Panhandle Boys Indicted For Murdering Father
By Bill Kaczor, for The Associated Press
Originally published by The Associated Press, December 12, 2001
PENSACOLA — A grand jury indicted two adolescent brothers as adults on premeditated murder and arson charges Tuesday for killing their father, and a family friend was charged with hiding the boys from police.
State law would require a judge to sentence Derek and Alex King, ages 13 and 12, to life in prison without parole if they are convicted on the first-degree murder charges.
The boys were missing when firefighters found the body of Terry King, 40, inside his burning home in Cantonment, a blue-collar suburb north of Pensacola, on Nov. 26. He had been bludgeoned to death.
The two adolescent brothers were indicted by a grand jury as adults on first-degree murder and arson charges Tuesday for the bludgeoning death of their father Terry King, whose body was found in his burning home Nov. 26. Escambia County sheriff's deputies arrested Ricky Marvin Chavez, 40, of Pensacola, at the Pensacola courthouse Tuesday after he testified before the grand jury. He was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.
Sheriff Ron McNesby said investigators were still developing a motive, but noted Chavez had prior arrests on charges of sexual misconduct with young boys.
"This is such an involved case at this point," McNesby said at a news conference. "This thing is a long way from over."
Chavez admitted to investigators he picked up the boys at a convenience store while the house was on fire and drove them to his home, an arrest report said. He then washed their clothes, knowing they had killed their father, the report said.
He also admitted that when deputies visited his home later that day the two boys were hiding in the rear bedroom, the report says. The boys turned themselves in the next day. Each had been charged with an open count of murder, pending the grand jury's decision.
Chavez was being held Tuesday on $50,000 bond. The Escambia County Public Defender's Office did return a phone message left after business hours Tuesday seeking comment and it could not be determined if Chavez has an attorney.
The boys' attorneys said Tuesday that Derek and Alex had been expecting their indictment.
"I quite frankly told them this is what would happen," said James Stokes, Alex's lawyer. "I was hoping against it."
He said he planned to visit the boys, who were moved to the county jail from a juvenile detention center after they were indicted.
"They are holding up as well as can be expected," Stokes said. He said he earlier had explained the seriousness of the situation but added "I'm not sure it has dawned on them yet."
Stokes and Sharon Potter, Derek's lawyer, said innocent pleas will be entered at an arraignment Thursday.
The lawyers also said they will ask a judge to let the boys return to the juvenile facility, where they received schooling, instead of being transferred to the county jail's special housing unit, the usual procedure for juveniles charged as adults.
"Guess who stays in the special housing unit?" Stokes said. "Child molesters."
Although adults and juveniles are kept separate, Stokes said he was worried they may come in contact during the normal transfer of inmates.
"If for nothing else but to relieve the boredom, the other prisoners will suggest things that will probably make your hair curl," Stokes said.
Six years ago, the boys spent about eight months in a school for troubled children. Alex then returned to his father, while Derek went to a foster family.
Derek was having behavioral problems and returned to his father in October. The boys ran away Nov. 16 and camped in the woods. They were returned home separately during the two days before their father's death.
Terry King's diary detailed his struggles to keep his family together but gave no hint of what was to come. The diary, obtained by the Pensacola News Journal and quoted in Tuesday editions, appears to have been written about six years ago when the family split up. King had tender words for his sons.
"A lot of time people mistake children for objects of personal property," he wrote. "They are not objects, they are little people with feelings and emotions, and those feelings and emotions are very fragile and should be protected and considered in general."
King and the boys' mother, Janet French, were never married. He wrote that she had no desire to be with his sons and two other boys she had with another man.
King, a printer, wrote that he lost his job and was evicted from his home in 1993. He eventually got another job that paid only $5 an hour while French worked as a dancer. She would be gone for days at a time and finally moved out, according to the diary. French left King six years ago and moved to the Lexington, Ky., area three years ago.
Two recent high-profile cases have brought attention to the state's laws regarding juvenile offenders convicted as adults. The statutes require adult sentences, including life in prison for first-degree murder.
In July, Nathaniel Brazill, who was 13 when he shot and killed his teacher in Lake Worth, was sentenced to 28 years in prison. In January, Lionel Tate was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a 6-year-old girl in Pembroke Park when he was 12. He says he was imitating pro wrestling moves when he killed Tiffany Eunick.
