For third time, jury believes St. Clair should die for killing

 SHEPHERDSVILLE - Over the past 13 years, 48 jurors have been asked on three occasions to determine the fate of Michael Dale St. Clair.

Thomas Barr

Michael St. Clair

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And, on all three occasions, the verdict was the same - death.

After twice being struck down by the state Supreme Court, a Bullitt Circuit Court jury took just over two hours to decide Friday that the Oklahoma native should again be sentenced to death in the 1991 murder of Frank Brady, a Bardstown resident.

St. Clair, 54, showed no emotion as special judge Geoffrey Morris read the verdict. 

On the other hand, Merle Brady and her family and friends embraced as the eight-woman, four-man jury concluded five days of testimony.

Final sentencing will be on Nov. 16.

"Obviously we are pleased with the jury's decision," said prosecutor Todd Lewis. "We believe the jury made the right decision."

Lewis said attorney general Jack Conway, as well as previous office holders, have remained committed to see that St. Clair receives the sentence that he deserves.

In 1998, a jury found St. Clair guilty of the Oct. 6, 1991, shooting death of Brady. However, the Supreme Court found errors in the sentencing phase of the trial and remanded that back for another hearing. The death penalty recommended was reversed for a second time prior to Friday's verdict.

St. Clair, who is already facing four life in prison terms in Oklahoma and will never be released from prison, was facing options of death, 20-50 years in prison, life in prison or life with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

Prosecutors Dana Todd and Lewis were thrown a curve during St. Clair's testimony on Thursday.

For the first time since he was captured in 1991, St. Clair admitted that he was in Kentucky at the time of Brady's death. And he also admitted being with Dennis Reese at the time of the murder.

However, his story was that Reese was the person who shot and killed Brady. That revelation would become a major part of the closing arguments offered by Lewis and defense attorney Scott Drabenstadt.

(See accompanying story about St. Clair's testimony.)

Lewis told the jurors that there would be only real choice that would matter in the case. And that would be the death penalty.

Otherwise, Lewis said St. Clair would just spend the rest of his life in prison in Oklahoma.

He challenged the change in story by the defendant as a matter of convenience and a way to pin all the crimes on Reese, who had entered a guilty plea in 1994 and received a life sentence. He is currently serving a life sentence in Oklahoma.

"It is not a different story from the first one; it is just more lies," said Lewis.

He said the serial killer made it sound like he went to eat a sandwich while Reese and Brady drove off to Old Boston Road, where the Bardstown man's body would be found with two gunshot wounds.

Instead, Lewis said the jury should believe Reese, whose story has not changed in the beginning.

He said Reese admitted to his role in the murder but that it was St. Clair who committed the actual crime, both in Bullitt County and in New Mexico against Tim Keeling.

Lewis said the items found in Brady's stolen truck had St. Clair's fingerprints. The murder weapon was never recovered.

With 16 years to think about it, Lewis said St. Clair was able to dream up a new story and then blame his first attorney with giving him advice that would be perjury.

The pattern has been for St. Clair to eliminate witnesses to his crimes. That meant hiring someone to kill his own uncle and then killing the hired assassin.

"You know he is a liar," Lewis said of St. Clair. "He is very, very, very dangerous today."

Becoming emotional, Lewis said it was difficult to visit Bernheim Forest and look at the azaleas, which were Brady's favorite flower. He said Brady won't get to go back to a favorite spot.

He said the last memory of Brady's large hands, which loved to work in the flower and vegetable garden, would be reduced to thoughts of him clawing at the dirt fighting for his life.

"It is the end of the road for this man," said Lewis. "Please, do something with this evil."

While admitting that St. Clair was not a model person and the area of Oklahoma where he grew up was rough, Drabenstadt said that his client was not the man who pulled the trigger and killed Brady.

And he was not in New Mexico or Colorado, where the death of Keeling is still unsolved.

Drabenstadt said that in 1998, the jury was only asked to decide whether St. Clair acted alone or with an accomplice in the death of the 35-year veteran of Barton Brands distillery.

He said Reese was not only the accomplice in the killing but he was the shooter.

With 19 felonies prior to 1991, the attorney said that Reese was a person who would take advantage of good people.

Instead of accepting Reese's plea agreement, Drabenstadt said that individual should have also gone to trial.

Reese had a signature from noted killer Charles Manson and later made it into a tattoo, said Drabenstadt.

While Reese was also on the run after the Brady shooting, Drabenstadt said he had four months to make up his own story on what happened.

Since that time, he said Reese had told other inmates about his involvement in killing Brady.

There is no proof of the stories told by Reese, according to the attorney. "Reese is a liar. He did everything alone."

Drabenstadt also grew emotional as he looked at a picture of Brady and then acknowledged his wife, family and friends.

"This family deserves justice," said Drabenstadt. "Frank Brady deserves justice."

In the end, he said he was asking the jury for mercy on his client as there is more than reasonable doubt that St. Clair was the killer.

Drabenstadt said St. Clair respected the jury's decision, although they saw the case through a different light.

The decision will automatically be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Drabenstadt is also representing St. Clair on a capital kidnapping case in Hardin County in January.

He did not understand the state's desire to continue to prosecute the case against a man who will never leave the Oklahoma prison; however, he said, it might be some time before St. Clair's dealings in Kentucky are finally resolved.

For Lewis, there was satisfaction that for a third time, a jury unanimously decided that St. Clair should be put to death.

He credited the many hours of work put in by the prosecution team and the investigators who assisted in Oklahoma as keys to the verdict. 

Lewis thanked the Brady family for their support. During this trial, the widow of Keeling was also present for the entire week.

He was not surprised by the defendant's last-minute change in his story on Thursday but he said that should have been expected given the history of the case.