ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) 鈥 Jurors recommended the death penalty Tuesday for a St. Louis area man who killed his girlfriend, her two children and her mother.
Richard Darren Emery, of St. Charles, hung his head, embraced his lawyers and cried after Judge Michael Fagras read the verdict. The victims' friends and family shook hands and smiled. Fagras will formally sentence Emery on Nov. 3, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch .
Emery was of four counts of first-degree murder in .
Prosecutors said he shot Kate Kasten, 39, after she told him to leave while the couple argued. He then kicked in a door to a bedroom where Kasten鈥檚 mother, Jane Moeckel, 61, had barricaded herself with her grandchildren, Zoe, 8, and Jonathan, 10, and shot each of them at close range, police said.
Emery鈥檚 attorneys argued he had a mental illness that caused him to go into a 鈥渄ream-like state.鈥
鈥淭here has been so much pain, so much grief and so much loss and we are asking you now to choose mercy,鈥 said Emery鈥檚 attorney, Stephanie Zipfel. 鈥淲e are asking you to choose life.鈥
But assistant prosecutor Phil Groenweghe said Emery killed Moeckel, Zoe and Jonathan to eliminate witnesses, then shot at police and carjacked a woman, stabbing her seven times, all in the name of self-preservation.
鈥淎ll he cares about is his life 鈥 that鈥檚 where his treasure is found,鈥 Groenweghe said. 鈥淪end him the message that in St. Charles County, we will not tolerate this in any way.鈥
Outside the courthouse, St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar was grateful.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 take any pleasure out of being here,鈥 said St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar outside the courthouse after the verdict. 鈥淥n the flip side, we are satisfied. We feel that justice has been served.鈥
