Killer’s mother has ‘mixed feelings’ about death penalty
Sitting in her wheelchair almost exactly halfway between a convicted killer and the judge who will decide his fate, Jeanne Avsenew was asked Monday whether the killer, her son, deserves to die.
Peter Avsenew, 33, was convicted last year of murdering two men — a Wilton Manors couple who took him into their home in late 2010. Stephen Adams and Kevin Powell were found shot to death in the home they shared for 30 years.
He took their credit cards, their money and their car and drove north to his mother’s home in Polk County on Christmas Day. When she realized he was a killer, she turned him in.
She had no clear answer on the death penalty Monday.
“I have mixed feelings about that,” she said. “I know he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
The same jury that convicted Avsenew last November came back in January to recommend a sentence. Between the trial and penalty phase, Avsenew fired his defense lawyers. He gave the jury no reason to show him mercy. He questioned no witnesses and presented no evidence.
When it was his turn to speak, Avsenew showed no remorse.
“I have no regrets in my life and I’m proud of every decision I’ve ever made,” he said.
After the jury recommended death, Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes appointed an independent attorney, Art Marchetta, to uncover mitigating factors Avsenew refused to present. Judges are bound by recommendations of life in prison but can overturn a jury’s death verdict.
Marchetta called the defendant’s mother to testify about some of what he learned.
Avsenew’s sister, she said, was murdered when he was 8.
As a teenager, he said he was sexually abused by his stepfather.
As she was wheeled out of the courtroom, Jeanne Avsenew looked to her son but made no gestures. He looked back and said nothing.
Holmes is scheduled to impose her sentence today, determining whether Avsenew will live or die for the murders.