Adam Longoria faces trial, but not death penalty in case of slain Great Bend teen

GREAT BEND — Adam Longoria will go to trial on a charge of capital murder in the killing of 14-year-old Alicia DeBolt, but will not face the death penalty if convicted.

Instead of death, he would face life without parole if convicted, said Ron Keefover, spokesman for the state's Office of Judicial Administration.

DeBolt's family read a brief statement outside the Barton County Courthouse saying they support prosecutors' decision not to seek the death penalty. The family declined to answer questions.

A judge decided Thursday afternoon that there was sufficient evidence to take Longoria to trial on the capital murder charge, which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty upon conviction.

Kevin O'Connor, a special assistant attorney general, told Judge Hannelore Kitts that the state's decision not to seek the death penalty was based on careful deliberation of the facts, the conservative application of the death penalty law, and how appellate courts might view the case.

DeBolt's burned body was found Aug. 24, 2010, at an asphalt plant about five miles southwest of Great Bend.

In court documents the state said it initially planned to seek the death penalty partly because of the possibility that DeBolt had been set on fire while she was still alive. State law allows the death penalty in some cases if the crime was committed in "an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner."

Prosecutors since determined that Longoria killed DeBolt at the Venture Corp. asphalt plant, left her body there, drove back to Great Bend, bought gas, returned to the crime scene and burned her corpse, according to the court filing.

While most people would find that horrific, prosecutors wrote, state law "does not list desecration of a victim's body as an aggravating circumstance for the death penalty."

This is not the first time that the death penalty has been removed as an option in a capital murder case, Keefover said.

A trial date has yet to be set. Longoria, who allowed a not guilty plea to be entered for him by the court, waived his right to a speedy trial.

When the case goes to trial, a jury will decide whether Longoria is guilty of capital murder and whether the underlying crime involved is criminal sodomy, aggravated criminal sodomy or attempted rape. Prosecutors are presenting each of those three crimes as alternative theories of how DeBolt was killed after she disappeared in August 2010.

The state laid out its case during a two-day preliminary hearing.

On Wednesday, prosecutors presented a string of cellphone text messaging to show a relationship between the 36-year-old man and the 14-year-old girl.

On Thursday, O'Connor argued that evidence shows Longoria had a "sexual interest in this 14-year-old girl."

The night she disappeared from her Great Bend home, Longoria lured her into a vehicle with the offer of going to a party "when there was never a party," O'Connor said.

Instead, O'Connor said, Longoria took DeBolt to a secluded asphalt plant where he worked.

A forensic scientist testified that testing found a mix of Longoria's DNA and DeBolt's DNA in seminal fluid detected in two places on the driver's side floor mat of the Ford Escape that Longoria had been using.

One of the defense attorneys, Tim Frieden, suggested in his questioning of the witness that the DNA from the two could have been left at different times.

James Newman, a forensic scientist with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said he couldn't give a specific time frame for when the fluid was deposited.

Another defense attorney, Jeff Wicks, argued that the state hadn't met its burden to show there was sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.

The state shouldn't be allowed to use text messages between Longoria and DeBolt that occurred weeks before she disappeared to prove the sex crimes alleged, Wicks said.

The state is presenting multiple theories of the underlying sex crime to "see what sticks," Wicks said.

O'Connor countered that the evidence illustrated a "continuing course of conduct" by Longoria and "showed an interest in this little girl sexually." He had asked her to send him a picture of herself and told others "she had a nice body," O'Connor said.

Even if the 14-year-old voluntarily got into his vehicle, she was too young to have sex with him, O'Connor argued. He "took Alicia DeBolt out there to sexually assault her," O'Connor said.

Authorities found her charred body with layers of duct tape over her mouth and on an ankle.

Witnesses testified that around the time DeBolt disappeared, Longoria bought gasoline from a convenience store and put it in a container and that lab tests showed traces of gas on DeBolt's clothing and on soil around her body. Testing also detected gas on shoes Longoria wore that night.

This story was originally published October 7, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Adam Longoria faces trial, but not death penalty in case of slain Great Bend teen."