ALBUQUERQUE – An Arizona convict who murdered a retired Oklahoma couple after a 2010 prison escape should be spared the death penalty because he is incapable of controlling his impulses and making reasoned decisions, defense attorneys argued Monday.
Attorney Teri Dugan told jurors the defense will present testimony during the sentencing phase of John McCluskey’s capital murder trial that will show his mental capacity was reduced by brain abnormalities, emotional and physical abuse by his father, and a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.
McCluskey, 48, was convicted Oct. 7 of murder, carjacking and other charges in the August 2010 deaths of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla., after a four-week trial.
One of the conditions of imposing the death sentence is that the defendant be at least 18 years of age. Duncan said that while the defense will not try to argue that McCluskey has the brain of a juvenile, “you will hear his brain is damaged and like a child he does not make decisions like we do.”
Duncan said McCluskey’s mother always joked that her son was “born ass-backwards” because he was breech. He also told jurors McCluskey’s father severely abused him, often saying a “child that stupid couldn’t be his.” McCluskey’s father “acted as if he wanted to beat a new brain into his child,” Duncan said.
Prosecutor Michael Warbel, meanwhile, detailed McCluskey’s violent criminal history and current conviction on 20 counts of aggravated murder and other charges as having already met the necessary tests for the death penalty.
“He is eligible for the death penalty because of who he is and what he has done in the past,” Warbel said. “He has put guns in people’s faces before and he has shot people before.”
Among those expected to testify in support of the death penalty are relatives of the Haases, who were making their annual summer trek to Colorado when they crossed paths with McCluskey and two other fugitives seeking a better vehicle for their getaway.
McCluskey was serving 15 years for attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm when he and two other prisoners escaped from a medium-security prison near Kingman, Ariz., in July 2010 with the help of his cousin and fiancee, Casslyn Welch.
One inmate quickly captured after a shootout with authorities in Colorado, while McCluskey, Welch and inmate Tracy Province headed to New Mexico. Their escape and ensuing crimes sparked a nationwide manhunt and an Interpol alert.
Province and Welch pleaded guilty last year to charges of carjacking resulting in death, conspiracy, the use of a firearm during a violent crime and other charges.
They both fingered McCluskey as the triggerman.
The victims, who were high school sweethearts and recent retirees from General Motors, were making their 11th summer trip to Colorado when they were killed three days after the prison break.
