georgia death row | My Crime Library

Billy Raulerson Georgia Death Row

Billy Raulerson was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for three murders. According to court documents Billy Raulerson would find the first two victims, 18-year-old Charlye Dixon and her fiance, 19-year-old Jason Hampton, at a Lover’s Lane who he would shoot and kill before sexually assaulting Dixon. Billy Raulerson would then break into the home of the third victim, Teresa Gail Taylor, 40 and would murder her as well. Billy Raulerson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Billy Raulerson 2021 Information

YOB: 1969
RACE: WHITE
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 5’06”
WEIGHT: 210
EYE COLOR: GREEN
HAIR COLOR: RED&ABN

MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: GA DIAG CLASS PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: DEATH

Billy Raulerson More News

On May 31, 1993, the bodies of Jason Hampton, Charlye Dixon, and Gail Taylor were found in separate locations in Ware County. Each victim had been shot multiple times by a .22 caliber rifle, and Ms. Taylor suffered a potentially fatal knife wound to her wrist. Semen and spermatozoa were found in Ms. Dixon’s rectum. Seven months later, appellant was arrested on unrelated aggravated assault and weapons charges and gave police a blood sample. Analysis of the DNA from the blood sample and from the semen recovered from Ms. Dixon led an expert to conclude that both samples of body fluid originated from the same person. After receiving the DNA test results, law enforcement officers questioned Billy Raulerson about the three murders, and he admitted killing the three victims. When officers executed a search warrant at appellant’s residence, they found a fishing rod and reel identified as having been taken from Hampton’s pickup truck the night he was killed, and parts of a .22 caliber rifle. A ballistics expert testified that the shell casings found near Hampton’s body and in Ms. Taylor’s home were probably fired from the rifle found in appellant’s home.

In statements to investigating officers after the DNA test results were known, appellant admitted parking his car the evening of May 30, 1993, at a Ware County lakeside “lovers’ lane” near the pickup truck occupied by Hampton and Dixon. Appellant stated that he stood on the bed of the pickup truck and shot Hampton several times, and then shot Dixon as she attempted to flee. Appellant dragged Hampton’s body from the truck and shot him several more times; he then put Dixon and two fishing rods from the pickup truck in his vehicle and drove to a wooded area several miles away where he shot Dixon again and sodomized her. His attempt to return to Dixon’s body the next day was thwarted by the presence of people at the site, so he drove to a rural section of the county looking for a house to burglarize. He stopped at a home with no vehicle in the carport and, when no one responded to his knock at the door, Raulerson broke into a utility shed and stole meat from the freezer. As he was loading the meat into his car, he heard someone inside the house. He entered the home, struggled with Gail Taylor who was armed with a kitchen knife, and shot her multiple times. He then stole Taylor’s purse. Appellant told the officers interviewing him that he had stolen the .22 caliber rifle from a Pierce County residence he had burglarized three weeks before the shootings.

In response to expert testimony presented by appellant that tests administered after the crimes established that appellant was mentally retarded with an IQ of 69, the State presented expert testimony appellant’s IQ at age 15 (9 years earlier) was 83. The State’s psychologist opined that there was no indication that appellant was severely mentally ill.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1242332.html

Mustafa Raheem Georgia Death Row

Mustafa Raheem was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for two murders. According to court documents Mustafa Raheem was with the first victim, nineteen year old Brandon Hollis, in a remote location firing guns when Raheem would shoot Hollis in the head and proceeded to take his belongings. Mustafa Raheem then went over to Brandon Hollis mother’s home where he would shoot and kill her as well before stealing from her home. Mustafa Raheem would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Mustafa Raheem 2021 Information

YOB: 1979
RACE: BLACK
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 6’01”
WEIGHT: 220
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLACK

MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: GA DIAG CLASS PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: DEATH

