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AP Wire | 10/12/2006 | Man pleads guilty to killing 5 in Hillsborough County
Following six years of treatment in a mental hospital, a deaf man has pleaded guilty to killing four relatives and a 12-year-old girl.
Dexter Levingston, 31, was sentenced Wednesday to five consecutive life sentences on five counts of first-degree murder. Earlier this month, Levingston was ruled competent to stand trial. A judge previously ruled that Levingston needed more treatment before being tried.
Levingston has been in the hospital since November 2000. A month earlier, he was arrested for slaying his grandmother, great aunt and uncle, a cousin and a 12-year-old girl who lived with the family. Investigators said he used guns, a machete, a knife, a screwdriver and scissors to kill the five in the Tampa suburb of Seffner.
Levingston's public defender, John Skye, said it was his client's decision to plead guilty.
"While the doctors agree that he was suffering from some degree of mental illness when these things happened, there was substantial dispute as to whether that rose to the level of insanity," Skye said.
Prosecutors had said they would have sought the death penalty had a jury convicted him.
Levingston suffered spinal meningitis as a baby and the illness left him deaf in one ear and with 10 percent hearing in the other. His brain stem was damaged and he is mildly retarded, his family has said.
Following six years of treatment in a mental hospital, a deaf man has pleaded guilty to killing four relatives and a 12-year-old girl.
Dexter Levingston, 31, was sentenced Wednesday to five consecutive life sentences on five counts of first-degree murder. Earlier this month, Levingston was ruled competent to stand trial. A judge previously ruled that Levingston needed more treatment before being tried.
Levingston has been in the hospital since November 2000. A month earlier, he was arrested for slaying his grandmother, great aunt and uncle, a cousin and a 12-year-old girl who lived with the family. Investigators said he used guns, a machete, a knife, a screwdriver and scissors to kill the five in the Tampa suburb of Seffner.
Levingston's public defender, John Skye, said it was his client's decision to plead guilty.
"While the doctors agree that he was suffering from some degree of mental illness when these things happened, there was substantial dispute as to whether that rose to the level of insanity," Skye said.
Prosecutors had said they would have sought the death penalty had a jury convicted him.
Levingston suffered spinal meningitis as a baby and the illness left him deaf in one ear and with 10 percent hearing in the other. His brain stem was damaged and he is mildly retarded, his family has said.