April 12, 1989

Was Hayes a 'Calculating' Killer or 'Crazy, Pure and Simple'?

Deliberations Start After Heated Arguments

By John Downey, Journal Reporter

In heated final arguments yesterday, prosecutors said Michael Charles Hayes is a "cold, calculating" killer with "no respect for the law, no respect for human life, and no respect for any of God's creatures."

Defense attorneys countered that prosecutors were preying on the juror's emotions - hoping to get them to ignore evidence that Hayes was insane when he shot and killed four people last July.

"They felt that they had to put on a show for you," said Gregory Davis, one of Hayes' attorneys. "They know as well as anybody who has heard this evidence that Mr. Hayes was insane at the time of the incidents."

With that and over two hours of instructions on the law from Judge James A. Beaty Jr., the jury began its deliberations. The eight women and four men deliberated from 4:30 to 6 p.m. without reaching a verdict. They are to resume at 9:30 a.m. today.

Hayes, 25, of Davidson County, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and eight counts of assault. The case has been an emotional and highly publicized one, so with the jury deliberations under way, Forsyth sheriff's deputies tightened security in the courtroom.

There were more armed bailiffs than in earlier sessions, and plainclothes detectives from the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department were positioned in the crowd. Lisa Singer, a lawyer who is assisting the defense attorneys, was told that she could no longer sit behind Hayes because she might be in the line of fire.

Defense attorneys concede that Hayes killed four people and wounded five more in a 30 minute shooting spree July 17 on Old Salisbury Road. But they say that he was insane at the time.

Michael A. Grace, who with Davis is defending Hayes, said in closing arguments: "If you find that Michael Hayes was not insane, you are saying there is no such thing as insanity in North Carolina."

The insanity defense has succeeded in a first degree murder case in the state only once this century.

Two psychiatrists and a psychologist testified that Hayes suffered from some form of schizophrenia and was incapable of telling right from wrong at the time of the shootings.

If the jury accepts those opinions, they should acquit Hayes of all charges.

But prosecutors say that Hayes did know what he was doing that night.

They described Hayes as a mean, cruel man whose thinking was muddled by constant marijuana use.

District Attorney Warren Sparrow told the jury that Hayes' actions proved that he planned the killings. As an example, he pointed to Hayes' purchase of the .22-caliber rifle he used two days before the shootings.

"He said that he wanted a larger caliber gun, he wanted a bigger (ammunition) clip for it," Sparrow said.

"He wanted to be, in his own words, a 'killing machine.'

"I submit to you that these are the acts of a person who is cold, cunning and calculating and wants to kill people," Sparrow said.

Assistant prosecutor Eric A. Saunders made the first argument to the jury yesterday morning.

He said that Hayes had been a mean person all his life - that he had killed pet cats and once hurled a dog out of the window of a speeding car.

He used marijuana daily, Saunders said, breaking the law each time he did.

"He does what he wants to when he wants to, regardless of the consequences," Saunders said often, using it as a refrain to punctuate lists of incidents intended to show that Hayes is a cruel and amoral person. "He just doesn't care."

Saunders, attacking the contentions by the defense that Hayes thought he was on a mission from God, reminded the jury that Hayes swore repeatedly during the shootings.

"How many times did he take the Lord's name in vain?" he asked. "He said, 'Roll down the "g-- d--" window you "m-- f--"' at least three times, according to the testimony of Darlene Hull.

"Does that sound like someone on a mission from God?"

Mrs. Hull was wounded, and her husband Ronald Lee Hull, was killed by Hayes. She had testified that Hayes was aiming the rifle at her 8-year-old son when deputies opened fire, wounding Hayes and ending the spree.

Saunders reminded jurors of Hayes' call to his friend Alan Kemper during the shootings.

"He said: 'I got a girl. I'm using her as a range marker,' " Saunders said, his voice cracking.

"Can you imagine anything more callous in your whole life?"

He said that Hayes' plea to Kember to "get your gun and help me hold off the police" proved that Hayes knew he was doing wrong.

Grace said that Saunders was taking "bits and pieces of the case and twisting them" to argue that Hayes was sane.

He said even prosecution witnesses testified that Hayes said bizarre things and acted strangely.

"I'm not going to pull at your emotions, not going to try and wrench sympathy from you for Michael Charles Hayes or anybody else," Grace said. "I don't want to sound like Mr. Saunders, a man who is desperate and tried to convince you in 30 minutes of what you haven't heard from the witness stand.

"He was crazy, pure and simple. Use your own best judgment. Use your common sense. Let the truth speak," Grace said. Then he leaned forward on a cane he uses because of a torn Achilles tendon and added quietly, "You have an awesome task."

Whatever the effect on the jury, Davis and Grace won no converts among the victims and their families.

Jeffrey Parks, who was shot through the mouth by Hayes, cleaned his nails with a pen-knife through much of the defense arguments.

Mrs. Hull shook her head from time to time as the attorneys tried to make their points. R.B. Nicholson, whose son was killed, said later that the families all listened, but no one was moved.

Sparrow said afterward that he was satisfied with the way that he and Saunders presented the case. "We did the best we could with the evidence we had," he said.