

"Surveillance." was the answer. Barf! And will you take him into your home as a boarder?

Sorry. This business of not wanting to convict an "innocent" man doesn't wash here. He's not innocent. He's an admitted serial killer who kills for pleasure. I wonder if he stalked MEN if the male THs would be so quick to suggest that Watts be acquitted?

I hope Coral Eugene Watts is convicted and locked up FOREVER. And I hope that other jurisdictions are also able to mount prosecutions. I don't trust the system to keep him off the streets.

20 years for 12 murders! Unbelievable!
 
This is an odd case. Is there enough evidence to convict this guy? A single eye witness standing 80 feet away, observing a murder in a dimly lit alley, some 25 years ago. The pattern /MO is similar to the other murders to which the guy confessed, but is not unique enough to exclude many other killers. The defence only attacked the reliability of the witness, but no mention was made of other similar attacks by other black assailants (would that be permissable?)

Anyway, I have little doubt that the jury will convict this guy, but I think it will be based solely on his history, and not based on this particular murder.
 
As I was watching info about this trial on TV today, I realized that the spouse of one of the victims used to be a co-worker of mine. He lived in Grosse Pointe, an up-scale suburb of Detroit with very little crime. Ferndale, the place the crime now with the jury took place, is about a 10 min. drive from where I now live. All of this really gives me the creeps! I hope the jury does their duty and finds this serial killer guilty as I'd hate to have him roaming the streets next year.
 
This case, for me, is what the death penalty is all about. They give this guy 60 years and he's out in 20. If a prisoner is on death row, he may or may not be executed in his lifetime, but he's never released. I didn't have the opportunity to watch this trial, so I don't know if there is enough evidence in this case to get a guilty verdict, but I do give serious brownie points to the prosecutor for doing everything in her/his power to at least try to keep this monster in prison where he belongs. Its true that the jury may give him a guilty verdict in this case to "right some wrongs," but such is life. You murder 12+ people, and you seriously have to take what you can get. Its hard to give it a hell of a lot of thought in a case like this.
 
Jacobi said:
This is an odd case. Is there enough evidence to convict this guy? A single eye witness standing 80 feet away, observing a murder in a dimly lit alley, some 25 years ago. The pattern /MO is similar to the other murders to which the guy confessed, but is not unique enough to exclude many other killers. The defence only attacked the reliability of the witness, but no mention was made of other similar attacks by other black assailants (would that be permissable?)
Anyway, I have little doubt that the jury will convict this guy, but I think it will be based solely on his history, and not based on this particular murder.

I respectfully disagree, Jacobi and I wonder if you followed the evidence in this case. I would agree with you if Mr. Foy, the eyewitness, came forward this year with his claim and made the ID only now. However, there is much more to this story and it adds to the credibility of the ID, IMO.

First of all, Foy went to the police right away and described the assailant and a sketch was made. The sketch of the man was introduced and is quite consistent with a photo of Watts at the time of the murder.

Second, two years later, when Watts was arrested and was pictured on television, Foy saw him and spontaneously said to his then-wife, "That's the man! That's the man who killed that woman!" And again he went to police. The ex-wife testified to this. But since there were other crimes and since he was put away, they thought, for 60 years, the Helen Dutcher murder wasn't pursued.

Fast forward to 2004 and the effort by Michigan to keep Watts in prison and the appeal on Dan Abrams show which Foy happened to be watching with his new wife and again he recognized Watts as the man who killed Helen Dutcher and called the number.

Now, knowing those facts, do you still believe that Foy's ID, which btw was tested on the stand by cross examination, is suspect? I don't.
 
Jeana (DP) said:
This case, for me, is what the death penalty is all about. They give this guy 60 years and he's out in 20. If a prisoner is on death row, he may or may not be executed in his lifetime, but he's never released. I didn't have the opportunity to watch this trial, so I don't know if there is enough evidence in this case to get a guilty verdict, but I do give serious brownie points to the prosecutor for doing everything in her/his power to at least try to keep this monster in prison where he belongs. Its true that the jury may give him a guilty verdict in this case to "right some wrongs," but such is life. You murder 12+ people, and you seriously have to take what you can get. Its hard to give it a hell of a lot of thought in a case like this.
Well, DP (?), the DP was never an option. I suppose the state could have gone with 1st degree attempted murder and left the other actual murders go unsolved, but I think they wanted the best of both worlds and purposely mislead Watts into plea bargaining. They have only themselves to blame should he get out. At least now, by some fortuitous (and suspicious) twist, they have a chance to put him away for good.
 
Jacobi said:
Well, DP (?), the DP was never an option. I suppose the state could have gone with 1st degree attempted murder and left the other actual murders go unsolved, but I think they wanted the best of both worlds and purposely mislead Watts into plea bargaining. They have only themselves to blame should he get out. At least now, by some fortuitous (and suspicious) twist, they have a chance to put him away for good.


I was speaking more in generalities than in this specific case. There was no "misleading" however. His attorneys no doubt informed him that with time for good behavior, he would come no where near the 60 years he was sentenced to. And, in case you're not aware of it, most criminals know more than you or I do about how the court sentences them for their crimes. They know the statute numbers and everything. They may be murderous monsters, but they know what they're doing.

As for the 1979 murder of this young woman being a "fortuitous" twist, that's up for debate. I'm sure there are other murders attributable to this monster and believe me, if we get him here in one of our Texas courts, there will be no time for good behavior.

If he gets out, you could always invite him to come and live with your family.
 
Jury update:

The judge has dismissed one juror. They are beginning deliberations again with an alternate.
 
lisafremont said:
I think he received a very good defense considering the facts. His attorney is rather admirable, IMO.

That said, I can't stand the DTHs on tv today saying that he should be acquitted.

How would society be protected from this man?

"Surveillance." was the answer. Barf! And will you take him into your home as a boarder?

Sorry. This business of not wanting to convict an "innocent" man doesn't wash here. He's not innocent. He's an admitted serial killer who kills for pleasure. I wonder if he stalked MEN if the male THs would be so quick to suggest that Watts be acquitted?

I hope Coral Eugene Watts is convicted and locked up FOREVER. And I hope that other jurisdictions are also able to mount prosecutions. I don't trust the system to keep him off the streets.

20 years for 12 murders! Unbelievable!

If they think this man should be acquitted, then they must believe that all murderers should be acquitted. How would they like this serial killer living next to them or the people they love? I'm scared to live in the same state as him. This man has made a career out of killing. If he gets out, he will kill again. He's a killing machine.

 

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