Geplaatst:10 feb 2006 11:38 - Gewijzigd: 10 feb 2006 11:38

Teen guilty of murders in newsman’s ranch

ALAMOGORDO - Jurors last week have convicted a 16 year old boy in the shooting deaths of his family on newsman Sam Donaldson’s ranch despite defense attorney’s claims that the teen was abused by his parents.

Audiostream:

Cody Posey was convicted of murder in the deaths of his stepmother and stepsister and voluntary manslaughter in the death of his father, who worked as foreman on Donaldson’s ranch in southern New Mexico, USA. Posey also was convicted of four counts of evidence tampering. He hung his head and wept as the verdicts were read.

The teen was arrested a few days after the bodies of his father and stepmother, Paul and Tryone Posey, and his 13 year old stepsister, Mary Lee Schmid, were found hidden in a manure pile on Donaldson’s Chavez Canyon Ranch in July 2004.

Prosecutor Janice Schryer claimed that Posey’s parents were loving, but said the youth didn’t like ranch life and „took the opportunity to relieve himself of those expectations and that life.”Defense attorney Gary Mitchell argued that Posey, who was 14 at the time of the slayings, was abused by his parents. He described years of physical and psychological abuse, and said the flash point to the murders came when Paul Posey burned the boy with a metal welding rod after the teen allegedly refused to have sex with his stepmother the night before the slayings. (World)