HAYLIE FAULKNER-15 and DANIELLE HENSLEY-17 - (2007) - Travis County TX

A Texas man accused in a 2007 killing spree that left six people dead has pleaded not guilty to a pair of the slayings.
Paul Devoe, 45, on Wednesday appeared in court in Austin and pleaded not guilty to capital murder in the deaths of two teenage girls. Jury selection is set for Friday. The Austin American-Statesman reports Devoe first told the judge "Guilty, your honor,'' then, after conferring with his attorney, quickly changed his plea to: "Not guilty, your honor.''
The investigation involves the fatal shooting of a man at a bar in Marble Falls, four killings in Jonestown, including 15-year-old Haylie Faulkner and 17-year-old Danielle Hensley, and the slaying of a woman in Greencastle, Pa.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Devoe, who was captured in Long Island, N.Y.

A Travis County jury wasted no time convicting Paul Devoe of capital murder.


After 90 minutes of closing arguments by lawyers Friday morning, the
jury took about 20 minutes to judge Devoe guilty of killing Haylie
Faulkner, 15, and Danielle Hensley, 17. Jurors walked out of the
courtroom to deliberate shortly before noon. They reached their verdict
at 12:16 p.m.

"That's extremely fast, even in a noncapital case," prosecutor Gary Cobb said.


Now the jury must decide whether to sentence the 46-year-old Devoe —
who is accused of killing six people in a 2007 spree that began in
Marble Falls and ended in Greencastle, Pa. — to death or life in prison
without parole. The punishment phase of the trial will begin Monday.

The verdict, which was read by state District Judge Brenda Kennedy,
brought tearful smiles and nods from the victims' families, many of
whom had been present since the trial began Monday. The relatives
hugged and cried. Outside the courtroom, several said they were pleased
with the verdict.

"I just miss my daughter," Danielle's mother, Christine Gribble, told reporters.


Devoe, 46, also cried when the verdict was read. He dabbed at his
eyes with a tissue at the defense table. Defense lawyer Tom Weber
declined to comment on the case.

The speedy verdict came in a trial that has moved much faster than
expected. Lawyers had guessed that the trial would take up to a month.
Instead, the prosecution rested after four days of testimony. Devoe did
not testify.

The defense didn't put on a case at all — a fact that Weber asked jurors not to hold against his client.


"You can't say, 'Well, they're lousy lawyers. They didn't put on any evidence,' " Weber said. "Maybe we are. I don't know."


Throughout closing arguments Friday, Cobb and prosecutor Dayna
Blazey said the events that led to Haylie's and Danielle's deaths began
Aug. 24, 2007. On that day, Devoe drove to a Marble Falls bar, shot
41-year-old bartender Michael Allred with a stolen gun and then went to
the Jonestown home of ex-girlfriend Paula Marie Griffith, prosecutors
said.

Devoe walked into the house and shot Griffith, 46, and boyfriend Jay
Feltner, 48, Blazey said. Then he killed Griffith's daughter Haylie and
Haylie's friend Danielle. Danielle was found on the couch with a cell
phone in her hand.

"Can you imagine the horror in the house for those girls?" Blazey asked the jurors.


In his closing argument, Weber said the prosecution had not proved
that Devoe killed the girls. No one saw him commit the slayings, and
the state did not show what connection Devoe had to the teens, Weber
said.

"Have they shown you a reason he killed those two girls?" he asked the jury.


Cobb suggested that the girls were killed because they were witnesses to the other deaths in the house.


"The way you get rid of eyewitnesses is you kill the eyewitnesses,"
he told the jury. "That's the sad truth. You don't think about how old
anyone is. You just kill everyone in the house."

After the Jonestown shootings, Devoe drove Griffith's white Saturn
station wagon across the country, heading for his native Long Island,
N.Y., according to testimony. In a statement he gave police that was
read in court, Devoe said the car had trouble in Pennsylvania, so he
pulled off the highway and into a driveway on a dead-end street.

Prosecutors say Devoe shot and killed Betty DeHart, 81, stole her
Hyundai and drove it to Long Island. He was arrested there Aug. 27,
2007, with the gun used in all the killings. He also had Allred's cell
phone and DeHart's car was in the driveway, according to testimony.

During the trial, jurors heard a recorded telephone call in which
Devoe says he used a friend's gun in the shootings. They also heard
from a jail inmate who said Devoe confessed to killing six people.
Weber, however, suggested that Devoe was lying.

"My client has a big mouth," Weber told jurors. "There's no doubt he
has a big mouth. He likes to talk and brag about things he didn't do."