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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

Lyndon Pace Georgia Death Row

Lyndon Pace was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for a series of robberies and murders. According to court documents Lyndon Pace, who is a serial killer, would rob the homes of elderly women and then murder him. Police in Atlanta would state he was responsible for eight murders and could be more. Lyndon Pace was sentenced to death.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Lyndon Pace 2021 Information

YOB: 1964
RACE: BLACK
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 5’11”
WEIGHT: 215
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLACK

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

Lyndon Pace More News

A jury convicted Lyndon Fitzgerald Pace of four counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, four counts of rape, and two counts of aggravated sodomy. The jury recommended a death sentence for each malice murder conviction after finding beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of 19 statutory aggravating circumstances. OCGA 17-10-30 (b) (2), (7). Pace appeals and we affirm. 1

1. The evidence adduced at trial shows that four women were murdered in their Atlanta homes in 1988 and 1989.

On August 28, 1988, a roommate found the nude body of 86-year-old Lula Bell McAfee lying face-down on her bed. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with a strip of cloth.

On September 10, 1988, Mattie Mae McLendon, 78 years old, was found lying dead on her bed covered by a sheet. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. No ligature was found.

On February 4, 1989, the police discovered the body of 79-year-old Johnnie Mae Martin lying on her bed nude from the waist down. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with a shoelace.

On March 4, 1989, the brother-in-law of 42-year-old Annie Kate Britt found her body lying on her bed. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with a sock that was still knotted around her neck.

The police determined that the killer entered each victim’s home by climbing through a window. Each attack occurred in the early morning hours. Vaginal lacerations and the presence of semen indicated that the victims had been raped and two of the women had been anally sodomized. The medical examiner removed spermatozoa from each victim and sent the samples to the FBI lab. DNA testing revealed the same DNA profile for each sperm sample, indicating a common perpetrator.

At 3:00 a.m. on September 24, 1992, 69-year-old Sarah Grogan confronted an intruder in her kitchen. She managed to obtain her gun and fire a shot which forced him to flee. The police discovered that the intruder entered Ms. Grogan’s house by climbing through a window. A crime scene technician lifted fingerprints from Ms. Grogan’s kitchen.

At 2:00 a.m. on September 30, 1992, Susie Sublett, an elderly woman who lived alone, awoke to discover an intruder taking money from her purse in her bedroom. Although the intruder was armed and threatened to “blow [her] brains out,” she fought with him and managed to flee to a neighbor’s house. The neighbor called the police. The police determined that the intruder entered Ms. Sublett’s house by climbing through a window. A crime scene technician lifted fingerprints from Ms. Sublett’s window screen.

The fingerprints from the Sublett and Grogan crime scenes matched Pace’s fingerprints, which were already on file with the police. Lyndon Pace was arrested and agreed to give hair and blood samples to the police. Pace’s pubic hair was consistent with a pubic hair found on the sweat pants Annie Kate Britt wore on the night she was murdered, and with a pubic hair found on a sheet near Johnnie Mae Martin’s body. A DNA expert also determined that Pace’s DNA profile matched the DNA profile taken from the sperm in the McAfee, Martin, McLendon, and Britt murders. The expert testified that the probability of a coincidental match of this DNA profile is one in 500 million in the McAfee, Martin, and Britt cases, and one in 150 million in the McLendon case. 2

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt proof of Pace’s guilt of four counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, four counts of rape, and two counts of aggravated sodomy. 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 beyond a reasonable doubt the 19 statutory aggravating circumstances which support his death sentences for the murders. Jackson v. Virginia, supra; OCGA 17-10-35 (c) (2).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1443084.html

Dorian O’Kelley Georgia Death Row

Dorian O’Kelley and Darryl Stinski were sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for two sexual assaults and murders. According to court documents Dorian O’Kelley and Darryl Stinski would sexually assault a mother and her thirteen year old daughter before murdering the pair and setting their house on fire. Dorian O’Kelley and Darry Stinski would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Dorian O’Kelley 2021 Information

YOB: 1981
RACE: WHITE
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 6’02”
WEIGHT: 190
EYE COLOR: HAZEL
HAIR COLOR: BLACK

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

Darryl Stinski 2021 Information

YOB: 1983
RACE: WHITE
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 5’10”
WEIGHT: 200
EYE COLOR: BLUE
HAIR COLOR: BROWN

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

Dorian O’Kelley More News

The evidence presented at trial shows that, shortly before midnight on April 10, 2002, Dorian O’Kelley and his co-defendant, Darryl Stinski, were observed at a convenience store by two Chatham County police officers. The officers noticed the defendants because they were dressed in black clothing, they carried a black duffle bag that appeared empty, and Stinski had several facial and ear piercings. Shortly after Dorian O’Kelley and Stinski left the store, the officers responded to a burglar alarm at a residence within walking distance of the store and discovered a broken window there. The occupant of the residence, who was not home at the time, testified at trial that she returned to find that someone had apparently tried to kick in her back door and had broken a window and bent the curtain rod inside the home. O’Kelley admitted in his first statement to police that he and Stinski went to a residence in order to commit a theft therein on the night in question but fled after the alarm went off.

