Donald FellBURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A federal judge
is hearing arguments into whether a man on death row for his role in the 2000
abduction and killing of a Vermont woman should have his conviction overturned
because his lawyers say a juror improperly collected information about the
case.
In a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District
court in Burlington, prosecutors are saying defense attorneys have no grounds
to call for a new trial for Donald Fell.
Fell was convicted in 2005 of the
car-jacking death of 53-year-old Terry King. She was abducted as she arrived
for work at a Rutland supermarket and killed in New York.
Fell claims one of the jurors who sentenced him made an
unsanctioned trip to Rutland where he examined locations where the crimes took
place and then told other jurors.
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