Teen Could Face Death Row

[AP]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Kristi Koslow's lawyers say police
coerced the scared 17-year-old into falsely confessing that she
hired her boyfriend and another teen-ager to slaughter her parents
for their money.
Her millionaire father -- who survived though his throat was
slashed -- says his adopted daughter deserves to die.
If Ms. Koslow, now 19, is convicted of capital murder, the same
jury must decide whether to sentence her to life in prison or
death. No woman has been executed in Texas since 1863, when one was
hanged for murdering a horse trader.
The case was expected to go to the jury after closing arguments
Wednesday.
Jack Koslow testified that he was awakened early on March 12,
1992, by the buzz of his home burglar alarm and the scream of his
oil heiress wife, Caren: ``They're in the house!''
Two men broke down the door of the dark bedroom. Jeffrey
Dillingham beat the couple unconscious with a metal pry bar and
Brian Salter cut their throats, the 19-year-olds told authorities.
Salter, Ms. Koslow's former boyfriend, accepted a life sentence
in exchange for his testimony. Dillingham was sentenced to death.
Salter said Ms. Koslow planned the attack, gave him a map of the
house and the burglar alarm code and promised to share her
inheritance.
An informant's tip led police to the trio two weeks after the
attack. Until then, Koslow had been their prime suspect.
Outside the jury's presence, Koslow said his daughter should get
the death penalty.
``That's what she gave Caren,'' he said.
The defense called just one witness, a lawyer, but the judge
prevented him from testifying that police denied him access to his
client, Ms. Koslow.
The defense also played a recording of Ms. Koslow's arraignment,
when she told a judge that she did not know she had been charged
with capital murder, ``because ... I did not commit the crime.''
Prosecution witnesses testified that Ms. Koslow wanted her
parents' money.
Salter said he and Ms. Koslow shopped for the cars they planned
to buy with the inheritance: a BMW convertible for her and a Toyota
Land Cruiser for him.
Clayton Hudson, her friend and former classmate, testified that
Ms. Koslow told Salter, ``We can kill them easily. I have the house
key. I know what room they're in. I know the alarm code. So you
walk in and do it. It would be easy.''
``Anything Kristi wanted Brian to do, all she had to do was say
it and Brian jumped,'' Hudson continued. ``Kristi definitely had
Brian wrapped around her little finger.''