Letter from Donta Page's Attorney
Following is a plea to the public from the attorney for Donta Page. He urges you to read his letter, then promptly send your own letters to him (for forwarding to the judges in Donta Page's case). Please hurry! Send letters before Donta Page's sentencing hearing, which is now scheduled for February 20, 2001.
The letters should be addressed to The Honorable Joseph Meyer, The Honorable Leland Anderson, and The Honorable Brook Jackson. Please send your letters in care of Page's attorney, James A. Castle at 1860 Race St., Denver CO 80206.
Be sure your letters include an understanding of the
details of Donta Page's case. A key concept for letter
writers is to express the "conscience of the community" in
their
appeal to not impose the death penalty.
CADP supports a life sentence for Donta Page.
James A. Castle
Attorney at law
1999 Broadway, Ste. 3205
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 675-0500
f: (303) 296-6275
email: Jcastlelaw@AOL.com
To whom it may concern:
I am the attorney for a young African American man, Donta Page, who has been convicted of the crimes of First Degree Deliberate Murder, First Degree Felony Murder, First Degree Sexual Assault, First Degree Burglary and Aggravated Robbery against a young Caucasian woman, Peyton Tuthill. Mr. Page is now scheduled for a hearing where three judges will decide whether he receives a life sentence without the possibility of parole or a sentence of death by lethal injection.
One of the issues the judges will be focusing on at the penalty phase is whether the conscience of the community demands execution in this case. It is my desire to present evidence at the sentencing hearing from religious and community leaders that reflects the conscience of the community and that supports a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Donta is now a 24 year old man who was born on March 28, 1976 to a 16 year old single mother who was suffering from gonorrhea and had little, if any, prenatal care. Donta's mother, Patricia Page, was raised by her aunt as her mother (Donta's grandmother, Linda Page) gave birth to her at the age of 14 years and Patricia was left behind to be raised by her aunt. Patricia was physically abused and experienced incest at the hands of her uncle from the age of 4 until 12. Four years later Patricia gave birth to Donta.
Donta has never met his father. His father's family has a substantial history of demonstrable mental illness which exhibited itself in abnormal behavior, criminal conduct, drug and alcohol abuse and involvement in special education programs. As a result of their low socioeconomic status, however, no treatment was ever sought by family members.
In the first nine months of Donta's life he was a frequent patient at the emergency room culminating in an ER visit at the age of nine months reportedly due to "falling" out the window of an automobile. We have been unable to obtain any medical records of this fall as the records had been destroyed, although family relatives do confirm the injury Donta suffered to his head and Donta's juvenile records reflect the fall. The scar to his head is still visible. He was also reportedly struck on the head by a swingset causing loss of consciousness and he fell from the top bunk of a bed at age 6 months while he was swaddled in a blanket. His great aunt also reports that as a toddler Donta often ate paint debris from the house.
During approximately his third year Donta and his mother moved to Washington D.C. to join Donta's grandmother. During the next 15 years Donta was traded off between his mother and grandmother with his mother moving away and leaving Donta behind on several occasions to pursue her life's goals. The living conditions in the portion of Washington, D.C. where Donta was raised can only be described as deplorable. The area Donta was raised in is the worst of U.S. ghettos. In visits I made to the area where Donta was raised I observed that every 4th or 5th house was either burned out, abandoned or showed evidence of being the target of gunfire. When I visited Donta's high school the teachers we spoke to outside of the building were constantly on the lookout in fear of being the victim of a drive by shooting. Poverty is not only an economic state but an emotional circumstance. The faces of the children in the school were a picture in hopelessness.
