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Ricky Cagle North Carolina Death Row

Ricky Cagle was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for a robbery murder. According to court documents Ricky Cagle and his accomplices decided to rob the victim, Dennis Craig House, and in the process would murder him. Ricky Cagle would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Ricky Cagle 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0061528
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	06/28/1969
Age:	51
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Ricky Cagle More News

The evidence presented at trial tended to show the following facts, based substantially on the testimony of Ryan Christopher Jones. In November of 1993, defendant Cagle and his girlfriend, Jamie Kass, were living together at the Cape Fear Motel in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Defendant Scott and Ryan Christopher Jones were magazine salesmen for Sun Circulation and were also staying at the Cape Fear Motel. On the evening of 4 November 1993, Cagle left Kass in the motel room to rest while he went across the street to a nightclub called “The Oz Club,” which was considered to be a gay bar. Subsequently, Kass spoke with Scott and Jones at the motel. They also went to the Oz Club, where defendant Cagle was playing pool with Dennis Craig House, the victim.

After Cagle and House finished playing pool, House drove his truck to the motel; Cagle, Scott, Jones, and Kass walked. Kass testified that while they were walking to the motel, Cagle, Scott, and Jones joked about “rolling a fag,” which she understood to mean taking money from a homosexual. Jones testified that during the walk, Cagle said he knew the combination to House’s safe, he knew that House had about $4,000 and a pound of marijuana, and he suggested that they rob him. Jones testified that he understood from the conversation that they were going to rob House.

The group went to Cagle and Kass’ motel room, where Kass rested on the bed, and the others drank alcohol and talked. Cagle used a tattoo gun to draw a tattoo on Jones. Whenever House stepped out of the room, the joking about “rolling a fag” continued. At approximately 2:00 a.m., Cagle, Scott, Jones, and House decided to leave the motel and drive to House’s home while Kass went to sleep in the motel room. Jones testified that Cagle and House got into House’s truck first while Jones and Scott stayed in the motel room and argued about who was going to take a knife that Kass had there. After Scott took the knife, he and Jones got into the truck, and House drove them all to his trailer.

At House’s trailer, the group drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. According to Jones’ testimony, at one point, Jones and Scott were sitting in the living room while Cagle and House were in the back room. Scott told Jones that the plan was for Jones to stab House while House was performing oral sex on Cagle. Shortly after that conversation, Cagle walked out of the back room carrying a cat by the neck. Jones testified that Cagle slammed the cat’s head against the wall, and the cat’s head split open. Cagle then bashed the cat’s head on the fish tank. Then Cagle sat on the couch, and House entered the room. Next, Cagle followed Jones to the bathroom, gave him a knife, and told him that “he was gonna get [House] to give him oral sex and [Jones] was supposed to stab him.”

According to Jones’ testimony, he waited in the bathroom while Cagle returned to the living room. When Jones subsequently entered the living room, he saw Cagle lying on the couch and House performing oral sex on Cagle. Cagle reached out to grab Jones by the belt, and Jones stabbed House in the back once. Jones pulled the knife out and dropped it on the ground, and Cagle picked it up. House said, “Why are you guys doing this? I’ll give you anything.” House then lunged and grabbed Jones, and Scott began punching House in the head. Jones pulled away from House. Then Cagle stabbed House three or four times in the chest and dropped the knife on the ground. Scott tried to hit House with a bowling ball. While Jones, Scott, and House were wrestling, Cagle hit House with something that looked like either a fireplace poker or a pool cue, according to the testimony. Next, Cagle, Scott, and Jones ran toward the back room, where Cagle said, “Go finish him, go kill him.” Cagle, Scott, and Jones ran out the front door, with Jones picking up the knife as he ran through the living room. The only item they took from House’s home was a camera that Cagle picked up.

House ran to the home of his neighbor, Roger Ayscue, and knocked on the door. When Ayscue let him in, House collapsed and said, “Roger, they are trying to kill me.” Ayscue looked out his window and saw Cagle and Scott leaving House’s trailer. House ultimately died from stab wounds in the chest.

