'I don't believe I will ever see him executed'

The nation's highest court on Tuesday took up the murder case in which Lodi High School graduate Steacy McConnell was beaten to death in her Victor home during a botched burglary.

Fernando Belmontes has spent more than 25 years behind bars for the March 15, 1981, slaying, which ultimately netted $100 when he and accomplices sold the 19-year-old woman's stereo.

The case has gone through so many rounds of court battles that McConnell's parents didn't even know the nation's highest court was hearing it Tuesday. The court will issue a ruling later, and the case will likely go through more rounds of appeals.

"Even if they overturn the overturning or over-rule the over-ruling, I don't believe I will ever see him executed in my lifetime," Mary Ellen McConnell said at her Lockeford home, where a shelf dedicated to her daughter is filled with photos and also holds the young woman's ashes.

Tuesday's hourlong hearing came on the first day of oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court's fall session.

The issue revolves around a jury instruction, and whether jurors debating the death penalty were properly told to consider whether Belmontes could be a productive person in prison if given a life sentence. The outcome would affect roughly 15 other California cases, state attorney Mark A. Johnson told the court.

Fernando Belmontes

In the Belmontes case, the court's decision will either uphold a Ninth Circuit ruling that threw out the death penalty, or it will reopen the possibility of Belmontes' execution.

On March 8, 1981, Steacy McConnell, a fifth-generation Lodi resident with red hair and brown eyes, had called her parents and said someone had threatened her. So Ken and Mary Ellen McConnell decided to check up on their daughter and take her some groceries.

They arrived at her rented Victor home around 1:30 p.m. that Sunday and found her unconscious on the floor. Mary Ellen McConnell still remembers screaming and calling the operator — 911 didn't exist then, she said — and then running across the street and bursting through the neighbors' front door as they ate an early Sunday dinner.

Steacy McConnell was rushed to Lodi Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A pathologist would later testify that she died of more than 20 blows to the head.

Three suspects were arrested later that week: Belmontes was convicted and sentenced to death; Domingo Vasquez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and remains in prison; and prosecutors ultimately dropped a murder charge against Robert Bolanos, who pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and testified against the other two men.

Steacy McConnell

The McConnells have followed the unrelated case of Michael Morales, who killed 17-year-old Tokay High School senior Terri Lynn Winchell just two months before the McConnell slaying.

Morales was minutes away from execution last January when it was halted, and a federal judge last week heard four days of arguments regarding whether California's method of lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. He is expected to rule in November.

McConnell, who would have celebrated her 45th birthday last month, graduated from Lodi High in 1979 and was in her first year at Delta College, where she was studying to become a probation officer. She had befriended several people who did drugs, and the day before her killing she kicked some of them out of her house after they allegedly stole drugs from the home, according to court documents.

The case went to trial, and a San Joaquin County jury spent hours deliberating whether Belmontes should receive a death sentence, then returned to ask the judge what would happen if they couldn't reach a unanimous decision. One juror also asked if Belmontes could get psychiatric treatment in prison, and the judge told jurors not to consider that option.

The jurors voted unanimously for death, and the defense has since argued that the judge should have instead told jurors to look at all factors given to them.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that California in 1983 clarified the instruction, though Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out that it could have instead been a "problem of Ninth Circuit confusion rather than jury confusion," according to transcripts of Tuesday's arguments posted on the court's Web site.

The justices were obviously well-briefed on the case. They knew that Belmontes had previously served time in the California Youth Authority for an accessory to voluntary manslaughter conviction. He was assigned to work on a fire crew in the Sierra foothills and ultimately became second in command of the team, according to court documents.

Belmontes also got involved in a Christian group and testified at trial that he came from an abusive home and couldn't seem to stay out of trouble when he was out of custody. Several witnesses testified that he did well in prison and would be a help in counseling other inmates.

At a glance

Other cases the Supreme Court is hearing this month:
• Whether California law that allows judges to lengthen sentences is constitutional.
• Whether jurors in a San Jose murder trial were affected by three family members who wore buttons depicting the victim.
• Whether a pay phone company may sue a private long-distance provider because the toll-free numbers prevent the pay phone owners from getting any money from the customer.
Source: Supreme Court's Web site, http://www.supremecourtus.gov.

How the justices will rule remains to be seen, though Justice Anthony Kennedy likened the issue to remorse after the fact: "Remorse doesn't excuse the crime. It's a consideration that you take into account in assessing the gravity of the crime for purposes of punishment."

And Scalia asked why, if the judge's instruction was so wrong, the defense attorney didn't object at the time. Defense attorney Eric Multhaup, of Mill Valley, responded that the question came in the midst of jury deliberations and that nobody had expected it.

No matter what happens, Steacy McConnell's parents said their only daughter is gone and time has only helped in terms of distance from the horrific event.

"You just learn to cope with it," Mary Ellen McConnell said. "At first you don't think you can go on, but then you do move one, and you can smile and mean it."

Ken McConnell nodded and added: "But you never forget it."

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

First published: Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Reader Feedback

Kent Scheidegger wrote on Oct 4, 2006 5:18 PM:

" It is a travesty that this case has gone on so long, particularly in the absence of any question of guilt. For anyone interested in reading more about the case, the "friend of the court" brief of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation is available on our web site at www.cjlf.org. "

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Richard McIntyre wrote on Oct 4, 2006 2:47 PM:

" The American justice system is full of shortcomings. There always seems to be a way for snakes like this guy to slither their way out of what they deserve. The Islamic justice system is secure and would definitely have sealed this scumbag's fate a long time ago. Muslims don't dance around the issues. This guy's head would've rolled the minute the evidence was found sufficient enough for him to receive the death penalty. "

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Kent Scheidegger wrote on Oct 4, 2006 2:22 PM:

" It is a travesty that a case should drag on this long, particularly in the absence of any doubt of guilt. For anyone wishing to read more on the case, my "friend of the court" brief is available on our organization's web site, www.cjlf.org. "

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Terri Winchell's mom, Barbara wrote on Oct 4, 2006 1:29 PM:

" Mary Ellen and Ken: My heart goes out to you. I know the pain you have lived with all these years by Steacy's suffering. Our prayer is that justice will be done and the pain in your hearts will be soothed. God bless you, and may He wrap His loving arms around you! You are in my prayers. "

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Fischgoth wrote on Oct 4, 2006 1:11 PM:

" Steacy's mother has had to live with her grief. Her daughter was beaten to death--more than 20 times. Yet her assailant is still breathing. Why? Mary Ellen, I'm so sorry for your loss and grief. Once again our laws seem to be on the side of the bad guy. How some of our judges and lawyers can live with themselves is beyond me. "

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Weezer wrote on Oct 4, 2006 11:38 AM:

" So it's not just the Winchells but the McConnells also who continue to suffer all these years. In the meantime, the government has spent precious dollars in keeping the criminals alive in their prison cells while the lethal injection chamber gathers dust. Something's wrong here. Abolish the death penalty or implement it! "

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David wrote on Oct 4, 2006 7:56 AM:

" To the McConnell's, my heart goes out to you folks,may the Lord Jesus his peace and comfort be with you to give you strengh this man deserves the death penalty I will be praying for you David Winchell Terri's brother "

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