Donta's home life was one of abuse and lack of caring. His mother often left him behind and she used physical abuse as a method of discipline. Donta's grandmother testified at trial that the physical abuse began when he was an infant and he was shaken violently in response to crying and continued at age 3 years with him being punched in the head severe enough to cause headaches. By age 6 Donta was beaten with electrical cords and other objects severe enough to cause bleeding and scars that can be seen even today. These beatings were administered for offending conduct such as wetting or soiling his clothes, for having bad grades and even once because a teacher told his mother that she thought Donta was ADD. Donta bears the physical scars from these beatings on his back, his thighs and his flanks. The scars take the form of dark black spots on the back of his arm consistent with cigarette burns, crescent shaped scars on his arm and chest, linear scars on his thighs, back and flanks. Donta has no memory of the origin of these scars. Records we recently received on 2/5/2001 indicate that when Donta was 13 he was taken to the emergency room because his mother had hit him in the head with an iron and whipped his arms with an electrical cord. The attending physician observed numerous welts where the electrical cord struck Donta's arms and also noted swelling to his temple are where the iron struck his head. Despite a positive finding by the hospital of child abuse no action was taken.
Perhaps even more destructive was the emotional abuse to which Donta was subjected. Juvenile records reflect that although his mother had a good job that paid her well she would often not give him even the basic necessities of life (food and clothing) without payment from him. Juvenile records indicate that his mother was openly humiliating to him and would give him no love or emotional support. For a child with no father this lack of care from his mother cannot be discounted as being significant.
In his formative years young Donta was left during the daylight hours to fend for himself. To call Donta a latchkey child would be to understate the danger he faced on a daily occasion as a child without a guardian in a den of predators. At age 10 the danger became a reality. An older man who lived across the apartment alley from Donta's apartment violently raped Donta. Donta was taken to an emergency room where he was bleeding externally from his rectal area and the medical student who saw him suspected internal bleeding (no doctor actually saw Donta). Although no followup for sexual assault was ever undertaken, a gonorrhea test was performed on the rectum of 10 year old Donta. The culture was never tested. The hospital never referred the matter to Child Protection and the mother and grandmother never returned with Donta for any follow up visits.
Even though he confided in his grandmother that the sexual assault had occurred, no professional counseling was ever given and care taking by his family was not offered. The family did not intercede and no counseling, mentoring, tutoring or even kindness and understanding was offered. Donta was, however, returned to the same home where the man who had assaulted him could look in through the windows into the bedroom. His mother and grandmother busied themselves with their lives and Donta grew up in the streets using his home not as a safe haven but as a place to lay his head and to eat. It is from this context that Donta Page was raised and from which he endured.
A friend of Donta recounts that as a 10 year old Donta would stay the nights in unheated abandoned apartments to avoid going home to either his mother's abusive home or his grandmother's unprotected one. This friend also recounts Donta's mother beating him with closed fists. Donta's girlfriend recounts episodes where Donta would not "be there" and would be in trances, and go on "journeys" where he would come back disheveled and unkempt.
At age 16 Donta went to a group home for committing a number of property crimes and eventually was committed to a juvenile detention facility. Before the age of 18, teachers and probation officers recommended Donta be seen by a professional counselor or psychologist an astounding 19 times, 8 of which were before he ever committed a single criminal act. The family never disclosed the abuse so nothing came of the few evaluations that the family actually agreed to participate in (they participated in none until ordered by social services and the courts).
When Donta was 18 years old he was involved in a number of robberies and burglaries and he was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison with 10 suspended. He lived in the prison until age 22 when his sentence was reconsidered and he was transferred to a half way house in Colorado.
Donta did not succeed at the half way house. The day before the murder Donta was informed that he would be sent back to Maryland to serve his prison sentence. On the day he was to return to Maryland, Donta broke into a home and when a resident, Peyton Tuthill, came home he grabbed her, tied her down, raped her both vaginally and anally and eventually stabbed her numerous times about her body and neck.
Ms. Tuthill was a young woman who had life before her. She was a graduate of the College of Charleston and was to begin interior design school last fall. She was survived by her parents who live in Florida. The horror of the crime and the impact to her family can be neither understood nor understated.
When Donta was interviewed by the police he at first denied any involvement but eventually he fully confessed to what he had done. He has maintained his guilt throughout the process.
