Whitaker: I am 100 percent guilty

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Bart Whitaker took the stand in the punishment phase of his trial yesterday, saying that he was "100 percent guilty" of plotting to have his family killed so he could inherit their $1.5 million fortune. "I put the plan in motion," Whitaker testified. "If I had not done that, it wouldn't have happened."

Jurors found the 27-year-old Whitaker guilty Monday of capital murder for masterminding the plan to have his family killed as they returned home from dinner Dec. 10, 2003. He arranged to have the accused gunman, Chris Brashear, waiting at the family's house when they arrived; Brashear killed Whitaker's mother, Patricia, and his brother Kevin and wounded Whitaker and his father, Kent. The motive, prosecutors said, was money, but Whitaker testified that hatred was also involved: "The only people I've ever hated, and for all the wrong reasons, were my parents and my brother," he said. "I always felt that whatever love they gave me was based on a standard I couldn't reach."

Under questioning by prosecutor Fred Felcman, Whitaker said he got a generous allowance, had access to an $80,000 annuity when he turned 21 and had his college tuition paid for by his parents. But Whitaker wasn't in college at all, it turns out: Though he claimed he was making good grades and was about to graduate from Sam Houston State University, he wasn't enrolled (his parents were giving him $1,000 a month for living expenses and had bought him a townhouse near the Sam Houston campus based on the belief that Whitaker was in school). What's more, the night his mother and brother were killed, Whitaker and his family had been to dinner to celebrate his pending graduation. "You are out with your family and you knew they were supposed to be dead within minutes?" Felcman asked. "Yes, sir," Whitaker replied. Felcman asked Whitaker why he didn't plead guilty at the beginning of his trial — Whitaker made no plea at all, forcing the judge to enter a plea of not guilty — and asked what Whitaker would have done had he been found not guilty. "I didn't think that was possible," Whitaker replied.

Also on the stand Tuesday were Whitaker's uncle, William Bartlett, and his father, Kent, who was supposed to be killed in the 2003 ambush as well. Both said they don't want Whitaker to be executed for the crime:
"We are worn out," Bartlett, Patricia Whitaker's brother, said. "We need for this to go away."