As Usual, Someone Put Their Trust in the People, and the People Let Her Down

A Florida plumber was found guilty Friday of kidnapping and murdering a police detective's daughter at a trial in which his victim's voice filled the courtroom as her desperate 911 call was played to the jury.

Jurors deliberated just two hours before finding Michael L. King, 38, guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery in the January 17, 2008 abduction and slaying of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two.…

The jury must next decide whether King, who was a stranger to Lee, should be executed for his crimes.

According to testimony during the weeklong trial, Lee was taken from her home sometime after 2 p.m., driven to King's home, sexually assaulted, then shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave in a marshy vacant lot.…

According to testimony and court records, Lee fought frantically for her life, banging on the windows of King's green Camaro, screaming for help and begging one witness, “Call the cops.”

King's cousin, Harold Muxlow, testified that King stopped by his house between 5:30 and 6 p.m., and asked to borrow a flashlight, a gas can, and a shovel.

He testified that a “girl's voice” from the car asked him to “call the cops” but Muxlow said King told him, “Don't worry. It's nothing.”

Explaining further, Muxlow said, “Since he didn't ask to borrow my pistol this time, I thought, ‘You know, he's probably right. Don't go into a tizzy, like you usually do when you hear a woman scream “Call the Cops!” from the backseat of a Camaro.’ In hindsight, I can see where that may not have been a good conclusion to draw.”

* By the way, the picture is for this product, which you've got to see or you'll think I'm making it up.