Opening statements begin Monday afternoon in the murder trial of Dexter Lewis, who is accused of stabbing five people to death in a Denver bar. It marks the start of a rare death penalty case in Denver.
It will be the first time Denver prosecutors have tried a death penalty case since 2001, and the first time District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has sought to since he was sworn in in 2005.
A jury was out of a pool of nearly 600 people.
Lewis, 25, is accused of killing five people inside Fero’s Bar & Grill on South Colorado Boulevard in October 2012. Two co-defendants, brothers Lynell and Joseph Hill, pleaded guilty to the killings in July 2013.
Joseph Hill pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree felony murder, and his brother pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and arson.
The victims were 53-year-old Young Suk Fero, an Aurora woman who owned the bar; Daria M. Pohl, 21, of Denver; Kellene Fallon, 44, of Denver; Ross Richter, 29, of Overland Park, Kan.; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, of Denver.
Lewis also is accused of trying to hire a former prison cellmate to kill several witnesses who were expected to testify against him.
History is against Morrissey in that it could prove difficult to persuade a Denver jury to sentence Lewis to death, said Michael Radelet, a sociology professor and death penalty expert at the University of Colorado.
“It’s unusual for the whole state of Colorado to do it,” said Radelet, who opposes the death penalty. “In Denver, it is very difficult to get a death sentence.”
Radelet also said prosecutors will have to work hard to make the two brothers appear as credible witnesses to jurors.
Still, juries can be surprising. Radelet said he did not expect a Boston-based federal jury to deliver a death sentence to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber. The death penalty is not an option in state courts, and Boston is a notoriously liberal city.
“Predicting this stuff is really hard,” Radelet said.
The last time a Denver jury chose to execute a person was in 1986, when Frank Rodriguez was convicted in the rape and murder of Lorraine Martelli.
The Lewis trial also kicks off while another high-profile death penalty case continues in Arapahoe County. On Thursday, a jury convicted James Holmes of 166 counts, including 24 related to the murders of 12 people inside a theater he attacked in July 2012.
On Wednesday, jurors will begin hearing testimony that could influence their decision to sentence Holmes to death.
Colorado has three men on death row, but the state has not executed anyone since 1997.
In 2013, Gov. John Hickenlooper granted an indefinite reprieve to death row inmate Nathan Dunlap, essentially putting a hold on executions while he is governor.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1201 or nphillips@denverpost.com
