Michigan Jury Convicts Coral Eugene Watts of 1979 Murder, Keeping Him From Release in Texas
A 1982 Texas deal gave Watts immunity for 12 killings, and sentence cuts had set him to go free in 2006. A witness who came forward in January helped convict him.
Published
Coral Eugene Watts was less than two years from walking out of a Texas prison. On November 17, 2004, a Michigan jury convicted him of murder, a verdict that carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
The jury in Pontiac found Watts, 51, guilty of murdering Helen Dutcher, 36, in a Detroit suburb in 1979. Watts showed little reaction as the verdict was read, and his lawyer, Ronald Kaplovitz, described his response as "quiet resignation." Under a 1982 deal with Texas prosecutors, Watts had received immunity for 12 killings, 11 in Texas and one in Michigan, in return for a 60-year sentence for burglary with intent to murder. Mandatory release laws and an appeals court ruling cut more than 35 years from that sentence, and he was due to be freed in April 2006.
In January 2004 Michigan's attorney general appealed for help on national television, and a man who said he had seen the attack on Dutcher from his porch came forward. At trial the defense questioned whether the witness, Joseph Foy, could identify anyone in a dark alley from 85 feet away after 25 years. The jury also heard about killings and attacks covered by the immunity deal, including testimony from a Texas woman who survived an attack by him. "It's what we prayed for," said Dutcher's sister-in-law.
Most of the killings Watts confessed to took place in 1981 and 1982, after he moved to the Houston area from Michigan. He led police to three of the bodies. "I'm glad to see that finally we were able to pull a viable case together so that the victims' families would have their day in court," said Assistant Michigan Attorney General Donna Pendergast. Earlier that day, authorities in Kalamazoo had charged Watts with the 1974 stabbing death of Gloria Steele, 19, a Western Michigan University student.
Sources
- Serial killer Coral Eugene Watts convicted, NBC News (Associated Press)
- Conviction keeps serial killer in jail, Fox News (Associated Press)
- People v. Watts, Michigan Court of Appeals
Related News
- September 21, 2007: Coral Eugene Watts, Who Once Told Police He Killed More Than 80 People, Dies in Michigan Custody