north carolina | My Crime Library

Lawrence Peterson North Carolina Death Row

Lawrence Peterson was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murder of Jewel Scarboro Braswell. According to court documents Lawrence Peterson would murder Jewel Scarboro Braswell the owner of a grocery store during a robbery. Lawrence Peterson was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Lawrence Peterson 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0320825
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	11/03/1969
Age:	51
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Lawrence Peterson More News

The evidence presented at the sentencing hearing showed that around 9:00 a.m. on the morning of 5 July 1995, defendant, twenty-five years old at the time, pawned some appliances at a local pawn shop in Winston-Salem and redeemed his Chinese SKS semiautomatic assault rifle, a weapon that can be bought in many department stores and that holds ten rounds of ammunition per magazine clip. Around midday he bought some gas and a soft drink in Richmond County at Braswell’s Grocery. Mr. Lewis Braswell, sixty-seven, waited on defendant and gave him his change. Defendant asked Mr. Braswell if he could pull his car over and rest for a while, and Mr. Braswell replied that that would be fine. Mrs. Jewel Braswell, also sixty-seven years old and the wife of Lewis Braswell for forty-four years, then came over from their home, directly adjacent to the store, and took care of the store while Mr. Braswell went home to eat lunch.

While in his kitchen, Mr. Braswell heard defendant’s voice over the intercom connecting the house to the store; so he walked back to the store. Looking in the back window of the store, he saw his wife showing defendant out the front door and telling him, “Drive careful out there; there’s a lot of traffic on the road today.” Mr. Braswell then returned to his house to eat lunch. He then heard defendant’s voice over the intercom a second time and, thinking something was not right, went back to the store again. Halfway there, he heard the rapid firing of gunshots.

When Mr. Braswell reached the rear window of the store, he observed defendant, alone, walking out the front door with what looked like a rifle in his left hand down by his side. Mr. Braswell entered and found his wife behind the cash register, bloodied and with no pulse. Mr. Braswell grabbed his twelve-gauge shotgun, ran out the front door, and saw defendant pulling away. Braswell fired two shots, striking defendant’s vehicle; but defendant got away, driving north. Mr. Braswell then called for an ambulance and for the police.

Law enforcement officers quickly tracked defendant’s vehicle. Ultimately, defendant swerved off the road onto the right-hand shoulder, exited the vehicle, and was arrested. The officers found the assault rifle on the back seat with the safety off, one round in the chamber, and four more bullets in the magazine. Defendant produced $69.00 from his pants pocket as the proceeds from the robbery and killing. He also gave a statement to police indicating that when he went back into the store with the rifle, he ordered the victim to open the cash register and give him the money, and then shot the victim.

The pathologist who performed the autopsy on Mrs. Braswell testified that he found five gunshot wounds that passed completely through her body. Four of those wounds caused massive hemorrhaging and damage to the lungs, liver, bowel, and spinal cord: (1) one entered the right chest and exited out the right back; (2) another entered just above the right clavicle and exited further down on the right back; (3) a third entered the base of the neck and exited out the right shoulder region; (4) another entered the right upper abdomen and exited above the right buttock region; and (5) the fifth wound was to the little finger of the right hand. The cause of death was any of the four primary wounds. There were only a few tiny pieces of bullet fragments left in the body. In the counter area of the store, behind where Mrs. Braswell had been sitting when she was shot, investigators found five bullet holes and numerous bullet fragments. Investigators also found five shell casings in the store.

In support of the N.C.G.S. § 15A-2000(e)(3) aggravating circumstance, the State introduced into evidence copies of three 1989 indictments and judgments showing that defendant had pled guilty to two counts of common law robbery and one count of armed robbery in connection with crimes committed in downtown Asheville in 1989. Defendant served his sentence for those offenses and was released from prison in 1994.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1070058.html

Henry Wallace North Carolina Death Row

Henry Wallace was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for a series of sexual assaults and murders. According to court documents Henry Wallace is a serial killer and a serial rapist who is responsible for at least ten murders. Henry Wallace was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Henry Wallace 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0422350
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	11/04/1965
Age:	55
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Henry Wallace More News

