Defense portrays killer's troubles

A portrait of Sampson as an increasingly violent and unstable substance abuser emerged yesterday, as defense lawyers for the confessed killer began presenting their case in an effort to persuade a federal jury to spare Sampson's life.

He dropped out of school after the ninth grade, was married five times, and fathered three children whom he barely knew, his lawyers said. He so alienated his family, testified Jill Miller, a social worker who compiled a personal history of Sampson for the defense team, that by the time Sampson was arrested in July 2001, his parents, sister, and brother refused to speak to his defense lawyers.

"Will you please come see me?" Sampson wrote in a letter to his parents after committing the three murders. "I am guilty of hurting innocent people, and I'm ready to spend the rest of my life in prison. I love you both very much."

The letter was returned unopened.

Jurors have already heard the prosecution's case in the penalty phase of Sampson's trial. The Abington native faces the federal death penalty for killing two Massachusetts men who picked him up while he was hitchhiking: Jonathan Rizzo, 19, of Kingston, and Philip McCloskey, 69, of Taunton.

Sampson also faces state charges in New Hampshire for killing a third man, Robert "Eli" Whitney, 59, of Penacook, N.H., during the same week in July 2001.

During nine days of testimony, prosecutors presented aggravating factors that could allow the jury to sentence Sampson to death, including evidence that Sampson cruelly tortured his victims and intended to kill them, even as he offered assurances they would not be harmed.

Before testimony began yesterday, US District Judge Mark L. Wolf asked Rizzo's family members to move to a different location in the courtroom, so they would not be directly in the jury's line of vision as the defense attorneys questioned witnesses.

"The jurors generally had found it impossible to watch the lawyer asking the questions and not observe Mr. and Mrs. Rizzo's reaction to the evidence," Wolf said.

Family members have voluntarily left the courtroom during particularly graphic testimony about the murders, and they said yesterday that the judge's request offended them.

"I'm very insulted by it," said Mary Rizzo, Jonathan Rizzo's mother. "We've had dignity and respect. Every time I had trouble breathing or sobbing, I left the courtroom."

Drawing on school, prison, hospital, and psychological records, the defense tried to present mitigating factors, arguing that Sampson was mistreated at home and later suffered from mental problems, attempting suicide once in prison.

"He said that his father would call him names, put him down, tell him he was bad or evil or stupid or retarded," Miller testified. "I wanted to know the specific details of what occurred to know whether it was abuse or severe physical punishment."

But Sampson family members refused to open letters or take calls from members of the defense team, and Miller said there was no way to determine whether Sampson had been abused as a child.

At age 7, according to records from a special clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital that treated Sampson's learning disability, "his father indicated that he is difficult to reach," Miller testified.

At New Hampshire state prison in 1983, Sampson slashed his left wrist in an apparent suicide attempt, Miller testified. "Next time I'll do it better," he told correction officers, according to records read aloud by Miller.

Miller also read from prison records that described Sampson as manipulative, insecure, and anxious. He was attacked several times by fellow inmates and repeatedly sought medical and psychiatric attention, according to Miller's testimony.

"I'm going nuts," Sampson wrote in a request to see a prison doctor.

"Too much is going on in my head," he wrote in another. "I'm ready to flip out. My attitude is going to get me in trouble."

He also complained of chronic headaches and demanded Valium and other drugs to help him sleep.

Sampson was first married at age 17 to his high-school sweetheart from Abington. They had a daughter together, but Sampson severed ties to his first wife before the child was born. In June 1997, he married a woman he met at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in New Hampshire. Sampson fled that marriage, too, before his son, Hunter, was born in January 1998.

Sampson is still married to his fifth wife, whom he met in prison in New Hampshire and married in November 1998. Miller testified that they had a child who was given up for adoption.

Shelley Murphy of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.