MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Jurors took less than two hours yesterday to convict a Memphis man of murdering his brother and five others, including two young nephews, in a bloody rampage in a Memphis home two years ago.
Jessie Dotson, 35, faces the death penalty for one of the city's worst mass slayings. He showed no emotion as the verdict was announced.
Jurors concluded that Dotson shot and killed his brother, Cecil, during a 2008 argument, and then went after everyone else in the house with his gun and a knife to eliminate witnesses.
Three other children were stabbed but survived. One of them, Cecil Dotson Jr., now 11, was found in a bathtub with a 4 1/2-inch knife blade embedded in his skull. He was a key prosecution witness against his uncle.
Also killed were 4-year-old Cemario Dotson and 2-year-old Cecil Dotson Jr. II; Cecil Dotson's girlfriend, Marissa Williams; and friends Hollis Seals and Shindri Robinson.
Defense attorney Gerald Skahan said his client wasn't happy with the verdict, but understood it. The defense was disappointed in the speed of the jury, said attorney Marty McAfee.
"I don't see how they could have looked at everything in that time," McAfee said. "They might have been thinking about as it was being put forward. Everyone in town expected this to be a whipping. Instead it was a fist fight."
Jessie Dotson, in his testimony, blamed the attack on gang members.
The jury will begin deciding today if Dotson should be sentenced to death by injection.