Mustafa Raheem More News

The evidence adduced at the guilt/innocence phase of Raheem’s trial showed the following. On April 2, 1999, Mustafa Raheem picked up Michael Jenkins and Dione Feltus in Raheem’s girlfriend’s blue Honda automobile. Raheem dropped Mr. Feltus off at his place of employment at 4:00 p.m., where, according to the testimony of Mr. Feltus’s manager, Mr. Feltus remained until 10:00 p.m. Raheem told Jenkins that he wanted to shoot his .380 caliber handgun. He then shot the handgun out the window of the blue Honda, explaining to Jenkins that he wanted to make sure the weapon would not jam. Raheem purchased black plastic trash bags at a grocery store and called Brandon Hollis from a nearby payphone. Raheem picked up Brandon Hollis and then drove Brandon Hollis and Jenkins to a remote location, where Raheem fired his .380 caliber handgun in the direction of a tree and handed the handgun to Jenkins. After Brandon Hollis said the handgun was too loud, Raheem took the handgun from Jenkins and began walking toward the blue Honda. As Jenkins walked some distance behind Raheem and Brandon Hollis, Raheem shot Brandon Hollis in the head. Jenkins inquired whether Brandon Hollis was dead, and Raheem replied, “ No, but he is on his way out.” Raheem then took Brandon Hollis’s watch and commented to the dying man, “I guess you ain’t going to be needing this watch no more.” Raheem also took Brandon Hollis’s keys and commented to Jenkins, “ I’m glad you didn’t run.”

After killing Brandon Hollis, Raheem drove himself and Jenkins to the home of Miriam Hollis, Brandon Hollis’s mother. Raheem opened Ms. Hollis’s door with Brandon Hollis’s key and instructed Jenkins to bring a trash bag into the home. Ms. Hollis stood to her feet as Raheem and Jenkins entered her home, and Raheem fired a shot at her but missed her. Raheem then ordered Ms. Hollis to her hands and knees and shot her in the head. Raheem placed the trash bag over Ms. Hollis’s head, got Ms. Hollis’s keys from her kitchen, placed Ms. Hollis’s body in the trunk of her white Lexus automobile, and then attempted to mop up Ms. Hollis’s blood inside the home. Raheem told Jenkins later that he previously had given Ms. Hollis money for the Lexus automobile but that she had refused to give the automobile to him.

Raheem drove with Jenkins in Ms. Hollis’s Lexus to visit Raheem’s girlfriend, Veronica Gibbs. Raheem boasted that he had a new automobile, opened the trunk to show Gibbs Ms. Hollis’s body, and informed Gibbs that he had shot the woman and a young man. Later, Raheem drove back to Ms. Hollis’s home with Jenkins and Gibbs, where they burglarized the home, stole a number of items, and retrieved Gibbs’s blue Honda. Later, Raheem changed his shoes, which had blood on them, and drove with Jenkins to dispose of Ms. Hollis’s body. The body was placed underneath planks and tires, doused with a flammable liquid, and set ablaze.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the guilt/innocence phase verdicts, the evidence adduced at the guilt/innocence phase was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Raheem was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1197247.html

Willie Pye Georgia Death Row

Willie Pye was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Willie Pye and two accomplices Chester Adams and Anthony Freeman, planned to rob the new boyfriend of the victim Alicia Lynn Yarbrough who use to date Pye. When the three men arrived at the home they discovered the boyfriend was not home. Willie Pye would break into the home at gunpoint and abduct the victim leaving an infant behind. The victim was brought to a motel room where she was sexually assaulted by Willie Pye. The victim was brought to a remote location where she was forced to lay down and shot three times. Willie Pye would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Willie Pye Execution Is Scheduled For March 20 2024

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Willie Pye 2021 Information

YOB: 1965
RACE: BLACK
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 5’08”
WEIGHT: 140
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLACK

MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: GA DIAG CLASS PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: DEATH

Willie Pye More News

Willie Pye had been in a sporadic romantic relationship with the victim, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, but, at the time of her murder, Ms. Yarbrough was living with another man, Charles Puckett.

Pye and two companions, Chester Adams and Anthony Freeman, planned to rob Puckett because Pye had heard that Puckett had just collected money from the settlement of a lawsuit. Pye was also angry because Puckett had signed the birth certificate of a child whom Pye claimed as his own.

The three men drove to Griffin in Adams’ car and, in a street transaction, Pye bought a large, distinctive .22 pistol. They then went to a party where a witness observed Pye in possession of the large .22. Just before midnight, the three left the party and drove toward Puckett’s house. As they were leaving, a witness heard Pye say, “it’s time, let’s do it.” All of the men put on the ski masks which Pye had brought with him, and Pye and Adams also put on gloves.

They approached Puckett’s house on foot and observed that only Ms. Yarbrough and her baby were home. Pye tried to open a window and Ms. Yarbrough saw him and screamed. Willie Pye ran around to the front door, kicked it in, and held Ms. Yarbrough at gunpoint. After determining that there was no money in the house, they took a ring and a necklace from Ms. Yarbrough and abducted her, leaving the infant in the house.

The men drove to a nearby motel where Pye rented a room using an alias. In the motel room, the three men took turns raping Ms. Yarbrough at gunpoint. Pye was angry with Ms. Yarbrough and said, “You let Puckett sign my baby’s birth certificate.”

