Man accused of running over, killing 2 motorcyclists opts not to take stand
By David Angier
News Herald Writer 747-5077 / dangier@pcnh.com
PANAMA CITY
Timmy Pilgreen pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumbs and rested
his forehead on his fingers Wednesday, trying to decide if he needed to be
the only defense witness in his firstdegree murder trial.
"I’m confused as to whether I should (testify) or not," Pilgreen
told Circuit Judge Don T. Sirmons.
Sirmons gave him 20 minutes to think about it.
Ultimately, Pilgreen decided against it and opted to have his attorney, Deputy
Public Defender Walter Smith, speak for him in closing arguments scheduled
for today.
Jurors should begin deliberating a verdict late this morning.
Pilgreen, 26, of Texarkana, Ark., is charged with two counts of first-degree
premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and one
count of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.
He’s accused of killing Donald Dunham, 61, and Nola S. Zeitler, 47, on
Oct. 29 as they were riding a motorcycle on Front Beach Road. Pilgreen was
driving a full-size Chevrolet pickup when he plowed into six motorcyclists
after an altercation at the M.B. Miller Pier, investigators said.
Pilgreen could be sentenced to death if convicted as charged.
Dr. Charles Siebert Jr., the 14 th Circuit medical examiner, told jurors on
Wednesday that Zeitler and Dunham died from blunt trauma to the head. He said
both had fractures at the base of their skulls and bleeding in the brain.
Siebert said the injuries came from either being hit by the vehicle or being
thrown violently to the ground by the impact.
Zeitler was dead at the scene and Dunham died shortly after the wreck.
Siebert said Zeitler also had a broken neck, ribs and collarbone, as well
as extensive abrasions to her face, arms and hip. He said he found no injuries
that would lead him to believe that she’d been run over by the truck,
only thrown to the ground.
Siebert said the fatal injuries to Zeitler’s and Dunham’s heads
were the type that helmets were designed to prevent.
"So if a helmet had been worn," Smith said to Siebert, "there
might have been a different outcome in this case."
Pilgreen confessed to police and media shortly after his arrest. Smith said
in his opening statement that the defense wasn’t asking jurors to acquit
Pilgreen, only convict him of a more appropriate charge.
Smith asked Sirmons on Wednesday, after prosecutor Shane Vann rested his case,
to dismiss the murder and attempted murder charges because there wasn’t
sufficient evidence of premeditation.
Vann argued that one of the victims, Nathan Frasier, saw Pilgreen watching
them from his truck as they got on their motorcycles and drove east on Front
Beach Road.
Pilgreen said in a statement that he knew he could have turned west and avoided
any further altercations with the bikers, but he decided to follow them instead.
Pilgreen said as he neared the bikers he closed his eyes and gunned the motor.
"The defendant’s own statement shows premeditation," Vann said.
Oct 8, 2004
Arkansas man accused of running over, killing 2 motorcyclists is convicted of first-degree murder.
By David Angier
News Herald Writer 747-5077 / dangier@pcnh.com
Timmy Pilgreen didn’t testify, but
he said enough to get himself convicted of first-degree murder Thursday.
"I thought about it, that’s premeditation," Pilgreen told police
the night he drove a stolen full-size pickup into a group of six motorcyclists,
killing two. "If one of them dies, I guess you could call it premeditated
murder."
Jurors called it just that after four-and-a-half hours of deliberation. Before
returning with a verdict, jurors asked that Pilgreen’s three tape-recorded
statements to police be played for them again. Pilgreen confessed in two of
those statements.
Pilgreen was convicted as charged of two counts of premeditated first-degree
murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder. Jurors also convicted
him of battery on a law enforcement officer, a lesser charge than the one
he was accused of.
Pilgreen returns to court today so the same jurors can make a recommendation,
after hearing additional testimony, about whether he deserves the death penalty
or life in prison.
Pilgreen, 26, of Texarkana, Ark., killed Donald Dunham, 61, and Nola S. Zeitler,
47, Oct. 29 as they were riding a motorcycle on Front Beach Road. Pilgreen
was driving a stolen Chevrolet pickup when he plowed into six motorcyclists
after an altercation at the M.B. Miller Pier.
"I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t satisfied," Pilgreen told officers
about his feelings after the crash. "I didn’t get any cheap thrills
out of that. It made me sick to my stomach."
He said he lost control of his anger after being belittled by Dunham at the
pier. He said he would not have stopped his rampage that night if he had not
crashed into a ditch.
"It’s by the grace of God that I got stuck," Pilgreen said.
"I wish I had got stuck a long time ago, before I even got to Florida."
Prosecutor Shane Vann used Pilgreen’s words in his closing argument to
demonstrate the defendant’s state of mind and prove the premeditation
aspect of the charges against him.
"He wanted to kill them all. He tried to kill them all," Vann said.
"He made a decision. He waited. He watched, and then he ran them down.
He used his truck as a deadly weapon, because he didn’t have a gun. He
has been charged with exactly the right crimes.
"Mr. Pilgreen told the officer, ‘If I had a gun, I would have killed
them all.’ Mr. Pilgreen didn’t have a gun. He had a 1992 Chevy full-size
pickup."
