Jury selection for the trial of Michael Lee King, the 1990 Brandon High School graduate charged with the murder of a Florida woman, will begin on Aug. 17 in Sarasota County Circuit Court.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
‘I expect the case to take about three weeks,? said Lon Arend, assistant state attorney in Florida, and lead prosecutor on the King case. ‘We have a lot of evidence there haven’t been any conversations about a plea bargain. They haven’t asked to plead it to a life sentence.?
Under ethical rules, Arend could not comment further on the case.
King, 38, is charged with the first degree pre-meditated murder, sexual battery and kidnapping of Denise Amber Lee, 21, on Jan. 17, 2008. Both were residents of North Port, Fla.
According to North Port Police Department reports, at about 3:29 p.m. on Jan. 17, officers responded to Denise Lee’s home on the report of a missing person.
The woman’s husband, Nathaniel Lee, said he had arrived home at 3:20 p.m. to find his wife gone and their two children, a 2-year-old and 6-month-old, unattended. Denise Lee’s purse, keys, cell phone and vehicle were still at the residence.On Jan. 19, 2008, her body was discovered buried in a rural area off of Toledo Blade Boulevard, close to the area where King was found by the trooper. Cause of death was a gunshot wound to her head.
King’s public defense attorney, Carolyn Schlemmer, could not be reached for comment at press time.