While fleeing, Cagle, Jones, and Scott discussed an alibi. They decided to tell police that they got in a fight at a keg party and that House left with another man. Shortly after leaving the murder scene, they reached a house and knocked on the door. Elizabeth Hales answered the door, and Cagle asked to use her phone to call a cab because their car had broken down. Hales refused, but told them she would call a cab for them. Hales called a cab company and the police. Cagle, Jones, and Scott then began walking down the road. A deputy sheriff responding to Hales’ call spotted them and asked them what had happened. Cagle said they had been to a keg party, and their car had broken down. Cagle said the blood on his pants was from a fight at the keg party. The deputy sheriff then arrested Cagle, Jones, and Scott.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1140638.html

Lesley Warren North Carolina Death Row

Lesley Warren was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murders of Jayme Denise Hurley, Patsy Diane Vineyard,Velma Faye Gray and Katherine Johnson. According to court documents Lesley Warren who is a serial killer would murder the women by strangulation. The Jayme Denise Hurley and Katherine Johnson murders took place in North Carolina where Lesley Warren would be sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Lesley Warren 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0487180
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	10/15/1967
Age:	53
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Lesley Warren More News

On 15 July 1990 Terri Quinby attended the Radisson Hotel employees’ picnic held at Cedrow Park in High Point, North Carolina, with her two brothers, her sister, and her children and their children. Defendant went with Ms. Quinby and her family to the picnic. Ms. Quinby introduced the victim, whom she knew when the victim worked part-time in the Radisson gift shop, to defendant at the picnic where they played softball, ate, and drank beer.

After the picnic, around 4:00 p.m., many of the Radisson group, including defendant, went to Applebee’s. At Applebee’s defendant told Ms. Quinby’s brother Freddy he would “have her [the victim] by the end of the night” and that “he would have her [the victim] before the night was over, for us to watch and see.” Ms. Quinby and the rest of her family along with defendant and the victim went to the house of Ms. Quinby’s sister, Robin, for dinner. The victim rode with defendant on his motorcycle, and Robin drove the victim’s car from Applebee’s to Robin’s house.

At approximately 9:00 p.m. they all went to Ms. Quinby’s house. After sitting on the porch for a while, defendant and the victim went for a motorcycle ride. They drove by Ms. Quinby’s house around 11:30 p.m. Defendant returned about an hour later to get the victim’s car. He said that the victim could not drive it and that they were going to get a room at the Town House Motel.

On the morning of 16 July 1990, defendant was sleeping on Ms. Quinby’s couch. He said that he left the victim at the motel and walked back so that she could drive to class that morning. Defendant spent the week at Ms. Quinby’s house.

On 20 July 1990 High Point police arrested defendant at the Quinby house on a South Carolina warrant. When he was arrested and searched, the police found a set of keys which defendant claimed were his; the police later discovered that the keys were to the victim’s car.

Defendant was transported to Asheville, in Buncombe County, North Carolina, and was questioned about murders in Asheville and South Carolina. Defendant confessed to the victim’s murder in High Point and told Asheville police that he had placed the victim’s body in the trunk of her car and had parked it in a parking deck near the Radisson. High Point police located the victim’s car and found the victim’s naked, decaying body in the trunk, with a bra wrapped around her neck. Defendant’s fingerprints were found outside the driver’s side door, and his right palm print was found on the outside of the trunk. Defendant had further stated that he and the victim had had sex in a soccer field. High Point officers searched the athletic field and found the victim’s shoes near an unmown grass embankment.

The autopsy revealed areas of hemorrhage indicating strangulation by pressure to the neck. The pathologist determined that the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. The victim’s decomposed body was identified by using dental records.

Defendant presented no evidence at the guilt phase.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1118579.html

Darrell Strickland North Carolina Death Row

Darrell Strickland was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murder of Henry Nathaniel Brown. According to court documents Darrell Strickland and Henry Nathaniel Brown were drinking when an argument broke out and Strickland would shoot and kill Brown. Darrell Strickland would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Darrell Strickland 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0393145
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN NATIVE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	05/01/1958
Age:	63
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Darrell Strickland More News

