Austin killer could face death penalty

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Travis County prosecutors are crediting a murder victim's young son with getting a conviction in a capital murder trial.

Now Milton Gobert, 37, faces the death penalty for stabbing Mel Nina Cotton, 30, to death while attempting to kidnap and rob her in 2003.

Cotton's son Demetrius witnessed his mother's murder. He testified in court last week about the morning he was stabbed and his mother murdered in their North Austin apartment.

The boy told jurors he heard yelling coming from his mother's room in the middle of the night and found a man inside stabbing her. He said Gobert choked him - and when he woke up, he had been stabbed, and his mother was dead.

Defense attorneys said they believe his testimony is why the jury came back with a guilty verdict.

"It all came down to the boy," said lead defense attorney Leonard Martinez.

The punishment phase of the trial began Wednesday, and Gobert's lawyers will be asking the jury for life in prison instead of the death penalty.

Prosecutors said it is unlikely that Demetrius will be called to the stand during the sentencing phase, but that a family member will be called to talk about the impact the murder has had on the family, particularly Demetrius, who was 5 years old at the time of the crime, but is now 11.

The state also plans on presenting Gobert's criminal history to the jury. Victims of his prior crimes, one of which he received a nine year sentence for, will also testify. Gobert's ex-girlfriend, Christina Pocharasang, took the stand, testifying for the state. She said Gobert beat her several times. Pocharasang is helping the state establish that Gobert has violent tendacies.

"He choked me around my neck," said Pocharasang, when asked to describe the attack. "It was painful."

Defense attorney Leonard Martinez plans on calling many people to testify on Gobert's behalf, including family members. He would not say if Gobert's mother, who was present throughout the trial, would plead for her son's life.

"It can be the fact that he helped a neighbor when he was a teenager, it could be just that he loves his family and it can even be - and I would argue - that this is very mitigating the fact that he didn't kill the child,” he said.

"Our job now is to just save his life," Martinez said.

However, prosecutor Allison Wetzel said she does not think the jury will buy it.

“He stabbed a 5-year-old child [Demetrius] in the chest four times and left him for dead,” Wetzel said.

The jury convicted Gobert on Tuesday after just about three-and-a-half hours.

The punishment phase is not expected to wrap up until next week.