Alamogordo, N.M. – Jurors began determining Monday whether a 16-year-old boy is guilty of murdering his family on newsman Sam Donaldson’s ranch, after a prosecutor called the teen a cold-blooded killer who hid the bodies in a manure pile and a defense attorney countered that the shootings were in self-defense.
In her closing argument, prosecutor Janice Schryer urged the jury to convict Cody Posey of first-degree murder in the deaths of his father, stepmother and stepsister despite defense claims that he suffered years of physical and mental abuse.
“It’s not a case about abuse,” Schryer said. “It’s a case about cold-blooded, intentional murder perpetrated by Cody Posey.”
Defense attorney Gary Mitchell said the boy had been isolated on the ranch and subjected to repeated abuse, including beatings and excruciating chores, such as filling a trough with water using a Dixie cup.
Posey was arrested a few days after the bodies of his father and stepmother, Paul and Tryone Posey, and his stepsister, 13-year- old Mary Lee Schmid, were found on Donaldson’s Chavez Canyon Ranch in July 2004. The elder Posey was the ranch’s manager.
The jury was deliberating first-degree murder and lesser charges .
Donaldson was the first witness, taking the stand Jan. 17 to describe finding a bloody scene upon returning from a trip.
