Trial begins today for 39 y.o.man accused of massacring family of 4 who met him at church & invited him to come live w/them,in LA

[Joe1orbit]

Hello,

Over in Louisiana, the QUADRUPLE murder trial of 39 year old Douglas Whitton
is just about ready to get underway. in fact, the trial began today. Douglas
stands accused of bludgeoning and stabbing four people, including a nine year
old boy, to death, during a frenzied rampage in October of 1997. This was a
MASS murder incident, not a serial spree. All four victims were slaughtered
inside of the house where they lived. Douglas lived in the SAME house, but was
not biologically related to any of the victims and it's unclear whether he was
sexually or intimately involved with any of the victims.

The family that owned the house met Douglas, a complete stranger, in CHURCH,
and INVITED him to come live with them. Ha! What a STUPID move! Churches truly
are a WONDERFUL place for enraged predators to hang out. It's so EASY to find
GULLIBLE idiots to victimize, in a church. All Douglas had to do was spout a
few easily memorized biblical passages, put on a sad face, and he gets invited
to LIVE with an entire family. They actually go to SLEEP with him inside their
house. Amazing! Well, I guess that "god" just wasn't watching over this
mentally ill foursome, when Douglas decided to create a bloodbath for his
benefactors.

Douglas admits to being a former alcoholic. He claims to also be a
professional wrestler. He is pleading Not Guilty to all four counts of murder,
and simply says that it wasn't he who carried out this massacre. But soon after
his arrest, Douglas got a bad case of loose lip syndrome. According to cops, he
confessed to the killings, by saying: :I guess I committed the murders, because
when Iwoke up, all the people were dead." He then admitted that after "finding"
his four victims dead, he stayed in the house for several days with the bodies
before he finally left, and went to catch a theatrical movie or two, and moved
into a motel.

Last week, Douglas tried to enter a Not Guilty by reason of insanity plea but
the judge REFUSED to allow the plea, probably because the defense did not
present any licensed head shrinks who were willing to testify that Douglas
was/in legally insane. So what?? He should still be allowed to enter WHATEVER
type of plea he wants, and leave it up to the jury to decide whether the plea
has merit. The judge should not be entitled to DICTATE the nature of a
defendent's courtroom defense strategy.

Take care, JOE

The following appears courtesy of the 2/24/99 online edition of The New
Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper:

Quadruple murder trial set to begin

By Rhonda Bell
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune

Feb. 24, 1999

With a jury seated and the state Supreme Court refusing to intervene, testimony
in a quadruple murder trial of a Texas native charged in the October 1997
slayings of his housemates is set to begin today in Criminal District Court.

Douglas Whitton, 39, originally of Canton, Texas, is charged with four counts
of first-degree murder in the bludgeoning and stabbing deaths of four people,
including a 9-year-old boy, in their Mid-City home. Owen Reeves, 37; Gayle
Coulon Whitehead, 33; her son, Joey Whitehead, 9, and Joe Donovan, 44, were
found slain in their Baudin Street home Oct. 17, 1997. Police discovered the
bodies after Reeve's co-workers alerted authorities, alarmed that he hadn't
shown up for work in nearly a week.

Whitton, a recovering alcoholic and self-professed professional wrestler who
has pleaded innocent to the charges, was arrested a day after the bodies were
found.

The family met Whitton at a church and took him in after Whitton signed himself
out of a substance-abuse center. In a confession to police after his arrest,
Whitton said he guessed he'd committed the murders, because when he woke up,
all were dead. He said he stayed in the home for several days with the bodies,
before leaving, spending a couple of nights at motels, even catching a movie,
according to court records.

Jury selection in the trial before Criminal District Judge Julian Parker began
Monday while defense attorneys asked the state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal and
state Supreme Court to delay the trial after Parker threw out Whitton's
innocent by reason of insanity plea last week.

Whitton's attorneys wanted more time to prepare a different defense and were
also asking to introduce evidence about Whitton's state of mind, which Parker
would allow only under the insanity plea.

Parker tossed out that plea, changing it to a simple "innocent" after defense
attorneys advised Whitton not to answer several questions during a
psychological exam because it would be shared with the prosecution.

His attorneys still wanted to show that Whitton was "psychologically
vulnerable" when he told police he killed his housemates.

The Supreme Court refused to grant the delay, siding with Parker and clearing
the way for the trial.
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[genderhis...@gmail.com]

Is there any way you can remove this post, please? This is my family that was murdered, as Gail Coulon was my mom and Joey was my little brother. The comments you made are rude and uncalled for, and I don't need this on the internet.

[Travis McGee]

Of course you don't, and I'm sure Joe will remove his post, since you
asked so kindly.

[kellis.h...@gmail.com]

My I ask who this is Gayle was also my mom and Joey was my brother too I know I have 4 sisters I never met

[Beaver Fever]

This isn't your internet, dummy.

[jenniferher...@gmail.com]

I understand this was written a long time ago.But its written in poor taste.My mother Gail Coulon was my bio mother.Whom lost me at the age of six.I found out last year she was killed.I never knew i had a brother.But to say she was stupid.Is just plain wrong.I remember my mother the most.Seeing has how i was the oldest.But my mother had a heart of gold.And would help others no matter there past.This was asked to come down.And i asking for this to be renoved.who you should write about.Is the man who could stab a nine year old.How could he have hurt my mother.I wanted so much for her to meet my girls.Now she never well, bc a man stold her life.This story is written like she was a stupid person.And that was not my mom.

[buttdise...@gmail.com]

Well, her daughter just said "stold". That isn't a glowing endorsement of her potential intellect.

[Beaver Fever]

On Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at 11:26:06 AM UTC-8, jenniferher...@gmail.com wrote:
> I understand this was written a long time ago.But its written in poor taste.My mother Gail Coulon was my bio mother.Whom lost me at the age of six.I found out last year she was killed.I never knew i had a brother.But to say she was stupid.Is just plain wrong.I remember my mother the most.Seeing has how i was the oldest.But my mother had a heart of gold.And would help others no matter there past.This was asked to come down.And i asking for this to be renoved.who you should write about.Is the man who could stab a nine year old.How could he have hurt my mother.I wanted so much for her to meet my girls.Now she never well, bc a man stold her life.This story is written like she was a stupid person.And that was not my mom.

First amendment protections of the author aside, there is likely no way to remove this.

[missybi...@gmail.com]

What the he'll is your problem don't talk to get or at her you have no right.. Leave her alone better yet