Showing posts with label James Whitler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Whitler. Show all posts

Monday, June 8, 2009

Loveland man gets life term for killing man serving divorce papers

By Monte Whaley - The Denver Post - 06/08/2009

James Whitler is charged with killing a process server who came to serve him with divorce papers May 28, 2008

FORT COLLINS — A man who brutally beat a process server to death in May 2008 and then tried to kill his two young children was sentenced to life in prison today without possibility of parole after being called heartless and a monster by the victim's friends and family.

James Whitler also was sentenced to two consecutive 24-year-sentences for the attempted murder of his son, 11, and daughter, 13.

Larimer District Judge Daniel Kaup told Whitler he could have merely accepted the divorce papers from Stephen Allen on May 28, 200,8 and moved on with his life. But instead, Whitler beat Allen to death with a baseball bat and then tried to stab his daughter and strangle both children unconscious.

"This didn't have to end this way," Kaup told Whitler before passing sentence.

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Loveland man gets life term for killing man serving divorce papers

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Monday, May 11, 2009

Jury Finds Man Guilty Of Process Server Murder

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4)

A jury has found James Whitler guilty of first degree murder. The Loveland man was accused in the beating death of a process server.

Whitler was also found guilty of two counts of first degree attempted murder and two counts of child abuse and reckless endangerment.

Whitler killed Stephen Allen and then attacked his own children. The children testified against their father at the trial.

Allen served Whitler divorce papers just before the deadly attack.

Whitler's attorney argued his client acted in a fit of rage.

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Jury Finds Man Guilty Of Process Server Murder

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Loveland man convicted of killing process server

Examiner.com - FORT COLLINS, CO

A Loveland man has been convicted of beating a process server to death with a baseball bat.

A Larimer County jury on Monday found 46-year-old James Whitler guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 57-year-old Stephen Allen.

Jurors also convicted Whitler of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of child abuse and two counts of reckless endangerment. They started deliberating Friday.

Prosecutors say Whitler beat Allen with a baseball bat after Allen served Whitler divorce papers at his Loveland home last year. They also say Whitler choked his two children.

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Loveland man convicted of killing process server

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Jury Rules Man Guilty In Process Server Slaying

Prosecutors Say Man Hit Process Server More Than 20 Times With Bat

DENVER -- Jurors returned a guilty verdict late Monday afternoon in the case of man accused of beating a process server to death with a baseball bat.

The jurors started deliberating Friday and continued Monday morning.

Forty-six-year-old James Whitler was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 57-year-old Stephen Allen.

Prosecutors said Whitler beat Allen with a baseball bat 20 times after Whitler delivered divorce papers.

Whitler's defense attorney Eric Vanatta said his client's actions were not premeditated and that he snapped amid a "hurricane of emotions" when Allen served him divorce papers at his Loveland home last year.

But prosecutors say Whitler had plenty of time to think about what he was doing.

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Jury Rules Man Guilty In Process Server Slaying

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Thursday, May 7, 2009

One witness and defense rests in Whitler's murder trial

Jury to get instructions Friday
BY NATE TAYLOR • NateTaylor@coloradoan.com • May 7, 2009

Defense attorneys Wednesday afternoon called just one witness on behalf of James Whitler before resting their case in the Loveland man's murder trial.


The one witness was Pam Buffington, an investigator with the Fort Collins public defender's office who explained about 15 photos depicting Whitler's injuries two days after he allegedly beat process server Stephen Allen to death with a T-ball bat and then allegedly strangled his two children. Allen died after serving divorce papers and a temporary restraining order to Whitler.

Attorneys and Judge Dan Kaup will meet today to argue about and create jury instructions, which will be read to jurors Friday just before closing arguments.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating the evidence Friday.

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One witness and defense rests in Whitler's murder trial

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Whitler's children take the stand in process server murder trial

By Hallie Woods • For Loveland Connection • May 5, 2009

The two young children of a Loveland man accused of killing a process server testified that their father said he would “get them out of here” minutes before he stabbed his daughter twice and strangled both children.
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James Whitler’s son, 11, and daughter, 13, whose names Loveland Connection is withholding, avoided making eye contact with their father Monday as they gave their accounts of what happened the day process server Stephen Allen was beaten to death.

Whitler is accused of fatally beating Allen with a baseball bat May 28, 2008, after Allen and Lisa Whitler served Whitler with divorce papers and a restraining order.

Whitler allegedly then turned on his two children.

Both children said their father had “planted in their mind” that their mother was a terrible person who was ruining their family...

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Whitler's children take the stand in process server murder trial


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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Whitler told cops: 'I kind of just snapped'

Nate Taylor - Fort Collins Coloradoan - May 6, 2009

FORT COLLINS - Jurors in James Whitler's murder trial saw a video recording Tuesday of Whitler telling authorities he began beating Stephen Allen, the man he's accused of murdering, after he came to view the process server as the object of his marriage's lost hope.

Whitler also told investigators he was praying to God to take care of his two children while he strangled them after beating Allen.

If sheriff's deputies hadn't stopped him, he said he probably would have killed his children and then himself.

It was Allen and Whitler's wife, Lisa, who delivered divorce papers and a restraining order to James Whitler on May 28, 2008, prompting the Loveland man to go into what he described on the video as "blind rage."

Whitler told investigators during his interview hours after his arrest on May 28 he probably hit Allen 15 or 20 times during a struggle that left Allen battered and spattered blood on furniture, walls, floors and ceilings throughout the Whitler home in west Loveland.

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Whitler told cops: 'I kind of just snapped'

Daughter finishes testimony in process server murder trial

BY NATE TAYLOR • Loveland Connection, CO • May 5, 2009

The 13-year-old daughter of a Loveland man accused of trying to kill her and her 11-year-old brother says she now sees her father as the "bad guy" after thinking he was the "good guy" during the days immediately after the father killed process server Stephen Allen.
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James Whitler's daughter finished her testimony this morning during his first-degree murder trial. Whitler is accused of strangling his two children after he beat process server Stephen Allen to death with a baseball bat in the moments after receiving documents from his wife for a divorce and a restraining order.

The girl finished her testimony today after recounting for jurors on Monday the details of how her father beat Allen and then turned his rage toward her and her brother by strangling them after telling them he wanted to "make them forget" what they'd just seen.

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Daughter finishes testimony in process server murder trial