Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508030061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When May's alcoholic binges got him in trouble with the law, DeCicco prodded him to seek help. When he appeared in court to enter his no contest plea to Roanoke's largest mass murder since 1973, he acknowledged her with a wink.
They met at a gas station in Roanoke County - May was a carwash attendant; DeCicco was one of his customers. To May, it was love at first sight.
Tuesday, DeCicco watched as Roanoke Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein convicted May of capital murder.
Wednesday, she watched as her 27-year-old boyfriend took the stand in hope of persuading the judge to spare his life.
It was May's day to explain why he gunned down five people in an Old Southwest carriage house. His lawyers tried to coax him to say the right thing on the witness stand. The prosecutor tore into May's recollections of what happened during the early hours of Jan. 1.
May claims he can remember only one certain fact of that crime - that he was the one who pulled the trigger.
For Public Defender Ray Leven, placing May in the witness chair was a risky strategy to try to save his client's life. Throughout, he tried to depict May as a man who desperately wanted to contribute to society, despite his alcoholism.
His drinking kept him from successfully working as an artist; it crushed his relationships with his family and friends; it plagued his love for DeCicco.
Leven repeatedly asked May about his remorse for slaying three men and two women.
"I don't even know how to describe to these people or the judge," May said through tears. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. ... I can't forget these families and what I've seen here. I can't forget that. ... In this situation I wish saying 'I'm sorry,' paying some restitution, or some community service would cover it. But I don't know what to do with this. The whole thing seems so senseless."
But May said he still harbors a lot of anger about that night, in particular against the men. Throughout his testimony he contended that he was justified in shooting and killing them.
Of his changing recollections about the killings, May testified that over the months he has recreated the crime by culling flashes of memories. But he was unable to say if any of those glimpses were true.
"Over the last seven months I've convinced myself of a lot of things," he said.
Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell capitalized on May's evolving story. On cross-examination, he goaded the mass murderer about the events, even staging a re-enactment of the slayings.
Caldwell draped a 12-by-6-foot white sheet on the courtroom floor - the exact dimensions of the kitchen where Carl Stroop, 42; Dale Arnold, 36; and Daniel Mason, 47, were killed.
He asked May to step down from the witness stand to set up the scene. When Caldwell reproached May, saying it was impossible for the victims to be standing in a certain area, May responded sharply.
"You're asking me, I'm telling you," May said.
"You want to do this, let's do this. It doesn't seem like we were all this cramped," May said as he positioned Caldwell and others, who were acting as the victims.
"There was a scuffle that started out with me and Mr. Stroop, here," May said, directing the actors. "I was over here by the living room. ... I said, 'Hey why don't you all just shut up.' [Stroop] said, 'Look, you little long-haired punk.'"
According to May's story, Stroop pulled a gun. May responded by drawing a gun he had taken from a friend earlier in the night. He shot Stroop in the chest, then shot a second man as he bent down to pick up Stroop's gun. May said he shot the third man after the man came at him with a knife.
May said he carried his gun and Stroop's gun from the apartment. Stroop's gun never has been recovered. May returned after a short time, realizing that Susan Hutchinson, 44, and Cynthia LaPrade, 43, were witnesses.
He found the women in the living room. May remembered that Hutchinson was hysterical, crying, threatening May and his girlfriend. He told Hutchinson to sit down and then, he said, he shot her.
May said he does not remember shooting LaPrade.
"I'm not sure what the truth is anymore," May said. "I killed the women, the exact why I don't remember."
At the end of his testimony, Leven asked him if he would rather be executed or sentenced to life in prison, May answered, "Right now, both seem good."
Sitting down next to his lawyers after more than 90 minutes of cross-examination, May bowed his head, holding back tears. He gazed at DeCicco and mouthed the words, "I love you." She responded with a nod.
Defense testimony is expected to continue today.
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