Not a myth- here's an article from the San Diego Tribune yesterday:
(Page B-1 )
DA acts to boost stakes in 3 killings | Door to death
penalty opened in SDSU case
Bill Callahan
STAFF WRITER
20-Aug-1996 Tuesday
Prosecutors filed special charges yesterday that could open the door to
seeking the death penalty against a San Diego State University engineering
student accused of murdering three professors during a review of his
master's thesis.
Frederick Davidson, 36, denied three counts of murder during a San Diego
Municipal Court hearing at which special allegations of multiple murder and
lying in wait were lodged against him.
Prosecutors filed special charges yesterday that could open the door to
seeking the death penalty against a San Diego State University engineering
student accused of murdering three professors during a review of his
master's thesis.
Frederick Davidson, 36, denied three counts of murder during a San Diego
Municipal Court hearing at which special allegations of multiple murder and
lying in wait were lodged against him.
Prosecutor James Pippin said the District Attorney's Office will review the
circumstances of Thursday's shootings before deciding whether to seek the
death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if
Davidson is convicted.
Davidson spoke only briefly during the hearing, answering, "Yes, Sir," to a
couple of procedural questions asked by Judge Albert Harutunian III. The
judge ordered Davidson held without bail.
Pale and perspiring in a blue jail uniform, Davidson stared quietly at the
floor as Pippin detailed an ambush that rocked the campus and drew scores
of reporters who were here to cover the Republican National Convention.
"He used a semiautomatic pistol he had previously hidden, opened fire and
killed the professors," Pippin told the judge. "Later, he was arrested and
made admissions to the police."
Police said Davidson, an Army veteran, fired 23 rounds from a gun they said
he hid Thursday morning in a metal first-aid kit on a classroom wall. Three
student observers who were in the room in the engineering department were
not physically harmed.
Police said Assistant Professor Chen Liang, Davidson's adviser, was the
first gunned down. Associate Professors D. Preston Lowrey III and
Constantinos Lyrintzis were shot as they tried to flee, investigators said.
Lowrey's body was found near the door to a laboratory, and Lyrintzis was
found behind a desk in an adjoining computer room.
The three professors had gathered on the third floor of the building at 2
p.m. to hear Davidson defend his thesis in mechanical engineering -- for
the second time.
Davidson's mother and older sister were in court yesterday but declined to
speak to the media.
Kate Coyne, Davidson's court-appointed lawyer, said after the hearing that
her client suffered from untreated mental and emotional problems.
"We're not attempting at all to say this is a clear response to such a
situation . . . but obviously he had deep-seated problems which were
compounded by the stress of what he was going through," Coyne said. "He has
very long-standing mental problems that went unrecognized and untreated by
his family. He clearly is emotionally and mentally very fragile."
Coyne said she was basing her comments on information Davidson provided
during a brief interview. She said she could not document any of the claims
"because I've just gotten on the case and this is going to take several
months to investigate."
The attorney said that she asked jail personnel to place Davidson on a
suicide watch and that he is being held in the psychiatric unit of the
George Bailey Detention Center.
"These were not the actions of a cool, calculated killer as it may have
come across when Mr. Pippin described it in the courtroom, but the actions
of a very distraught man," Coyne said.
The defense lawyer said that when she interviewed Davidson in jail she
found him "very sad, very remorseful and very bewildered."
Meanwhile, San Diego State announced a campus memorial service for the
three slain faculty members. It will be at 3 p.m. Sept. 3 in the Open Air
Theatre.
The date is the first day of fall semester classes and was picked to allow
attendance by faculty members and students who are away for the summer.
Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Sandra L. Harris
Arizona Capitol Museum
1700 W. Washington
Phoenix, AZ. 85007
(602) 542-4342 office
(602) 542-4690 fax
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