After attempting to eliminate their fingerprints from the motel room, the three men and Ms. Yarbrough left in Adams’ car. Willie Pye whispered in Adams’ ear and Adams turned off onto a dirt road. Pye then ordered Ms. Yarbrough out of the car, made her lie face down, and shot her three times, killing her. As they were driving away, Pye tossed the gloves, masks, and the large .22 from the car.

The police later recovered these items and found the victim’s body only a few hours after she was killed. A hair found on one of the masks was consistent with the victim’s hair, and a ballistics expert determined that there was a 90 percent probability that a bullet found in the victim’s body had been fired by the .22. Semen was found in the victim’s body and DNA taken from the semen matched Pye’s DNA. When Willie Pye talked to the police later that day, he stated that he had not seen the victim in at least two weeks. However, Freeman confessed and later testified for the State.

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find proof of Pye’s guilt of malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, rape, and burglary beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). The evidence was also sufficient to authorize the jury to find that Pye’s commission of kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, rape, and burglary were aggravating circumstances which supported his death sentence for the murder.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1292287.html

Virgil Presnell Georgia Death Row

Virgil Presnell was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for the murder of a eight year old girl. According to court documents Virgil Presnell would confess to kidnapping a eight year old girl and a ten year old girl while they were leaving school for the day. Virgil Presnell would rape the ten year old girl. The eight year old attempted to escape and Presnell caught her and drowned her in a nearby river. Virgil Presnell would sexually assault the ten year old girl again then put her in the trunk of his car. Presnell would later release the girl in a wooded area. The girl would walk for help and give police a description of Presnell and the car he was driving. Virgil Presnell was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Virgil Presnell 2021 Information

YOB: 1953
RACE: WHITE
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 5’11”
WEIGHT: 230
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BROWN

MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: GA DIAG CLASS PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: DEATH

Virgil Presnell More News

The evidence adduced at trial authorized the jury to find that on April 23, 1976, Virgil Presnell attempted to abduct a ten-year-old girl in Clayton County as she was walking home from school on a wooded trail. Although he grabbed her and threatened her with a knife, the girl managed to break free and escape.

On May 3, 1976, Virgil Presnell staked out an elementary school in Cobb County and observed a ten-year-old girl walking home on a wooded trail. He returned the following day and waited on the trail. In his car, he had a rug and a jar of lubricant. When the ten-year-old girl came walking down the trail with her eight-year-old friend, Lori Ann Smith, Presnell abducted both girls. He taped their mouths shut and threatened to kill them if they did not cooperate; he also said he had a gun. They got into Presnell’s blue Plymouth Duster.

While Virgil Presnell was driving, he forced the older girl to orally sodomize him and inserted his finger into her vagina. They drove to a secluded area and Presnell walked the children into the woods. He carried the rug and the jar of lubricant. He made both girls undress and he raped the older girl on the rug. Her vagina was torn during the rape and began bleeding. Presnell then said that he was going to take Lori Ann back to his car and that the older girl should wait for him. On the way back to the car, Lori Ann tried to run away, but Presnell caught her and forced her face underwater in a creek, drowning her. The medical examiner testified that there was water, sand and plant matter in her lungs and stomach and that it would have taken one to several minutes for her to die. She had bruises on her neck and a bruise on her back from where Presnell apparently placed his knee.

Virgil Presnell returned to the older girl and again forced her to orally sodomize him. He then locked her in his car trunk and began driving, but a tire went flat so he dropped her off in another wooded area after forcing her to commit oral sodomy again. Although Presnell told her he would return, the older girl heard the sound of a nearby gas station and walked there. She later gave police a description of Presnell and his blue Duster and stated that his tire was flat.

Shortly thereafter the police spotted Presnell changing a tire on his blue Duster at his apartment complex not far from where he dropped off the older girl. Presnell initially denied everything but later admitted that he knew the location of the missing girl and led the police to Lori Ann’s body. He also confessed. A search of Presnell’s bedroom uncovered a handgun and child pornography depicting young girls.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1371148.html

Willie Palmer Georgia Death Row

Willie Palmer was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for the murders of his wife and stepdaughter. According to court documents Willie Palmer was separated from his wife and while he was in jail moved to a different home. Once out of jail, for defying a restraining order, Willie Palmer would find out where she was, broke into the home and shot dead his estranged wife and fifteen year old stepdaughter. Willie Palmer would be arrested and sentenced to death.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Willie Palmer 2021 Information

