Parolee gets life sentence for murdering Dallas priest; Some church members voice outrage at his portrayal of clergyman

A paroled burglar was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the robbery and beating death of a Dallas priest in his home Nov. 6.

David Burton Nesbitt, 22, was convicted of the capital murder of the Rev. Anthony Boake, 50. Mr. Nesbitt must serve at least 40 years before he is eligible for parole.

Members of the northwest Dallas church where Father Boake was pastor welcomed the jury’s decision. Church members who attended the trial said they were outraged by testimony portraying the priest as a closet homosexual who brought male prostitutes to his home and used drugs.

“The whole defense has been to slander the victim’s memory,” said Randall Prickett, choir director at Saints Constantine and Helen Antiochian Orthodox Church. “They tried to make the victim into some kind of monster, when it’s obvious who the monster is.”

Father Boake’s roommate found his body about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 6 on the floor of his northwest Dallas home, near the church. He had been struck on the head at least 25 times with what prosecutors said was a carpenter’s claw hammer. He also had been stabbed once in the face with a small kitchen knife.

The priest’s car was stolen, as were some money and religious objects.

In testimony Wednesday morning, Mr. Nesbitt admitted striking Father Boake but said he did so because he was frightened that the priest would force him to have sex.

He denied testimony from prosecution witnesses that he had a previous homosexual relationship with Father Boake but said the two had been friends. He said he had smoked marijuana and crack cocaine with the priest.

Defense attorney Mike Byck conceded that his client inflicted the blows during a visit to the priest’s house but said the severity of the beating suggested it was a crime of passion. He asked jurors to find Mr. Nesbitt guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

Mr. Byck said Mr. Nesbitt attacked Father Boake not because he wanted to kill him or steal from him but in a panic brought on by what he said were forceful demands for sex.

Such a violent attack couldn’t have taken place “unless you were so freaked out, so in the throes of passion and fear and disgust, that you lashed out over and over and over,” Mr. Byck said, pounding the court reporter’s table in cadence with his words.

But prosecutors Cecil Emerson and Damita Sangermano said there was no evidence that Father Boake provoked his attacker.

They also pointed to Mr. Nesbitt’s testimony that he put socks on his hands after striking the first blows to avoid leaving fingerprints while searching through Father Boake’s office, saying that action showed he was clear-headed during the attack.

Police arrested Mr. Nesbitt at a friend’s home in northwest Dallas two days after the attack.

Officers testified last week that Mr. Nesbitt gave them a voluntary statement shortly after his arrest, admitting the killing.

In the statement, which Detective Kevin Navarro read for jurors, Mr. Nesbitt said he struck the priest a few times with a hammer he found lying next to the priest’s stereo.

Mr. Nesbitt said in the statement that he struck several blows after Father Boake fell to the floor.

Father Boake’s roommate, Reggie Counts, testified last week that the priest and Mr. Nesbitt had known each other for about two years. He said Father Boake had informally counseled Mr. Nesbitt, a paroled burglar, and had occasionally given him spending money.

Mr. Counts said the two men met when Father Boake hired Mr. Nesbitt as a prostitute.

Mr. Nesbitt’s cousin told jurors Tuesday that Mr. Nesbitt arrived at his apartment about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 6, covered in blood and saying he had just killed a priest. The cousin and some friends helped Mr. Nesbitt dispose of his clothes and the priest’s car. A friend tossed the hammer into a nearby drainage ditch, where police found it.