On 4 April 1994, defendant Henry Louis Wallace was indicted for the murders of (1) Caroline Love, (2) Shawna Hawk, (3) Audrey Ann Spain, (4) Valencia M. Jumper, (5) Michelle Stinson, (6) Vanessa Little Mack, (7) Betty Jean Baucom, (8) Brandi June Henderson, and (9) Deborah Slaughter. In addition, defendant was indicted for the following crimes: (1) first-degree rape of Love, (2) second-degree rape of Hawk, (3) two counts of second-degree sexual offense against Hawk (fellatio and cunnilingus), (4) first-degree rape of Spain, (5) robbery with a dangerous weapon of Spain, (6) first-degree rape of Jumper, (7) first-degree sexual offense against Jumper, (8) first-degree rape of Stinson, (9) first-degree sexual offense against Stinson, (10) first-degree rape of Mack, (11) robbery with a dangerous weapon of Mack, (12) first-degree rape of Baucom, (13) robbery with a dangerous weapon of Baucom, (14) first-degree rape of Henderson, (15) robbery with a dangerous weapon of Henderson, (16) assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury against T.W., Henderson’s ten-month-old son, (17) assault on a child under twelve years of age against T.W., (18) first-degree rape of Slaughter, and (19) robbery with a dangerous weapon of Slaughter.

Between September 1996 and January 1997, defendant was tried capitally before a jury. On 7 January 1997, the jury found defendant guilty of nine counts of first-degree murder, each on the basis of malice, premeditation, and deliberation, and under the felony murder rule. In addition, the jury found defendant guilty of eight counts of first-degree rape, one count of second-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sexual offense, two counts of second-degree sexual offense, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of assault on a child under the age of twelve, and five counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon.

After a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended a sentence of death for each of the nine counts of first-degree murder

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1127327.html

Terrence Taylor North Carolina Death Row

Terrence Taylor was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murders of Clarence Jones and Michael Smith. According to court documents Terrence Taylor would murder Clarence Jones and Michael Smith for robbing him at an earlier date. Terrence Taylor was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Terrence Taylor 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0539901
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	05/14/1971
Age:	49
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Terrence Taylor More News

The defendant was indicted on 20 May 1996 for two counts of first-degree murder. Defendant was tried capitally to a jury at the 3 February 1997 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Lenoir County, the Honorable Louis B. Meyer presiding. The jury found defendant guilty of both counts of first-degree murder on the basis of premeditation and deliberation. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended sentences of death as to each murder conviction. On 18 February 1997, the trial court sentenced defendant to two separate sentences of death, one for each of the two convictions for the first-degree murders of Clarence Jones and Michael Smith.

Defendant got back into the car and told Taylor to “forget them country boys. They should not have robbed me.” At defendant’s request, James drove the Mercedes Benz to Yashica Miller’s house located in the Richard Green Apartments. On the way to Miller’s apartment, Taylor repeatedly asked defendant why he had to do it, and defendant answered that the victims should not have robbed him. Defendant also stated that Smith and Jones “got it flatbush style in the head.”

Johnny Parker North Carolina Death Row

Johnny Parker was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murder of James Buchanan. According to court documents Johnny Parker would murder James Buchanan and set his body on fire. Johnny Parker would also murder Jerry Dowdy. Both men had their testicles removed. Johnny Parker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Johnny Parker 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0311966
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	08/24/1974
Age:	46
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Johnny Parker

The State’s evidence presented at trial tended to show the following facts and circumstances: On the morning of 2 October 1994, John Williams noticed smoke coming from a house located at 201 Northeast Street in the town of Roseboro. He drove to the police department to report the smoke. Billy Herring, the chief of the Roseboro Fire Department, received the fire call around 7:25 a.m. and went to the house at 201 Northeast Street. James William Buchanan, also known as “Alabama,” lived in the downstairs portion of the house, and Jerry Lee Dowdy lived in an upstairs apartment. Herring pushed the downstairs door open. A fireman, Keith Sessoms, observed testicles lying in the doorway to the downstairs area.

Officers found the lifeless body of James Buchanan, a fifty-two-year-old businessman and Roseboro town commissioner, on his bed in the bedroom of the downstairs apartment. He had been shot in the face and burned. The cloth covering on the bed had been burned, with only the springs remaining. In the bedroom, dresser drawers were open with everything pulled out of them; on the floor, there was a broken television, clothes, a pink Bic-style cigarette lighter, a burned lighter-fluid can, and a nine-millimeter shell casing. There was heavy fire damage in the bedroom, on and around the bed.