YOB: 1952
RACE: BLACK
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 5’11”
WEIGHT: 235
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLACK

MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: GA DIAG CLASS PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: DEATH

Willie Palmer More News

The evidence adduced at trial shows that Willie Palmer and Brenda Palmer married in 1993. They had a baby, Willshala Palmer, in 1994. Several witnesses testified that Palmer physically abused Brenda and he often threatened to kill her. Brenda separated from Palmer in May 1995 and began divorce proceedings. Palmer owned a piece of land and he told numerous witnesses he would kill Brenda if she tried to take it. In July 1995, he was jailed for violating a restraining order to stay away from Brenda. Brenda, Christine Jenkins (Brenda’s 15-year-old daughter), and Willshala moved to a two-room house without running water in Vidette. Brenda had an outstanding loan with a loan company and she told the loan company manager in August 1995 that she feared for her life if Palmer got out of jail. Brenda asked the manager not to tell anyone where she was living.

On September 1, 1995, Willie Palmer was released from jail and he went to the loan company, where he was a regular customer, to borrow money to pay his lawyer. He asked the manager if she had seen Brenda, but the manager did not reply. Palmer said she did not have to answer his question because “I will find her.” He added, “when I find her, I will kill that bitch.” The manager testified that she was scared by Palmer’s cold demeanor when he made this threat. During the next ten days, Palmer threatened to kill Brenda several times in front of several witnesses. He told one witness that he was “going to do it execution-style” and that it would be on TV.

Willie Palmer was also angry with his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Smith, with whom he lived for 13 years before his marriage to Brenda Palmer and who was living with him again after her house burned down. He told a witness he was “going to kill Brenda [Smith] and the other Brenda,” and he told another witness that “there won’t be no Brendas.” On September 10, 1995, Palmer chased Brenda Smith when she was a passenger in her sister’s car and bumped his car into the rear of their car. Brenda Smith fled on foot and Palmer told Brenda Smith’s sister, “Y’all don’t know who in the hell y’all are playing with.”

Willie Palmer also spent part of the day looking for his guns and he asked his son and his nephew where they had been kept while he was in jail. The State presented evidence that Palmer owned a .22 caliber rifle and that he had used this rifle to shoot at his brother on two previous occasions when Palmer was angry with him. That night, Palmer asked his nephew, Frederico Palmer, to ride with him to Augusta. Frederico got into Palmer’s blue Caprice Classic, but Palmer drove to Vidette instead.

Willie Palmer asked Frederico, “Do you think I should do this?” Frederico replied, “What are you talking about?” Palmer said, “I’m fixing to go kill Brenda and her daughter.” Frederico did not say anything. Palmer parked the car near a laundromat close to Brenda Palmer’s house, put on gloves, and pulled out a .22 caliber rifle. He instructed Frederico to drop him off near Brenda’s house, park the car by some dumpsters, and catch up to him on foot. Frederico complied. Palmer was fumbling with the telephone box on the side of Brenda’s house when Frederico arrived. Palmer asked for help disconnecting the phone line and Frederico unplugged it. Willie Palmer kicked in the front door and turned on the light. Christine Jenkins, Palmer’s stepdaughter, was lying on a bed. Palmer said, “Hey Bootie [Christine’s nickname], I told you I was coming back.” Palmer then shot her once in the face, killing her. Palmer went into the back room where Brenda was holding Willshala in front of her as a shield. Palmer told Frederico to take the baby and Frederico complied, knocking Brenda to the floor. Palmer then killed Brenda by shooting her twice in the head. When the men departed, they left the baby in the house. Palmer concocted an alibi, telling Frederico to say that they had gone to Augusta together to see a friend. Palmer tossed the murder weapon, gloves, and shoes off a bridge.

Two days later, Frederico confessed and led the police to the rifle, gloves, and shoes. He pled guilty to two counts of felony murder and testified for the State. Ballistics testing revealed that the .22 rifle was the murder weapon, and several witnesses, including a sheriff’s deputy who temporarily confiscated the rifle during a 1992 traffic stop, identified this weapon as belonging to Palmer. The recovered shoes were size 11, the same size Palmer wears.

A witness who knows Palmer testified that he saw Palmer’s blue Caprice Classic parked near the Vidette laundromat on the night of the murders. The witness said that Palmer’s car is easily recognizable because it is missing part of its front grille. At trial, Palmer also attempted to prove that he is mentally retarded through an expert witness and IQ scores that ranged from 61-72. However, the State’s expert testified that Palmer malingered on the attempted IQ testing by the State.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1395522.html