ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
Benjamin Lee Lilly will face the death penalty when he goes on trial today charged with carjacking a Virginia Tech student, forcing him to strip to his underwear and then shooting him in the head three times last December.
Alexander V. DeFilippis, a 22-year-old from McLean, was abducted from the Hethwood Xpress parking lot in Blacksburg Dec. 5 by three men and forced to drive to a rural area of Montgomery County, where his body later was found along railroad tracks.
Gary Barker, 20, of Merrimac received a 53-year prison sentence in August for his part in the crime spree, which included two armed robberies of Giles County convenience stores. Barker has the possibility of getting out of prison when he is in his early 60s.
Mark Lilly, Ben Lilly's 21-year-old brother, is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 19. He and Barker both have told police it was Ben Lilly who shot DeFilippis. Barker has agreed to testify against both brothers.
For the DeFilippis family, many questions remain about Alexander's death.
``Who are the Barkers? Who are the Lillys?'' Christiane DeFilippis said in a recent interview. ``Who asked them into our lives?''
DeFilippis' mother said her Roman Catholicism has helped her get through the ordeal, but that faith does not carry over to a justice system that she said does not truly punish criminals.
``I'm not necessarily looking for death, but I would not want my son's murderer out on the streets in 15 to 20 years,'' she said.
If found guilty of capital murder, Ben Lilly could receive the death penalty. The last person sentenced to death in the county was Buddy Earl Justus. Justus was electrocuted in 1990 for the 1978 rape and murder of Ida Mae Moses, an Ironto nurse who was 8 1/2 months pregnant.
The attorneys representing Ben Lilly have made no plea agreement with the state in the case, according to lawyers on both sides, but neither side discounted the possibility of a plea developing at any point during the trial.
Lilly's lead attorney, Max Jenkins, said he can prove his client was not the man who killed Alexander DeFilippis, despite Barker's testimony. He said Barker seemed the likely killer.
``The gun was completely in Barker's hands before and after'' the killing, Jenkins said. Jenkins said Barker aimed the murder weapon at people during a holdup at an Eggleston convenience store after DeFilippis was murdered.
Authorities later found the .38-caliber pistol in a Giles County ditch.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Schwab said he has not seen any evidence that eliminates Ben Lilly as the trigger man.
Schwab said there is no doubt as to what crimes the men committed. The only question is who did what.
Mark Lilly, who also is charged with murder, faces a life sentence, not the death penalty. Virginia's ``trigger man'' law says only the person who actually committed a homicide can be put to death.
The November court date allows the state the option of charging Mark Lilly as the trigger man if he changes his story during his brother's trial and tries to take the blame, Schwab said.
Mike Ellerbrock said he plans on attending the trial to get answers. The associate professor in Tech's department of agricultural and applied economics taught DeFilippis two semesters in a row.
Ellerbrock, also a deacon in two Catholic churches, said he regularly calls the DeFilippis family to offer his help.
He said that the senseless nature of this killing demands the harshest punishment and that the people responsible should have a long time to think about their crimes.
``The punishment needs to be the maximum,'' he said. ``When you take a life, you sacrifice your freedom in society. You need to give people the maximum amount of time to reflect on what they did.''
``Full remorse can occur only when you fully understand what you have robbed that person of - never to marry, never to have children,'' he said.
Christiane DeFilippis said her son and family were robbed of many things.
``Alexander was robbed of perhaps 50 years of his life,'' she said. The killer even robbed him of his wish to be an organ donor, she said.
Christiane DeFilippis said her husband and her sister plan to attend the trial and keep her informed.
The family, which includes another son, ``is totally distraught,'' she said. ``What we did, we did together. We vacationed together, we solved problems together. We feel cheated. Our family is so alone now.''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Ben Lilly. color.by CNB