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'He beat her like I would beat him': Victim's husband says death penalty is warranted

Adam Lawson is accused of killing Deborah Liles, a San Jose Elementary School music teacher, in March 2017 during a home invasion robbery. Court records show she was beaten to death with a golf club.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- “I take no joy from another human being facing the death penalty.”

Mike Liles learned Thursday that a grand jury handed down a first-degree murder indictment in his wife’s murder case, along with eight others. The indictment clears the way for a death penalty case against his wife’s accused killer, Adam Lawson Jr. Late Friday, the State Attorney’s Office filed formal notice of intent to seek the death penalty.

It’s the only case so far of the eight indictments issued, in which the state is seeking death.

“It’s not the kind of thing you celebrate,” says Liles. “[But] I think it’s a just punishment for what he did. He really, really hurt her badly.”

Lawson is accused of killing Deborah Liles, a San Jose Elementary School music teacher, in March 2017 during a home invasion robbery. Court records show she was beaten to death with a golf club.

Lawson was a felon at the time, and had a history of burglary charges.

The crime devastated the hundreds of students Deborah Liles taught, but particularly her own five children. She had been the victim of a prior violent assault and burglary in 1993. The Liles were married 41 years, but knew each other since childhood.

Liles, who found his wife’s battered body, says the brutality of the crime clearly meets the statutory definition of “heinous, atrocious and cruel.”

“He beat her like I would beat him,” says Liles, now the head of the Justice Coalition. “He broke both her jaws. I can’t imagine what she went through.”

Liles has already been required to imagine more than he cares to. The first-degree murder charges are possible, in part, because the Medical Examiner determined she did not die quickly.

“I allowed myself the luxury of believing maybe she didn’t realize what was happening or that she was taken out quickly, but that apparently is not the case," Liles said.

Now, Liles must prepare for trial, which as a professional victims’ advocate, he knows will be emotionally and psychologically draining.

“I will be called [to testify] because I was the one that found her,” he said. “I’m not looking forward to hearing that 911 call that I made, because I don’t hold a lot of memory of it except to say I know I was beyond distressed.” He adds, “I know it will be emotionally crippling to my kids.”

Liles struggles with the concept of the death penalty, but believes it is justified in the case. “Frankly, if I ever did to another human being what he did to my wife I would hope society would reject me enough to put me down," he said.

His work with the Justice Collation helps him channel his anger and process his grief, he said, but also serves as an ongoing tribute to his wife’s memory

“I miss her more than you can imagine, but I can’t find a way to despise the life I feel like I was given when she was in it to begin with," he said. "To me, it was the miracle, it wasn’t the destruction of her life. It was that her life was ever entwined with mine.”

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