Lawrence Colwell, Jr.

Lawrence Colwell, Jr., a 35-year-old white male, was voluntarily executed by lethal injection at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Nevada on March 26, 2004. Colwell was found guilty of the 1994 murder of Frank Rosenstock, a 76-year-old white male. Colwell, who was 25-years old when he committed the capital crime, was sentenced to death on February 25, 1995.

On March 10, 1994, Colwell, aka Charles Durrant, and his girlfriend, Merillee Paul, a 33-year-old white female, were at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had devised a plan whereby Paul would pretend she was a prostitute, find a male victim, and go with him back to his room and rob him.

Paul targeted Frank Rosenstock, a vacationing Florida tourist, and went with Rosenstock back to his room persuading him to get into the bathtub. While he was in the bathtub, Paul searched through his belongings for money and valuables. Without success in locating anything of value, she telephoned Colwell in the hotel lobby who told her to "wait there" as he proceeded up to the room.

Colwell knocked on the door, posing as a security guard, and Paul opened the door to let him enter. Colwell showed a fake badge and told Rosenstock he was being arrested for solicitation. Colwell handcuffed Rosenstock, found his wallet, and took it from him. The wallet contained credit cards and $91 in cash.

While Rosenstock was handcuffed, Colwell proceeded to take his belt and wrap it around his throat. Colwell looped the belt through the buckle, strangled Rosenstock, and in the course of the strangulation, slid Rosenstock off the bed down to the floor. Colwell had his foot on Rosenstock’s shoulders as he pulled on the belt, and as he did so, Colwell told Paul that it took a person six to eight minutes to die from strangulation. Colwell strangled Frank for at least five minutes. Finally, when Rosenstock's face was purple and Colwell could tell he was no longer breathing, he removed the belt.

Colwell and Paul then wiped areas of the room down with wet rags to remove fingerprints. They took a number of items from the room and placed them in Rosenstock's suitcase, including the belt used to strangle him and many other items, including glasses and ashtrays that they might have touched. Colwell kept the buckle from the belt. When finished, Colwell and Paul exited the room with the suitcase, leaving Rosenstock lying facedown and dead on the floor. They then went to a room at the Royal Oasis Motel.

Colwell and Paul left Las Vegas and went to Palm Springs, California where they met Kenneth Abell. Colwell told Abell about killing Rosenstock. Using Abell's car, Colwell and Paul next drove to Oregon where Paul turned herself in to the authorities and eventually entered into a plea agreement with the State whereby she agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and testify against Colwell. In exchange for her plea agreement, the State would recommend a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.

Colwell was soon arrested and arraigned. The State informed the court it would not be seeking the death penalty. However, Colwell desired to represent himself and so a hearing was held to determine if he was intelligently and voluntarily choosing to do so. Prior to this hearing, Colwell had agreed with the State to plead guilty to all charges on the condition that the State change its position and diligently seek the death penalty. So the district court filed notice of its intent to seek the death penalty.

Colwell was canvassed and allowed to represent himself although the court appointed standby counsel for him. Colwell was allowed to plead guilty to one count of murder in the first-degree and one count of robbery of a victim 65 years of age or older after which Colwell requested that the penalty hearing be conducted as soon as possible.

During the two-day penalty hearing before a three-judge panel, Colwell failed to conduct meaningful cross-examination and in fact attempted to bring out damaging evidence that the prosecution had failed to address. In addition, Colwell made no objections to the State's evidence, and because he failed to make any objections, the three-judge panel felt compelled to comment about his defense. Colwell also refused to introduce any mitigating evidence. His closing argument was a plea that he be put to death, and by unanimous vote the panel complied with his request.

Accomplice Paul was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole; on May 21, 2004, and May 16, 2007, she was denied parole.

References

* Michelangelo Delfino and Mary E. Day, "Death Penalty USA 2003 -2004", (2008), 247-250.
* "Colwell v. State" (1996) 919 P.2d 403.

See also

* Capital punishment in Nevada
* Capital punishment in the United States