It is obvious to all who spend any time with Donta that he is mentally ill. We have made a number of attempts, from experts in various fields, to determine the nature of his disorder and its cause. Our work revealed much about the causes and they were as outlined above but the exact nature of his disorder has been difficult to determine. We suspected there was an organic component based on the father's family history, the head injuries, the abuse and the fact that he flunked 3 separate grades as a child. We also suspected an environmental component due to the history of physical and sexual abuse coupled with the lack of attachment between he and either parent. Our suspicions were confirmed by three doctors we hired to evaluate Donta. All three, Dr. Charles Opsahl, a neuropsychologist from Yale University, a neurologist, Dr. Jonathan Pincus from Georgetown University and a psychiatrist, Dr. Dorothy Lewis from New York University confirmed that Donta suffers from a mental illness and so suffered on the day of the offense. Later we had a PET scan conducted on Donta and it indicated frontal lobe deficits consistent with head trauma.
At trial the defense maintained that the defendant was guilty of murdering Peyton Tuthill but asserted that the defendant did not deliberate due to his mental illness and problems. The prosecution presented experts that concluded otherwise and some even opined that Donta was not the victim of childhood abuse although the prosecution finally conceded this point in their final summation. Dr. Johnson, the state's psychiatrist did conclude, however, that Donta was genuinely remorseful for his actions and that the crime was not premeditated.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all charges on the 3rd day of deliberations. Post verdict interviews of jurors reflected a belief that Donta had been severely abused but that he should be held responsible for his crimes. All of the jurors had been informed of the defendant's criminal and social history as well as all the facts of the case. Four jurors supported a life sentence without parole and have agreed to testify at sentencing and have signed affidavits supporting a life sentence, one juror supports a life sentence although he does not wish to sign an affidavit or appear in court, 1 juror stated that she possibly would support a death sentence, 1 juror has refused to discuss the case and the remaining 5 jurors would not offer an opinion on the sentence. Therefore, of the jurors on the case only one citizen possibly supports a death sentence, 4 are vehemently opposed to a death sentence and one is silently opposed.
Although the jury is normally the voice of the community our legislature a few years back changed the law to take the death penalty decision away from the jury and give it to a 3 judge panel. The jury's voice, therefore, may never be heard.
The prosecutors in this case are Mr. Henry Cooper and Mr. Phil Brimmer. They can be reached at 303-640-5135. I invite you to call them and discuss the case with them. Feel free to discuss this letter with them in the event they believe that there are additional facts which I have left out that they believe you should be aware of before making an opinion.
I should also advise you that within two weeks of being appointed to represent Mr. Page that we offered to have him plead guilty to all charges, waive all appeals and to receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole. We have also been willing to allow the victim's family unlimited access to Mr. Page to confront him with the pain he has caused in an attempt to help them in the healing process. I contacted Murder Victims Families For Reconciliation in an attempt at healing and we have handed over voluntarily all records about my client's life to the victim's family's attorney. These attempts at reconciliation have failed as the prosecution has insisted on nothing less then a death sentence in this case.
It is from this context that I seek your help. Although the law accepts that some defendants should be given the death penalty, the circumstances in which Donta has lived speaks loudly for mercy. Our city has always taken a different view on the death penalty then the State of Colorado as a whole and this community opinion should also be made known. Two of the three judges who are making this extremely important decision are not from Denver so it is important that they be made aware of our City's viewpoint from the people who work, live and raise families here.
I am asking that you consider either writing a letter indicating your work, your constituency, your awareness of the facts of the case and your support for a life sentence. Even better would be if you would consider testifying in this case in support of a life sentence. I know this is quite a bit to ask as Mr. Page is an unpopular person and mercy is not a popular concept in this day and age. I do know, however, that this is the right thing to do and I humbly ask your consideration.
If you have any questions concerning this matter or any questions about any aspect of this case please feel free to call me at work (303-675-0500) or at home (303-757-7972). I thank you in advance for your time in his matter.
With love and hope,
James A. Castle
Thank you so much for your efforts in our case. It is greatly appreciated. We are rushing to get everything ready now as we are on the 11th hour so please forgive me for the brevity of my thanks as it does not accurately measure my gratitude.
Who should write? Please do not limit anyone as I think we all have a right to make our opinions known when the prosecution is in the name of the "People of the State of Colorado." If someone is a Denver County resident, however, then it would be great if they would so indicate. Your letter can be in whatever form you wish but I believe it is more persuasive writing as an individual and not as a [group] representative.