A federal judge reviewing a death row inmate’s case said the prosecution lied in court and hid witness statements during the man’s 1995 trial.
In court documents filed this week, U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen questioned the behavior he said prosecutors used to win a conviction against Darrell Strickland in Union County.
“In suppressing (witness statements) … and lying about it to the court, the prosecution lost sight of what the American judicial system strives to guarantee,” Mullen wrote in his order.
But former prosecutor Scott Brewer, whose behavior in the case was also the subject of a grievance filed last year with the North Carolina State Bar, said he didn’t deliberately withhold anything in the trial.
Strickland, 48, was convicted in the shooting death of Henry Nathaniel Brown and remains on death row. Brown was shot at Strickland’s Marshville home during a night of drinking, and the men’s wives were in the kitchen when it happened, according to court documents. Gail Brown was the only witness to the shooting.
The statements in question include two or three that Gail Brown made to police. The statements, which included conflicting details, weren’t given to defense attorneys. And Brewer said in court that her statements didn’t exist, according to court transcripts. Another prosecutor on the case did not correct Brewer, the transcripts show.
Strickland’s attorneys have said the statements suggest the killing might have happened in sudden anger, not with premeditation. They say he might have avoided a death sentence if all the evidence had been known.
“When prosecutors believe they need to hide evidence in order to obtain a desired verdict or a desired sentence, it raises questions about whether justice is, in fact, being done,” Mullen wrote.
The order came in response to Strickland’s request to be freed, which Mullen recommended against.
Brewer, who is now a district judge, said Thursday that Mullen was making unjust statements without consulting the prosecution in the case. He also noted that he didn’t mention Gail Brown’s statements because he didn’t think they were legal.

https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20070203/news/605093740/WM

Jerry Hill North Carolina Death Row

Jerry Hill was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the sexual assault and murder of Angie Porter Godwin. According to court documents Jerry Hill would sexually assault and murder sixteen year old Angie Porter Godwin after she spurred his advances. Jerry Hill would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Jerry Hill 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0511057
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	11/17/1975
Age:	45
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Jerry Hill More News

On 19 February 1994, James Dandran was driving by Bob Porter’s home in Broadway, North Carolina, when he noticed smoke coming from the residence. He immediately drove to a nearby store owned by Rex Johnson and asked Johnson to notify the fire department. Dandran then returned to the Porter home to check on Angie Porter Godwin, who had been visiting her father, Bob Porter. When he arrived, he went around to the side door, where he observed blood on the steps. No one answered when he called into the house, so he returned to Johnson’s store and asked him to notify the police.

The chief of the Benhaven Fire Department, Ronnie Johnson, was the first to arrive at the scene, followed shortly thereafter by Deputy John Holly of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Department. They attempted to enter the house through the front door, but the heat and smoke were too intense, and they were forced to turn back.

Once the fire was extinguished, Sheriff Larry Knott secured the area to prevent any evidence from being disturbed. The sheriff then went to the side entrance of the house and observed a continuous trail of blood from the door down the steps and into the yard. It appeared that something had been dragged through the yard and into the woods behind the house. Approximately one hundred to two hundred yards away from the house, officers found the body of the victim. Sheriff Knott testified that leaves and pine straw had been raked up, piled around her body, and set on fire. The victim was lying on her back, nude, with her panties lying on her chest.

Chief Johnson identified the body as that of Angie Porter Godwin. He testified that her hair was burned off and that “one of her arms was just about burned off completely.” Chief Johnson further stated that “[i]t was one of the most horrible things [he] had ever seen.”

During the investigation of the Porter residence, officers found a shell casing in the hallway in front of the victim’s bedroom door. They also found four .22-caliber shell casings in the woods where the victim’s body was discovered. Agent Kim Heffney, an arson investigator with the SBI, took various samples from the house and the area where the body was discovered. Several of the samples revealed the presence of accelerants, either residual gasoline or residual kerosene, or a combination of the two.

Dr. John Butts, the chief medical examiner for the State of North Carolina, performed the autopsy on the victim on 20 February 1994. Dr. Butts noted that there was a considerable degree of burning on her body. He stated that the victim had four gunshot wounds to the head and scratches consistent with drag marks on the back of her body. In Dr. Butts’ opinion, the victim died from the gunshot wounds to the head. Further, according to Dr. Butts, there was no evidence that the victim was alive at the time her body was set on fire.

Dr. Butts also collected specimens for evidentiary purposes, including swabs from the victim’s vaginal and rectal region. These specimens were sent to the SBI laboratory in Raleigh for testing. Microscopic examination of these swabs indicated the presence of sperm in both the vaginal and rectal specimens. At the conclusion of these examinations, the swabs were preserved for further analysis, specifically DNA analysis. Mark Boodee, an expert in the field of DNA forensic analysis, testified that the DNA analysis revealed a match with defendant with respect to the sperm from both the vaginal and rectal specimens.

