Debi Whitlock's mother scolds killer; judge hands down 31-year prison sentence

[kkramer]

Debi Whitlock's mother scolds killer; judge hands down 31-year prison sentence

   For the first time since his arrest in January 1997, Scott Avery Fizzell looked into the eyes of the woman whose daughter he murdered 11 years ago.

 

   Jacque MacDonald had been waiting to catch his eye -- and his ear -- ever since. She didn't let the moment escape.

 

   MacDonald took on her daughter's confessed killer Wednesday, just minutes before Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami sentenced Fizzell to 31 years in prison. The sentence was part of an agreement where Fizzell, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and burglary.

 

   MacDonald spoke for herself, venting 11 years of pain and anguish when given the opportunity to address the court. And she spoke on behalf of her slain daughter, Deborah Ann "Debi" Whitlock. Photographs of Whitlock, on large displays framed by flowers, provided the backdrop.

 

   " ... By taking the easy way out with this plea bargain, you have proved yourself to be the pathetic excuse for a human being that you are," MacDonald said. "In the final analysis, the day will come when you will have to face not only Debi, but almighty God, whose punishment will be swift and just."

 

   Fizzell, 18 years old at the time, broke into Whitlock's north Modesto home in March 1988. He stabbed the 32-year-old woman repeatedly and slit her throat. Authorities said that after she died, Fizzell raped her while her young daughter slept in a bedroom. Whitlock's husband, Harold, came home to find his wife dead in a hallway.

 

   The case went unsolved for nearly a decade. By 1994, Fizzell had settled in the tiny town of Flippin, Ark., and worked at the Ranger Boats factory. While MacDonald worked to keep the case in the public eye here, Fizzell kept a low profile there.

 

   But in January 1997, an informant in Modesto contacted police and provided information that led to Fizzell's arrest.

 

   Facing murder, rape and burglary charges, Fizzell in May pleaded guilty on condition the rape and other special circumstances charges be dismissed.

 

   MacDonald opposed the plea agreement negotiated by Deputy District Attorney Doug Fontan and Deputy Public Defender Martha Carlton. Fontan said he made the deal because it guaranteed a first-degree murder conviction and a 25-years-to-life prison sentence. The burglary conviction adds six years, and the sentences will run consecutively.

 

   The rape charge was dropped because, according to statements by Fontan in court Wednesday, Fizzell raped and sodomized Whitlock after he had killed her.

 

   "Under our law, you have to have intent to rape a living person," Fontan said after court adjourned.

By JEFF JARDINE
BEE STAFF WRITER
(Published: Thursday, June 24, 1999)

 

http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,87907,00.html
-- Keith Kramer
truthu...@my-dejanews.com