Federal prosecutors argue for death penalty against Texas man

Friday, July 15th 2005, 6:01 am

By: News On 6

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say a man who killed a Hurst, Texas, couple in the Ouachita National Forest two years ago watched them, shot them then stole their belongings.

A hearing got under way Thursday in Muskogee to determine if Edward Leon Fields Junior should get the death penalty or life without parole for the July 2003 deaths of Charles and Shirley Chick.

Fields already has pleaded guilty to murder and other counts, but federal law requires a sentencing phase.

Prosecutors told a jury that the Chicks were sitting next to each other at a campground picnic table when a .22-caliber bullet ripped through Charles Chick's head. They say Shirley Chick was shot once while fleeing, then shot in the head twice as she tried to crawl into the couple's van.

Defense attorney Julia -O- Connell says Fields is mentally ill and his medication was doubled three days before the killings.