During an interview with SBI Agent Michael East, defendant initially denied any involvement in the crimes being investigated. Later the next night, however, defendant admitted being involved in the crimes and gave a detailed confession to East. In his confession, defendant stated that he and an accomplice entered the house through the front door, then walked straight through the hallway and to the bedrooms located in the back of the house. As they neared the victim’s bedroom, a squeaky floorboard awakened the victim. When she opened the door, defendant stated that his accomplice shot her twice in the head. Defendant then stated that his accomplice grabbed the victim’s feet and dragged her through the living room, out the side door, and down a path into the woods. Once they reached the woods, defendant stated that he and his accomplice both had sex with the victim. Afterwards, they poured kerosene over the victim’s body and inside the house and set both places on fire. They then left the Porter residence and drove to defendant’s home, where they changed clothes. Next, they drove to a pond, where they discarded the murder weapon. Pursuant to specific directions from defendant, officers recovered a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol from a pond in Sanford on 25 February 1994.

Defendant signed a written statement concerning his involvement, and the statement was introduced into evidence. Police efforts to confirm the existence of an accomplice were unsuccessful. Defendant also made several other incriminating statements to fellow inmates at the Harnett County jail which were introduced into evidence.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1242540.html

Keith East North Carolina Death Row

Keith East was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murders of his aunt and uncle: 75-year-old Dr. Harold Delaney, and his wife, Geraldine, 71. According to court documents Keith East would go to his uncle and aunts vacation home where he would beat the elderly couple to death with a baseball bat. Keith East was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Keith East 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0511998
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	10/14/1960
Age:	60
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Keith East More News

At trial, the State presented evidence tending to show that on 2 August 1994, the victims, Dr. Harold Delaney and his wife, Mrs. Geraldine East Delaney, were visiting Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, from their home in Maryland. Dr. Delaney was seventy-five years old and was in semi-retirement after a distinguished chemistry career in which he had worked on the Manhattan Project and had served in numerous prominent academic positions and presidential appointments. Mrs. Delaney was seventy-one years old and a retired teacher. The Delaneys were the defendant’s aunt and uncle. They were staying in the home of Mrs. Delaney’s mother, Mrs. Sophia East, who is also the grandmother of the defendant. The Delaneys bought the house for Mrs. East before she was forced to go to a nursing home. The Delaneys stayed at the house whenever they visited Mrs. East and the rest of their family, many of whom lived in close proximity to the house.

On the afternoon of 2 August 1994, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Mrs. Delaney was visiting Ms. Ada Lovell while Dr. Delaney napped. Ms. Lovell lives across the street from the house in which the Delaneys were staying, which Ms. Lovell described as being within “spitting distance.” The two women were talking when Ms. Lovell’s grandson announced that the defendant had pulled up in the driveway of the Delaneys’ house. Mrs. Delaney suddenly proclaimed, “Oh, I’ve got to go. Harold is asleep, and my pocketbook is up there.” Mrs. Delaney quickly departed. She intercepted the defendant before he could go in the house, and the two engaged in some sort of conversation in front of the house. This was the last time Ms. Lovell saw Geraldine Delaney alive.

The State presented further evidence tending to show that during the evening of 2 August 1994, the defendant went to a store and then to the house of an acquaintance at approximately 8:00 p.m. There, defendant drank some wine and listened to the radio. Later, the defendant got a ride home, but he asked the driver to drop him off in front of his grandmother’s house-the house where the Delaneys were staying. It was then approximately 10:30 p.m.

On 4 August 1994, the defendant went to the apartment of his former girlfriend, Deborah Hartman, in Winston-Salem. The defendant was in obvious distress. He was crying, was acting agitated and was pacing continuously. Defendant told Ms. Hartman that he had to either leave the country, go to jail or commit suicide. He also said that he was in serious trouble and that he needed $169 for a bus ticket to El Paso, Texas. Upon repeated questioning by Ms. Hartman, the defendant eventually told her that he and his uncle, Dr. Delaney, had gotten into an argument, that Dr. Delaney had threatened him with a knife and that he had “snapped” and lost control because he was high on drugs at the time. Defendant said that he had hit his aunt and uncle with what he thought was a baseball bat and that both were dead. When asked what the argument was about, the defendant stated, “About him being him and me being me.” Ms. Hartman was afraid the defendant might just be trying to scam money from her for drugs, so she took defendant to the teller machine and withdrew $60 for him. Ms. Hartman then dropped the defendant off in the parking lot of the apartments and watched him depart. Defendant drove off in a Buick Park Avenue, which Ms. Hartman identified at trial as belonging to the Delaneys.