Pilgreen told police he regretted letting some of the bikers escape.
"Why didn’t Mr. Pilgreen kill Nathan Frasier?" Vann asked about
one of the bikers who survived. "Because Nathan Frasier prevented him,
by getting out of the way. Mr. Pilgreen didn’t kill Mr. (Lary) Berryman
because the doctors at Bay Medical Center didn’t allow him to."
Vann said Pilgreen told officers he considered other alternatives than the
one he chose.
"That’s key," he said. "That’s reflection."
Pilgreen’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith, told jurors
that the charge of premeditated murder didn’t fit the crime. He said
a conviction on that charge would put Pilgreen in the same category as Ted
Bundy and Timothy McVeigh.
"The state of Florida has given Timmy Earl Pilgreen Jr. way too much
credit," Smith said.
He said to prove the charge the prosecution would have to "prove to you,
beyond a reasonable doubt, what was going on in the mind of a mentally ill
intoxicated person."
"The opposite of premeditation, of reflection, is impulsivity,"
Smith said. "You’re looking at someone (Pilgreen) whose life, his
entire life, is made up of impulsivity. There’s not reflection on any
of the things he does."
Smith said the case was more appropriately charged as a vehicular homicide
or manslaughter.
"This is nothing more than road rage committed by a mentally ill, intoxicated
person who is mad at the world," he said. "When had he decided to
kill Nola Zeitler? By all accounts, he didn’t know she was there. He
didn’t know a woman was involved. There’s a big difference between
wanting to hurt somebody and wanting to kill somebody.
"Yes, Timmy Pilgreen is guilty. He’s a criminal. He’s committed
crimes. It’s up to you to decide which ones he actually committed."
Pilgreen also told officers his feelings about the penalty he deserves —
the penalty that will be decided today — for his crimes.
"I ain’t asking for no mercy," Pilgreen said. "I’m
asking for the worst penalty. I’m ready to die."
Oct 16, 2004
Judge sentences biker killer to life
By David Angier
News Herald Writer 747-5077 / dangier@pcnh.com
Timmy Pilgreen got a lesson Friday on
how to live the rest of his life in prison.
"You take adversity and stand up to it, handle it like a man and it will
always make you a stronger person," Nathan Frasier told Pilgreen. "Tim
Pilgreen, you are not a stronger person. You let adversity in your life make
you a pathetic coward of a criminal."
Pilgreen, who turns 27 on Tuesday, killed Donald Dunham, 61, and Nola S. Zeitler,
47, on Oct. 29 as they were riding a motorcycle on Front Beach Road.
Pilgreen was driving a stolen Chevrolet pickup when he plowed into six motorcyclists,
most of them members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club, after an altercation at
the M.B. Miller Pier.
Frasier is one of the four victims who survived.
Pilgreen was convicted last week of two counts of premeditated first-degree
murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and battery on a law
enforcement officer. A jury unanimously recommended that he spend the rest
of his life in prison.
Circuit Judge Don T. Sirmons followed the recommendation Friday and gave Pilgreen
two consecutive life sentences plus 30 years in prison.
Pilgreen, who confessed twice to police and twice to media shortly after his
arrest, did not testify at trial, nor did he make a statement at his sentencing.
Two crash survivors addressed Pilgreen, as did Dunham’s sister.
Frasier wrote a letter to the court in which he stated the irony in this case
was that Pilgreen was "a weak person who took the life of a strong man."
"You did a senseless and cowardly act by running over unsuspecting people
from behind," Frasier wrote. He was riding beside Dunham’s motorcycle
and was brushed aside as the truck passed.
"I know you will be sorry for what you did, every breath of every day
for the rest of your life."
Dunham’s sister, Jacqueline Bronson, also wrote a letter stating that
Pilgreen devastated her family.
"My brother also had two granddaughters who he loved very much,"
Bronson wrote. "They stood by his casket and cried so hard. You broke
their little hearts.
"I sure hope God will forgive you because I won’t and my brother,
Don Dunham, wouldn’t either."
Biker Lary Berryman also mentioned forgiveness to Pilgreen. He wore the same
shirt to Pilgreen’s sentencing that he wore when he testified at Pilgreen’s
trial. On the front of the shirt, around the Outlaws’ symbol of a skull
and crossed pistons, were the words "God forgives. Outlaws don’t."
Berryman said he’s been on a "rough road" of mental and physical
recovery since the crash. He was the most seriously hurt motorcyclist who
survived the wreck. He thanked his wife and Outlaw brothers for standing by
his side through his recovery.
Berryman said he spoke to Pilgreen’s wife, Chalin Pilgreen, during the
trial and told her he sympathized with her situation. Frasier and Bronson
also said they sympathized with the Pilgreen family.
"I told (Chalin Pilgreen) that we’re all on this rough road together,"
Berryman said. He did not, however, offer his sympathy to Timmy Pilgreen.
Berryman said for a glimpse of his feelings, Pilgreen should "read my
eyes, or read something else," referring to his Outlaws shirt.
