Marion man convicted for killing pizza delivery asks judge for chance at parole

Paul Wells told a judge Wednesday he understood the court decision banning life sentences for juveniles, but it's 'cruel and unusual” for his family to have to relive his brother's murder again, 14 years later.

Wells, giving a victim impact statement in the resentencing of David Keegan, recalled the night his brother, Greg Wells, was ambushed as he delivered pizza to Keegan and his friend Brandy Byrd at Keegan's Marion apartment on Jan. 6, 2002.

'He was (beaten) with a claw hammer ... his throat was cut,” Wells said, tearing up. 'I had to identify his bloody body. You can't know what an impact this had on my parents and family. He was a wonderful and caring individual. He was a role model and loved by many.”

Wells asked the judge to keep Keegan, now 32, behind bars for the rest of his life, or if he made the decision to give Keegan the chance for parole that it not be until he has served many years.

'His actions earned his prison stay,” Wells said.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Lars Anderson didn't rule on the resentencing because the Department of Corrections hadn't sent its report. Anderson heard victim impact statements and testimony from Keegan and his sister Wednesday, and said he would set another hearing in a few months, after he receives the corrections report.

Keegan, convicted at 17 of first-degree murder and second-degree robbery, said he asked for the resentencing because his sister 'hassled” him after the Supreme Court decision in 2012, which bans life sentences with no parole for juvenile offenders and allows a resentencing in which a judge must consider certain factors, such as home environment, education and circumstances of the crime.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks asked Keegan if he was saying his home environment was an excuse for what he did.

Keegan said his home life wasn't an excuse.

Keegan and his twin sister, Destiny Wright, 32, testified that they had been abused by their mother, who had mental and substance abuse issues.

Wright said they endured violence and had traumatic childhoods. They were removed from their mother's home and bounced around in foster homes. Their mother 'regularly” beat them and one day left them in a ditch. They were removed and went to live with their father, but he became ill and their stepmother abused them.

Wright said Keegan's adoptive mother was a 'disgusting” person who did sex acts in front of him.

Keegan admitted to slitting Greg Wells' throat and said he took full responsibility for his actions, but also said he would 'trade places with that man if I could.”

Keegan said he took advantage of every program in prison, and it had changed his thinking. He wants to prove to his sister that 'I had become a better person.”