By John Woodrow Cox, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
BROOKSVILLE — In the moments after his trailer burned down in January 2010, his attorney told jurors, something in John Kalisz broke.
Two days later, on Jan. 14, 2010, Kalisz killed his sister, Kathryn "Kitty" Donovan, and her office manager, Deborah Tillotson, in Donovan's home on Wilhelm Road, west of Brooksville. He also shot his niece, Manessa Donovan, and Amy Green, an employee at Kitty Donovan's home-based business.
Kalisz was convicted of the crimes on Monday. His attorneys will argue that their client deserves life in prison; prosecutor Pete Magrino will seek the death penalty.
As the penalty phase in the proceedings began today, public defender Devon Sharkey told jurors the 57-year-old's collapse didn't happen all at once.
Until his mid-30s, Kalisz had lived from street corners to train cars to jail cells. He was an alcoholic and a hell raiser.
Then, Sharkey said, he found Alcoholic Anonymous around 1990.
"John did something very few street-bum drunks do," Sharkey said. "He pulled his life completely together"
Because of his experiences, Kalisz connected with and helped fellow alcoholics for nearly 20 years.
His success story began to erode in late 2008 when his mother died. Sharkey then referred to a "legal issue" in 2009. The public defender didn't specify, but he was likely referring to accusations that Kalisz had exposed himself and masturbated in front of Manessa, then 17, in his sister's home. He was also accused of giving her nude photos and threatening the girl's boyfriend with a knife.
Convicted on those charges, the terms of his probation prohibited Kalisz from returning to his home or roofing business in Colorado. He had few friends and little support in Florida.
Then, Kalisz's mobile home caught fire when he tried to change propane tanks. Sharkey said that changed him.
"You've already seen what happened when he broke," Sharkey told jurors. "The state has laid it out in excruciating detail."
The attorney said he will present friends, families and even a forensic psychologist to perhaps explain, but not justify, Kalisz's murderous rampage.
"We hope," he said, "you find that John's life is worth sparing."
Minutes before his plea to jurors, the defense team's fight for Kalisz's life already suffered a significant blow.
Public defender Alan Fanter argued that jurors should not be told about Kalisz's murder of Dixie County sheriff's Capt. Chad Reed, who was shot trying to arrest him later that day in Cross City.
"If we were in Dixie County trying Chad Reed's death, it would be a different story," Fanter said.
After a brief debate with Magrino, Judge Daniel Merritt Sr. ruled that the state would be allowed to present evidence of Reed's death.