Ms. Hartman, in distress by this time herself, made a phone call to the Pilot Mountain police and, without giving her name, reported that something might have happened to the Delaneys. When the officers arrived, they found the badly beaten body of Dr. Delaney just inside the door of the house and the similarly beaten body of Mrs. Delaney lying in the hall. A search of the house revealed Mrs. Delaney’s pocketbook in the kitchen with a wallet lying next to it. No folding money was found in the wallet or the rest of the house, despite the fact that the Delaneys had withdrawn several hundred dollars from their Maryland bank account shortly before their deaths. Many of the drawers in the cabinets and in the furniture of the house were ajar. No knives or other weapons besides normal kitchen utensils were found anywhere in the house.

Evidence gathered from the crime scene and from autopsies conducted on the bodies established that the Delaneys were killed by multiple blows to the head with a blunt-force instrument. In the opinions of the experts who testified, both Dr. and Mrs. Delaney were in standing positions when they were first struck. Blood-spatter patterns established that they were also struck numerous times after they fell to the floor. Mrs. Delaney suffered ten to eleven separate wounds. She had lacerations all over her head and face, bones in her face were broken, and her skull had been fractured with such force that her brain was exposed. Mrs. Delaney’s ribs were also broken, and there was bleeding in the heart cavity. As many as four of her wounds were defensive in nature, including one so severe that it amputated one of the fingers of her right hand. Dr. Delaney was struck at least fourteen separate times. He also suffered numerous lacerations and broken bones, including a fractured skull. Although Dr. Delaney suffered at least four blows to the arms that were indicative of defensive wounds, the majority of Dr. Delaney’s wounds were to the back of the head and the upper back area. This indicated that Dr. Delaney’s assailant had struck him from behind. These injuries caused the Delaneys significant pain and suffering prior to their deaths.

The defendant testified at trial and stated that on 2 August 1994, he bought over $300 worth of crack cocaine, which he used between 2:00 p.m. and that evening. He also drank some wine. Defendant claimed that all he could remember about the killings was that he was visiting his uncle, Dr. Delaney, and that he suddenly felt “threatened.” As a result, defendant grabbed the handle of some object, and then everything went blank. Defendant testified that the next thing he remembered was driving in a car and feeling that he had done something terrible. The defendant then said he called home. After talking with his mother, the defendant turned himself in to the police in El Paso, Texas.

The Delaneys’ car was found in Beaumont, Texas. An investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation revealed the presence of the defendant’s fingerprints on the Delaneys’ car. Defendant’s fingerprints were also on several items in the car, including a page in a road atlas which contained a map of the United States.

The defense claimed the defendant suffered from psychological deficits and substance abuse problems. Defendant’s psychiatrist, Dr. John Warren, described the defendant as a crack cocaine abuser who suffered from chronic depression. Dr. Warren also stated that, at the time the Delaneys were killed, defendant was intoxicated with cocaine and was suffering from an unstable personality and neuropsychological deficits. Dr. Warren’s opinion was that defendant’s mental condition prevented him from forming, or greatly impaired his ability to form, the specific intent to kill.

Several witnesses for the State, including some from defendant’s family, testified that they had never known the defendant to act as though he was on drugs or to “lose control.” Several witnesses also testified that the defendant did not appear to be intoxicated from drugs or alcohol on the day of the murders, and that he was extremely coherent and polite even up until the time he was dropped off in front of the Delaneys’ house. Evidence was presented, however, that the defendant experienced extreme animosity toward the Delaneys. The defendant felt that the Delaneys were pretentious and that they looked down on him for having done nothing with his life. Two witnesses testified that the defendant had wished death on at least Mrs. Delaney during two recent visits. In June of 1994, during the visit just before the fateful August visit, defendant stated about Mrs. Delaney, “That bitch is back. I hate that bitch. I wish she was dead.”

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1206544.html