Officers found the lifeless body of Jerry Dowdy, a fifty-year-old groundskeeper at the Hardee’s Restaurant in Roseboro, lying facedown in a large puddle of blood in the kitchen of his upstairs apartment. Spatters of blood were apparent on the kitchen table, the lower portion of the stove and the sink cabinets, the walls, the floor, the side of the refrigerator, and extending into the hallway. Dowdy was naked from the waist down, with underwear around his legs. His testicles had been removed, and there were multiple chopping wounds to his head and hands. Officers found an empty wallet under his left elbow, blood and hair on an ax propped against a cabinet under the sink, and a bloody knife on the kitchen floor.

Betty Edwards lived nearby at 208 Railroad Street in Roseboro. On 2 October 1994, she noticed that several items, including a battery charger, an electric heater, a gas edger, a toolbox, and a black case with tools in it, had been removed from her storage building. Ms. Edwards’ son’s 1991 Nissan Stanza had also been entered, and papers had been scattered around in the car.

James Jackson lived at 203 Northeast Street in Roseboro, next door to Buchanan’s home. He testified that, on 2 October 1994, when he arrived home, there was security tape around his residence. The phone lines had been cut, a storm window under the garage had been removed, and the padlock had been pried from the door of a storage building. Nothing had been taken from the residence.

Between 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, 1 October 1994 and 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, 2 October 1994, several people saw defendant in Roseboro. Defendant was wearing a multiple-color, splashed shirt under a dark-green, long-sleeve pullover shirt with black stripes and no collar, and a pair of gray stone-washed jeans with a tear in the right knee and a splash of orange paint on one leg. By 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, 2 October 1994, defendant had on a pair of gray dress pants, instead of the gray stone-washed jeans, and a pair of black and white Asics tennis shoes.

A tennis-shoe impression in blood on a newspaper found in the hallway of Dowdy’s upstairs apartment was an exact match in design and size to an impression from the Asics tennis shoe defendant was wearing when he arrived at his cousin’s house at 9:00 a.m. on 2 October 1994. When seized on 6 October 1994, it was determined that the tennis shoes had human blood on them.

Defendant’s cousin, Mitchell Parker, testified as follows: On the night of 2 October 1994, defendant told Mitchell that he knew there was a gun at Buchanan’s house and that he had gone there to steal it. Defendant said that as he was stealing the gun, Buchanan woke up and grabbed him from behind. He said he shot Buchanan in the head to get him off of him. Then Dowdy woke up and came downstairs, and a fight ensued. Defendant said that he “busted” Dowdy’s head. Defendant said that he decided to burn the house and that he changed clothes, cut some phone lines at a nearby house, and took a lawnmower. Defendant also told Mitchell that, earlier that day, he smoked some marijuana, drank some beer, and injected cocaine several times.

At 5:00 a.m. on the morning of 3 October 1994, defendant’s family tried to have him committed to the mental health department because they thought he was hallucinating from drugs. Later that day, defendant was committed and sent to Onslow Detox Center. By that time, defendant was calm and cooperative, oriented to the surroundings, and understood what was said and what was occurring.

Defendant stayed at the detox center for two days. On Wednesday, 5 October 1994, defendant was arrested at the detox center for the murders of Buchanan and Dowdy. At the police station, defendant told the officers that he had gone to a house near Buchanan’s on 2 October 1994 and had stolen a lawnmower and a battery charger from the shed. He had also stolen a cellular phone from Buchanan’s car. He denied going into Buchanan’s house. Then the officers told defendant that his cousin had told them that defendant had admitted killing Buchanan, and defendant put his head down, cried, and asked for a lawyer. Following his request, the interrogation ended. Defendant was handcuffed and taken to the police car. Once outside, defendant asked one of the officers how serious everything was, to which the officer replied, “It’s real bad.” Defendant replied, “I didn’t mean to kill Alabama [Buchanan].” Defendant then began crying.

