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First, I do NOT believe in the death penalty.

But given our system, this dude Dennis Cyrus got away easy.

Three killings, drug dealing, and torture. Yet he's convicted to life without parole, with daily meals, access to a weight room, an outdoor court to play basketball, and an indoor theater to watch movies and TV shows!

"The shooting victims were Joseph Hearns and Randy Mitchell, who were killed in August 2002, and Ray Jimmerson, who was slain the following month."

Meanwhile, Scott Petersen awaits the death penalty for killing his pregnant wife for a crime I'm still not sure he committed.

Something's wrong.

Nice going, Dennis Cyrus, to you and your lawyers. You caught a break, dude!

The jury in San Francisco's first federal death penalty trial in 61 years spared the life of Dennis Cyrus on Friday after convicting him of murdering three men as a member of a drug-dealing gang in the Western Addition.

Jurors deliberated for two days before unanimously decreeing a sentence of life without parole for Cyrus, 25. He is scheduled to be formally sentenced Oct. 7.

Cyrus was convicted last month of 16 felonies, including dealing crack cocaine and committing murders as a member of the Page Street Mob. Jurors concluded that under federal law, the gang constituted a racketeering enterprise.

Prosecutors said Cyrus and other gang members had waged a bloody war against rivals and defectors to protect their drug trade. They sought a death sentence only against Cyrus, the triggerman in three 2002 killings. Five others pleaded guilty last year and were given prison terms, including the alleged gang leader, Raymon Hill, who got a 17-year sentence.

The shooting victims were Joseph Hearns and Randy Mitchell, who were killed in August 2002, and Ray Jimmerson, who was slain the following month.

Cyrus and another gang member beat Hearns and stripped him naked, and Cyrus shot him as he begged for his life, prosecutors said. They said Jimmerson was killed because he had talked to police about gang activities.

Jurors agreed in their verdict that Cyrus had tortured Hearns and killed Jimmerson to silence him. But they heeded a defense plea to let him live out a life that his attorney said began in hardship and violence.

Cyrus spent his early years with his crack-addicted mother and then moved in with his ex-convict father, who beat his children, his second wife and even his dogs, according to testimony.

His older brother was murdered when Cyrus was 5, and he started drinking in the fifth or sixth grade, then turned to drugs, his lawyer said. He was convicted of car thefts and drug dealing at age 16 and 17 and spent time in juvenile lockups before the murders.

"As a kid, he never had a break," defense lawyer James Thomson told the jury in closing arguments Wednesday.

Jurors left without talking to reporters, but the detailed verdict indicated their reasoning. All 12 agreed that Cyrus' "unstable early childhood and dysfunctional family" were grounds for a life sentence, and 11 said another reason was his upbringing in "a community where violence was common."

There were moans of relief from family members when a court clerk read the verdict. Cyrus shook hands with both his lawyers and waved as he left the courtroom, after one relative called out, "I love you, Dennis."

"I'm just glad I'll be able to see him," his mother, Pat Harris-Cyrus, said afterward. "They gave him his life. They saw what he went through growing up."

She said she was sorry for the suffering of the victims' families, but "two wrongs don't make a right."

The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Frentzen, declined to comment after the verdict.

The last death penalty trial in San Francisco's federal district was in 1948, when two Alcatraz inmates were convicted, sentenced and executed in the San Quentin gas chamber for an escape attempt in which two guards and three prisoners were killed.

There have been no death penalty trials in San Francisco Superior Court since 1991, when Clifford Bolden was sentenced to death for a robbery and fatal stabbing. Bolden is the only San Franciscan among 680 condemned prisoners in California.

The last two district attorneys, Terence Hallinan and Kamala Harris, have had policies against seeking the death penalty.

Federal law allows the death penalty for a few crimes against federal authority, such as treason and espionage, but also covers ordinary homicides that involve some transaction across state lines, including racketeering.

Attorney General Eric Holder, whose approval is required for federal capital prosecutions, turned down a proposal by Cyrus' lawyers for a life sentence and let his case go to trial.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/26/BALR18EMVG.DTL&tsp=1