"Remember Nov. 3, and remember what Jennifer got."

Those were Donald Rolle's closing instructions to the jury that could decide today whether he lives or dies.

"The law says that the death penalty is appropriate in this case," Rolle said Monday afternoon, during a 9-minute statement that capped the 16th day of his capital murder trial. "I believe in the death penalty."

Rolle, 47, didn't directly ask jurors to either impose the death penalty or spare his life. Nor did he apologize to the family of Jennifer Randel, the Casper woman he kidnapped and murdered on Nov. 3.

He did say Randel's killing "shattered people's worlds" and he believed in "an eye for an eye."

"I'm guilty," he said, looking toward the jury from the witness box. "You found me guilty. Now it's time for responsibility, and it's time to pay the piper."

The statement came at the end of an emotional day of testimony that included his siblings begging for his life and recounting incidents of child abuse they said came at their mother's hands.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating today whether Rolle should receive the death penalty, or life behind bars. The same jury convicted Rolle last week of beating Randel to death in a brutal attack prosecutors say lasted hours.

Randel and Rolle had an on-again, off-again relationship, and on Nov. 3, they went on a date to an Evansville bar. It abruptly ended when Rolle attacked a man he suspected of having an affair with Randel.

Her body was found the next day in his truck, along a remote dirt road west of Casper.

During the first part of the trial, Rolle took the stand and told jurors he slammed Randel's head into his truck's dashboard and kicked her, but he that did so only after she came at him with a knife. Several elements of the story were contradicted by evidence offered by prosecutor Michael Blonigen, who said Rolle beat, stabbed and strangled Randel.

In Monday's statement to jurors, Rolle turned again to the night of Randel's death.

"As bad as that night was for me ... it was worse for the people out there," he said, referring to his and Randel's families.

Rolle dismissed much of the evidence and witnesses his attorneys have offered during the sentencing phase of the trial, including a witness who suggested Rolle would be a low risk to commit serious prison violence.

"All of this testimony that we have heard, with the exception of my family, is a distraction," he said.

Rolle also noted that jurors didn't get to hear from Randel's family during the sentencing phase.

"It shattered their lives," he said.

Before finishing, Rolle referenced a statement his attorney made during closing arguments. Vaughn Neubauer had asked jurors not to convict Rolle of murder because they were angry with him.

"Right now you are mad at Donald Rolle," the defendant told the jury. "You should be mad at Donald Rolle. If you are not mad at Donald Rolle, you will diminish what I though of the jury."

The trial will resume today with closing statements from both sides. The jury of eight men and four women will then begin deliberations.

Reach crime reporter Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.

Trial Tracker

Last we knew: Defense attorneys continued to present evidence they hope will convince jurors to spare Donald Rolle's life.

The latest: On Monday, Rolle told jurors he believed in the death penalty and instructed them to do what happened to Jennifer Randel on the night of her death.

What's next: The jury, which convicted Rolle of murder last week, should begin deliberating today about his sentence.

On the Web

Visit www.trib.com/randel for daily updates on the murder trial and more information on the Jennifer Randel case.