MURDER TRIAL CONTINUES
Fair faces sentence in killing

By LISE FISHER
Sun staff writer

Jurors this week will recommend life without parole or death for Donald Fair.

welve people, among them a loan specialist and a University of Florida student, will be asked this week to recommend either life in prison without parole or death for convicted killer Donald Fair.

The same jury took less than three hours last week to find Fair guilty of first-degree murder in the death of UF medical student Caroline Cody, 22, four years ago.

Investigators discovered Cody dead in her Gainesville apartment on May 11, 2000. Prosecutors, at Fair's trial, argued that what started as a burglary turned into murder when he surprised the woman at home. The two struggled, and he suffocated her. DNA evidence gathered from her bedroom and with a sexual assault kit linked him to the crime.

The next phase of Fair's trial will have attorneys from both sides arguing aggravating and mitigating factors that the jury must weigh. Jurors will return to the Alachua County Criminal Justice Center on Tuesday to reach a decision on the penalty for the 32-year-old from Gainesville who once told a friend he aspired to a musical career and wanted to get into a music studio.

Court records say prosecutors plan to show Cody was intentionally killed or at least that lethal force was used that caused her death, that she was killed "after planning and premeditation," with the expectation of monetary gain, and that the offense involved torture or serious physical abuse.

Mitigating evidence in a capital case in Florida can range from mental health issues to the age of the defendant and the lack of a significant prior criminal history.

After jurors returned a guilty verdict Thursday, Cody's father, Dr. William Cody of Jacksonville, said, "My heart goes out to Donald Fair's family." But he went on to say his family supports a death sentence for his daughter's killer and that she had been "tortured."

Before they were selected to hear this case, jurors filled out questionnaires asking their opinions on the death penalty and imposing it in cases where a sexual battery or burglary was committed.

"I may be more likely to favor the death penalty in those cases. However, not necessarily," one juror wrote. "I strongly believe that all circumstances should be evaluated in order to try to be as fair as possible."

Explaining her feelings about the death penalty another juror wrote, "I don't think killing people is the answer, but then maybe if we used the death penalty people would realize that the law was going to be enforced and they would think twice about committing a crime."

Lise Fisher can be reached at (352) 374-5092 or fisherl@gvillesun.com.