Grady Towers' Killer Convicted

Kevin Langdon

Jason Paul Doty, the "Aryan Satanist" who murdered Grady Towers in March 2000, was found guilty on January 18, 2002. His sentencing hearing is coming up in a few weeks. The prosecution has asked for the death penalty.

There is no serious question regarding Mr. Doty's guilt. And he is accused of murdering two other people as well. From a January 7 story in the Arizona Daily Star, "`Satanist' Goes on Trial in Tohono Chul Slaying," Joseph Barrios wrote:

Boot prints found at Tohono Chul Park are similar in size, tread pattern and wear to a pair of boots believed to be owned by Doty.

Both the gun used to kill Towers on March 20, 2000, and a cellphone recovered in Doty's North Side apartment were stolen from a home almost two weeks before the murders. Prosecutors might also present testimony from a witness who told investigators that Doty tried to sell him the gun after the murders took place.

As for the Satanist aspect, in a January 10th story in the Tucson Citizen, "Slaying Linked to Ritual," David J. Cieslak wrote:

His spiritual war to purify the white race prompted Jason Paul Doty to shoot a security guard at Tohono Chul Park and brag about his blood lust to friends, Pima County prosecutors said at the start of Doty's trial yesterday. Grady Mitchell Towers, 55, was killed because Doty, 29, needed to slay a white person on March 20, 2000—the equinox—to achieve magical powers, Deputy County Attorney Teresa Godoy told jurors.
Jurors heard excerpts from letters Doty wrote to friends and from an "archive" he kept of his activities. "Violence is the law, death to the dove. Behold the terror in [Towers'] eyes," Godoy read from Doty's writings.

Elizabeth Towers, Grady's mother, wrote (in a letter to me):

Each day of the trial was worse than the day before—the human heart should not have to endure such knowledge as the Coroner's report brought to light. We had thought Mick was shot through the bushes and never faced nor knew he was about to die. Kevin he was shot within three feet, and from the poem read in court, Mick was the "dove with terror in his eyes." Jason Doty wanted Mick to know he was going to die. I think the shot in the knee was to announce to Mick Doty's presence. He was shot 7 times; once in the upper chest, above the left eye, in the back of the head and all other shots were to the left side of the head—two shots against the head.

I have spoken with the prosecutor's office. They could make use of letters regarding the impact of Grady's death on those who knew him. Mr. Doty will be sentenced in April but the prosecutor's office will need some time to review these materials, so they should be sent without delay.

Letters, addressed to Hon. Frank Dawley, the judge in the case, may be sent to the attention of Teresa Godoy at the Pima  County District Attorney's office, 32 North Stone, Tucson, AZ 85701, or faxed to (520) 623-4671.