ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
Benjamin Lee Lilly stood in court Tuesday and denied murdering a Virginia Tech student in December 1995. Despite his claim, Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs upheld a jury's recommendation and sentenced Lilly to death.
For the first time, Lilly spoke in Montgomery County Circuit Court about the night Alexander V. DeFilippis died from three gunshot wounds.
"I'm sorry for what happened to Alexander DeFilippis," Lilly said in a quiet voice. "I didn't kill that boy. That boy didn't do anything to anyone.
Lilly did not implicate either of the two men convicted as accomplices in the murder - his younger brother, Mark Anthony Lilly, or Gary Wayne Barker. Lilly's attorneys have maintained that Barker was the actual murderer.
A jury convicted Lilly of capital murder and recommended the death penalty on Oct. 28 after hearing testimony from Barker and a statement Mark Lilly made to police. Both men said the elder Lilly shot DeFilippis as the young man stood in only his underwear and socks.
Lilly was also convicted and sentenced for the following charges: carjacking, life in prison; robbery, life in prison; abduction, 10 years in prison; and five related firearms charges, 17 years in prison.
The last man convicted of capital murder in Montgomery County, and subsequently executed, was Buddy Earl Justus. Justus murdered a pregnant Ironto nurse in 1978. He was executed in 1990.
The 20-year-old Barker was a key witness in the state's case against Ben Lilly. He testified that Ben Lilly said he shot DeFilippis "because that boy saw my face."
Police also used information Barker gave the night of the murder to locate DeFilippis' body lying near some railroad tracks in the rural Whitethorne area of Montgomery County.
Barker told the court DeFilippis' murder was the worst thing he had ever seen. Although he admitted bragging in the past about shooting anyone who bothered him, he said he would never say it again.
"That's sick man," he testified. Barker is now serving a 53-year prison sentence for his role in the killing.
Mark Lilly, 21, took the stand to testify about the murder for the first time Tuesday. He had refused to testify during his brother's trial in October because he feared how it would affect the outcome of his own trial, he said.
"Some of the statements we gave the cops, me and Gary [Barker], were not the way it happened," Mark Lilly said.
Mark Lilly told police the night of his arrest that his brother killed DeFilippis. When officers pressed him on the issue, he said, "It's kind of hard because he's my [expletive] brother."
On Tuesday, he said he had lied to the police.
"I can't say for sure who killed him," Mark Lilly said. "Yeah, everything I told the cops, I lied."
Mark Lilly said he didn't see what happened because he was standing on the other side of DeFilippis'' car when the student was shot. He only told police it was his brother, he said, because he was scared and wanted to "throw it off on someone else."
When Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Schwab asked Mark Lilly why he implicated his brother and not Barker, he said Barker had information about crimes they had committed together.
If he had it to do all over again, Mark Lilly said, "I wouldn't have told ya'll nothing."
Schwab said after the trial that Mark Lilly's testimony was not surprising.
"Even now he won't say his brother didn't do it," he said. Mark Lilly is serving a 49-year sentence for his part in the crime.
Ben Lilly's aunt, Phyllis Comer, testified once again that her nephew had been physically and emotionally abused as a child. She tearfully recounted a black eye Ben Lilly got from his father's hand at the age of 8 months.
Comer addressed the judge directly and said, "I beg for Ben's life. If we could just touch him and hug him. Please, I beg mercy for him."
Christopher Tuck, co-counsel for Ben Lilly, also asked the judge for mercy and said his client's death would certainly not bring back DeFilippis.
"The only reason to take Ben Lilly's life is vengeance," Tuck said, "So, I'm going to ask you to spare this man's life."
With an audible catch in his throat, Grubbs told Ben Lilly he would be put to death for the murder and set the date for April 9. It is unlikely that date will stand because Ben Lilly's appeals will begin immediately. An inmate's average stay on death row, according to Department of Corrections spokesman David Botkins, is 81/2 years.
Ben Lilly's new wife, Loretta Eanes, sobbed when the death sentence was handed down. Outside the courtroom, she said there was no justice in the system.
"I think he had a very unfair trial," she said.
Helen Lilly, Lilly's mother, left the courthouse with tears in her eyes. Accusations by the prosecution that she may have encouraged her son, Mark Lilly, to testify were not true, she said.
"What Mark done was his own decision," she said. "I feel like he was telling the truth today."
Tuck said he was not surprised by the judge's ruling.
"In the state of Virginia it is normal for a judge to follow a jury's verdict," he said. "It would have been a surprising result for a judge to set aside a jury's verdict. It was what we expected."
Schwab said he was "satisfied with the ruling.
"It's a relief to have everything finished up to this point," he said. "It won't ever go away - for either family."
Plans were made in advance to transfer Ben Lilly within hours of Tuesday's trial to Mecklenburg Correctional Center located about 170 miles from Lilly's Riner home.
Once there, Lilly joined 48 other men in the area segregated from the prison's general population. He will mark his 29th birthday in the 6-foot-10 by 7-foot-6 cell on Feb. 20.
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Benjamin Lee Lilly told the court during sentencingby CNBTuesday that he did not kill Alexander V. DeFilippis. color. KEYWORDS: NRVMUR