Parents of woman
dismembered by deaf lesbian testify at hearing

Several jurors and audience members wept Tuesday as the parents of a slain woman testified at the death penalty phase of the trial for a woman facing life in prison or capital punishment. A jury in Sioux Falls, S.D., convicted Daphne Wright, 43, of Sioux Falls last week of kidnapping and murdering Darlene VanderGiesen, 42, another deaf woman from Sioux Falls.

Prosecutors say that in a jealous rage Wright kidnapped VanderGiesen, killed her, cut apart her body with a chain saw, and burned it. She was jealous of the friendship VanderGiesen had with Wright's former lover, authorities have said.

Lawyers plan to give closing arguments Wednesday morning. Then jurors will start deliberating whether to sentence Wright to life in prison or death by lethal injection.

Wright would be the first woman on South Dakota's death row and likely the first deaf woman on death row in the nation if she is sentenced to die. The judge earlier denied a defense request that the death penalty not be allowed because Wright is a black deaf lesbian.

Gene VanderGiesen, 65, of Rock Valley, Iowa, said words can't express the pain the family felt while his daughter was missing in February 2006, while they waited for all of her remains to be found, and while having two funerals. Their daughter was the spark plug who lit up family gatherings, said Dee VanderGiesen, 63.

''She'll never come back. I know that. But in my mother's heart, I would love her back but I know I won't see her again until heaven. So there's no salve, there's no pill, there's no words that can fill that gap. Half our family is gone,'' she said.

Wright's mother, Carolyn Tucker, 63, of Upper Marlboro, Md., testified that her daughter grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father who died of cancer when Wright was a teen. As Tucker testified, the defense showed photos of Wright as a baby, of her playing high school basketball and track, and at a job in which she had perfect attendance for three years.

Clinical psychologist Michael McGrath said Wright is mildly retarded, had attempted suicide several times as a teen, had three boyfriends from ages 13 to 17 but has since had about 10 girlfriends.

Prosecutor Dave Nelson told the jury that the circumstances of VanderGiesen's murder and mutilation was sufficiently outrageous to merit the death penalty. ''Darlene, as you know, was cut with a knife,'' he said. ''She was burned and she was dismembered subsequent to her death.''

Defense attorney Jeff Larson said that Wright became jealous and did not have the social skills to control her feelings. ''She deserves to lose her freedom forever,'' Larson said. ''There's no need to have the state kill her.'' (Carson Walker, AP)