Mich. Death-Penalty Trial Opens In '01 Slaying
Jurors have heard opening statements in a murder trial that could lead to a rare federal death sentence in Detroit. Timothy O'Reilly is charged with killing an armored truck employee in 2001 while the victim was replenishing ATMs at a Dearborn credit union. A prosecutor told jurors on Monday that they would hear O'Reilly's own incriminating words secretly recorded while he was in state prison for another crime.
But O'Reilly's lawyer, Richard Kammen, says his client was naive, "clueless'' and known as "Big Goofy.'' He doesn't deny that O'Reilly had a role in the robbery but says he didn't fire the shots that killed Norman Stephens.
Michigan doesn't have the death penalty but it's available in certain cases prosecuted in federal court.
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