佛罗里达州74岁男子被控杀害并肢解同住女子案进入陪审团评议：被告曾提出以一份芝士牛排换取认罪
美国佛罗里达州 Hillsborough 县巡回法院11月3日上午完成控辩双方结案陈词，74岁的 Robert Kessler 被控一级谋杀与虐待尸体一案当天下午交由陪审团评议。检方指控他于2021年杀害同住的47岁女子 Stephanie Crone-Overholt 并肢解其遗体。Kessler 不认罪，在被证明有罪之前依法推定无罪。
检方称，来自宾夕法尼亚州 Erie 的 Crone-Overholt 2020年秋来到佛罗里达州后住进 Kessler 在 Lutz 的家中；检方指控他于2021年11月5日将其杀害、肢解后把遗体抛入 Tampa 的 McKay Bay。2021年11月中旬，渔民在 McKay Bay 发现她的部分遗骸；调查人员称，在 Kessler 家中和鞋上提取的血迹 DNA 与死者吻合，也有目击者称见过与他相貌相似的男子向水中抛掷垃圾袋。Kessler 于2021年11月下旬被捕，此案曾因其精神状态问题延宕，他一度被裁定不具备受审能力，2025年3月法官裁定其已恢复受审能力。
本案10月26日开始遴选陪审团时出现一段插曲：双目失明的 Kessler 当时自行辩护，巡回法官 Nick Nazaretian 问他是否愿意作公开认罪、接受终身监禁「了结此案」时，他回答：「给我一份费城芝士牛排、一份薯条和一瓶20盎司百事可乐，我就认。」他还具体点明要加洋葱和蛋黄酱，并称这样能「给纳税人省钱」。法官拒绝了这一提议，表示「显然不能用食物换取认罪，这在很多层面上都是错的」。Kessler 随后收回提议；10月27日，他把辩护交回公设辩护人，并选择不出席自己的庭审。
在11月3日的结案陈词中，辩方律师指出，检方拿出了大量关于死者遗体遭遇的证据，但并未证明这起杀害出于预谋、更未证明行凶者就是 Kessler，要求陪审员把肢解行为的证据与一级谋杀的指控分开看待。法医证词显示，死者颈部有四处刺伤。陪审团3日下午开始评议，裁决尚未公布。
Jury Deliberates in Florida Trial of Man, 74, Accused of Killing and Dismembering Woman: Defendant Had Offered to Plead Guilty for a Cheesesteak
Closing arguments ended on the morning of November 3 at the Hillsborough County Circuit Court in Florida, and the case of Robert Kessler, 74, charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a dead body, went to the jury that afternoon. Prosecutors accuse him of killing Stephanie Crone-Overholt, the 47-year-old woman who lived with him, in 2021 and dismembering her body. Kessler has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Prosecutors say Crone-Overholt, who had come to Florida from Erie, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 2020, was living at Kessler's home in Lutz. They allege he killed her on November 5, 2021, dismembered her body and threw the remains into McKay Bay in Tampa. Fishermen found her partial remains in McKay Bay in mid-November 2021. Investigators say DNA from blood found in Kessler's house and on his shoes matched the victim, and witnesses reported seeing a man matching his description throwing trash bags into the water. Kessler was arrested in late November 2021. The case was delayed over questions about his mental state: he was at one point found incompetent to stand trial, and in March 2025 a judge ruled him competent.
The trial drew attention during jury selection on October 26. Kessler, who is blind and was then representing himself, was asked by Circuit Judge Nick Nazaretian whether he wanted to enter an open plea, accept life in prison and "be done with it." He replied: "I'll do that for a Philly cheesesteak, and an order of fries and a Pepsi." He specified a cheesesteak with onions and mayonnaise and a 20-ounce Pepsi, saying the deal would "save the taxpayers." The judge refused, saying he could not give food to people to enter a plea and that it "would be wrong in a thousand ways." Kessler withdrew the offer, handed his defence back to his public defender on October 27, and chose not to attend his own trial.
In closing arguments on November 3, the defence argued that prosecutors had presented plenty of evidence about what happened to the victim's remains but had failed to prove a premeditated killing, or that Kessler was the killer, urging jurors to separate the dismemberment evidence from the first-degree murder charge. Medical examiner testimony put four stab wounds in the victim's neck before the jury. The jury began deliberating on Tuesday afternoon; no verdict had been announced.
来源：希尔斯伯勒县巡回法院
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于 Tampa 的 Hillsborough 县法院大楼（资料图）。照片 CC BY-SA 3.0，作者 TampAGS，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Hillsborough County Courthouse in Tampa (file photo). CC BY-SA 3.0, by TampAGS, via Wikimedia Commons.
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