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Jurors order death sentence for Megan Kanka's killer

Megan Latest developments: June 20, 1997
Web posted at: 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT)

TRENTON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Jesse Timmendequas was sentenced to death Friday for raping and killing 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a murder that led to a nationwide movement to protect children from sexual offenders.

The six-man, six-woman jury returned its verdict after deliberating for more than 10 hours over two days. They decided unanimously that Timmendequas should get death by injection instead of life in prison without parole.

The 36-year-old Timmendequas looked down at the table before him as the sentence was read, but showed no visible reaction to the decision. He was led quietly away shortly after the verdict was announced.

Megan's mother, Maureen Kanka, sobbed on her husband Richard's shoulder.

Timmendequas

Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson set an execution date of August 1, but under New Jersey law Timmendequas is entitled to an automatic appeal. Depending on the number of appeals filed and how successful they are, it could be years before the case ends.

After the verdict, Smithson spoke of the parents' sorrow.

"Maureen and Richard Kanka have endured a loss that is truly impossible to imagine. They buried their child. They had to wait for three years until justice was meted out to Megan."

Parents asked prosecutor 'to go for the maximum'

The Kankas and their supporters gathered afterward outside the courthouse. Richard Kanka, his arm around his wife, told reporters: "We asked the prosecutor's office to go for the maximum (penalty), and we never wavered from that initial thought."

"He will never, ever, ever get out to harm another little girl," Maureen Kanka said. The sentence, she said, "gave Megan's life some value."

The same jury ruled last month that Timmendequas, a previously convicted sex offender, had killed Megan "by his own conduct, purposely or knowingly." Jurors found him guilty of kidnapping, four counts of aggravated sexual assault and two felony murder counts.

Prosecutors had argued that Timmendequas showed no remorse for the crime and deserved to die for his actions. Defense attorneys had argued that their client was abused as a child and suffered from mental problems.

According to prosecutors, on July 29, 1994, Timmendequas lured Megan into his house across the street from hers to see a puppy. He then raped her, beat her and strangled her with a belt. A day later, he led police to the body in a park.

Jurors determined that aggravating factors presented by the prosecution -- that Timmendequas killed Megan as part of a kidnapping and rape and that he killed her to avoid detection -- outweighed mitigating factors such as the defendant's sordid, abusive childhood.

Timmendequas twice convicted of sex offenses

The Kankas and their neighbors were outraged that they were never informed that Timmendequas had two previous sex convictions when he moved into the neighborhood. He was convicted in a 1981 attack on a 5-year-old child and an attempted sexual assault on a 7-year-old.

The Kankas then campaigned for laws to require that neighbors be notified when sex criminals move into an area after they have served their time in prison.

Versions of "Megan's Law" were passed in New Jersey and nearly every other state, and a federal law was signed by President Clinton in 1996.

Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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