Defendant did not testify during the trial. He did call several witnesses.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1070062.html

Leroy Mann North Carolina Death Row

Leroy Mann was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murder of Janet Houser. According to court documents Leroy Mann was let go from his job by Janet Houser. Leroy Mann asked to meet her the next day and the woman was never seen alive again. Leroy Mann would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Leroy Mann 2201 Information

Offender Number:	0255136
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	07/22/1968
Age:	52
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Leroy Mann More News

At trial, the State presented evidence tending to show that the victim, Janet Noble Hauser, was defendant’s co-worker at Advanced Plastics, Inc. (API). On Sunday, 3 December 1995, API notified defendant that, because of a general reduction in the work force, he was being laid off from his employment and need not report to work the following day. On Monday, 4 December 1995, defendant called Hauser, the executive assistant and bookkeeper at API, and asked her to meet him for lunch to discuss his unemployment benefits. Hauser agreed and, at 12:15 p.m., left the office to meet defendant at the Fresh Market in Falls Village, across the street from the apartment complex where defendant resided with his wife and her daughter.

At approximately 1:00 p.m., Ronald Van Goor, the occupant of the apartment directly below defendant’s, heard loud thumping noises coming from defendant’s apartment. Van Goor testified that there was also an inordinate amount of vibration emanating from the upstairs apartment, the force of which caused a picture to fall from Van Goor’s bedroom wall. According to Van Goor, the ruckus was so intense that it prevented him from taking a nap, and the commotion continued well over an hour.

Sometime between 1:30 and 2:00 p.m., Donna Timm, a receptionist at API, received a telephone call from Hauser, during which she stated, “This is Jan. I went to Chi-Chi’s and had lunch. I’m not feeling well, I’m not coming back to work.” The call originated from defendant’s telephone number. Shortly thereafter, another call was placed from that number to defendant’s wife, Cynthia Mota Mann, at her place of employment, the Department of Labor. After receiving the call, Mrs. Mann complained that she was not feeling well and asked a co-worker to drive her home. Mrs. Mann returned home at or around 2:15 p.m.

Minutes later, a series of financial transactions involving Hauser’s credit and bank accounts began. At 2:26 p.m., someone purchased gasoline at the Tower Texaco gas station with Hauser’s credit card. Video surveillance of the gas station revealed defendant as the person who used Hauser’s card. Then, at 2:55 p.m., a $100.00 withdrawal was made from Hauser’s account at the State Employees’ Credit Union, using her ATM card. In the hour that followed, six additional withdrawals of varying amounts were attempted, three of which were completed successfully, at ATM machines located at Beacon Hill Plaza and Knightdale Crossing Shopping Center. Video surveillance of the ATM locations showed defendant in Hauser’s presence when several of the transactions were made.

When Hauser failed to return home on the evening of 4 December 1995, her husband reported her missing to the Raleigh Police Department. Proceeding on information that Hauser had left work to meet defendant for lunch, the officers investigating her disappearance went to defendant’s home to question him. Upon entering the apartment, the investigators detected a strong odor of bleach and what they believed to be paint or paint thinner. At the request of the officers, defendant voluntarily accompanied them to the police station for questioning. While at the station, defendant told the investigators that Hauser never showed up for their lunch appointment, that he had not seen her, and that he had no idea what had happened to her.

On the afternoon of 5 December 1995, Hauser’s body, wrapped in a blanket, was discovered at the bottom of a ravine below the Falls Lake dam. An autopsy of the body revealed a gunshot wound to Hauser’s chest, which the medical examiner determined to be the cause of death. Hauser’s body also exhibited various facial bruises and lacerations, swelling around the eyes, and a broken nose. The medical examiner could not pinpoint the time of death, but concluded that it had occurred within twenty-four hours of her discovery.

Upon a search of defendant’s apartment, officers discovered that one wall of the master bedroom had been freshly painted and that the carpet had been recently cleaned with a chemical solution. Using an alternative forensic light source, the officers saw blood spattered on the wall underneath the new paint. A crime scene specialist testified that the pattern of the bloodstains was consistent with someone of Hauser’s stature sustaining a severe beating about the head. A subsequent search of the car belonging to defendant’s wife revealed a carpet-cleaning machine, cleaning chemicals, and a loaded nine-millimeter pistol.

Hauser’s car was later discovered in a subdivision near Falls Lake. Investigators found a bullet hole inside the trunk of the car and recovered bullet fragments later determined to have been fired from the pistol found in Mrs. Mann’s vehicle. They also found fingerprints on the underside of the trunk’s lid at an angle suggesting that the owner of the prints was inside the trunk when they were left. The prints were later identified as Hauser’s.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-supreme-court/1264880.html