3 months ago
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We spoke to one of the jurors we'll call her Juror 12, because she was the 12th person lawyers pieced to decided Vance's guilt or innocence. Juror 12 asked, we conceal her identity.
"Thursday night after we finished up I kind of broke down a little bit that's when the emotion just hit me," says Juror 12.
"I voted for the death penalty; I believe that's what Anne Pressly's family deserves," says Juror 12. However, the decision wasn't unanimous. "There were nine of us who voted for the death penalty," says Juror 12.
She says though jurors felt that the aggravating circumstances surrounding the cruel nature of Pressly's death outweighed the mitigating circumstances of Vance's childhood abuse and poverty, at least three jurors still wouldn't vote for the death penalty. By law judge Piazza had to sentence Vance to life without parole.
"You've got 12 different personalities in one room, 12 different histories in one room so there's going to be some disagreement," says Juror 12.
Juror 12 says the group had a much easier time finding Vance guilty of rape and murder than agreeing on a sentence. She says in end, Vance's statements to police were the most convincing evidence against him.
"I counted them up and he actually had six different versions of his testimony then, but the thing was looking at him you could see the anguish, you could see he was hurting and you could see the burden on him to tell the truth," says Juror 12.
Juror 12 says consistencies in Vance's repeat yet varied statements to police illuminated his guilt.
"All but one of his testimonies he said he was in the house so there's something there," says Juror 12.
She says she and the 11 other jurors did all they could, within the law, to get justice for Anne Pressly.
"What he did was a very in his own words a very sick crime and I believe he needs to pay for that," says Juror 12.
Listen to the full interview with Juror 12.