A few hours later, at approximately 5:30 a.m. on April 11, the same police officers were leaving the convenience store when they spotted a fire in the distance. Rushing to the scene, they found the Pittman residence engulfed in flames. This home was in close proximity to the residence which had been burglarized earlier. In the headlights of the police car, one of the officers again observed O’Kelley and Stinski, this time standing in a wooded area across the street from the burning house. However, they had disappeared by the time the officers exited the vehicle. Once the fire was extinguished, officials discovered the remains of the victims.

That evening, Dorian O’Kelley and Stinski brought a duffle bag to the mobile home where Stinski was staying, and O’Kelley told the group of people present that he and Stinski had stolen items from automobiles in the neighborhood. He also confided in one member of the group that he had burglarized and set fire to the Pittman residence, and he claimed to have slit Ms. Pittman’s throat and to have raped Kimberly. O’Kelley then removed from his wallet a tooth in a ziplock bag and stated that he had “busted it out of the little girl’s mouth.” After O’Kelley and Stinski left the mobile home, the group opened the duffle bag and discovered several items, including compact discs marked with Kimberly’s initials and prescription pill bottles containing oxycodone with Ms. Pittman’s name and address on the labels. A group member phoned the police and advised them of the bag’s contents and O’Kelley’s comments. After the contents of the bag were identified by a family member as belonging to the victims, O’Kelley and Stinski were arrested, and a human tooth later determined through DNA evidence to belong to Kimberly was found inside O’Kelley’s wallet.

In his second statement to police, Dorian O’Kelley confessed to killing Ms. Pittman by repeatedly beating and stabbing her, to beating and stabbing Kimberly, to setting the Pittman residence on fire while Kimberly was still alive, and to taking numerous items from the residence. O’Kelley told police that items stolen from the home and from automobiles in the neighborhood were located in the attic of his house and that he had discarded the clothing and shoes that he was wearing during the murders in a garbage bag on top of an abandoned mobile home near his house. Police located these items as O’Kelley described. Blood on the clothing was identified as Ms. Pittman’s, and blood on the shoes was identified as that of both victims.

Four witnesses testified that, early on the day following the murders, they discovered that someone had broken into and removed personal belongings from their automobiles parked in O’Kelley’s neighborhood. O’Kelley’s fingerprint was found inside one of these vehicles, and the witnesses identified their stolen property from items recovered by the police from O’Kelley’s attic. After reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that O’Kelley was guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted, including the first burglary during which the alarm was triggered. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). See also Gude v. State, 213 Ga.App. 573-574(1), 445 S.E.2d 355 (1994) (finding evidence sufficient to prove an entry to support appellant’s burglary conviction where blood was found inside a broken window, curtains were hanging outside as if pulled through the broken window, and part of appellant’s jersey was hanging from inside window); Mullinnix v. State, 177 Ga.App. 168, 338 S.E.2d 752 (1985) (finding evidence sufficient to prove an entry with intent to commit theft where, when responding to silent alarm, police found defendant hiding outside the door with burglar tools and the trip string to the silent alarm device, which could not have been removed without inserting an instrument in the open door knob hole because the door was locked by a deadbolt).

The trial court erred, however, by not merging for sentencing the two first degree arson counts. Count 5 charged O’Kelley with first degree arson committed by knowingly damaging by fire the dwelling house of Susan Pittman under OCGA § 16-7-60(a)(1), and Count 6 charged him with first degree arson committed by knowingly damaging by fire the same structure on the same date as Count 5 under such circumstances that it was reasonably foreseeable that human life might be endangered under OCGA § 16-7-60(a)(5). Although the evidence shows that O’Kelley set the Pittman residence afire by setting multiple fires in succession throughout the house, his conduct constituted one act of arson, that of the burning of the Pittman residence. Thus, there is only one crime of arson in the first degree. Altman v. State, 156 Ga.App. 185, 186(1), 273 S.E.2d 923 (1980). The trial court erred in imposing two consecutive twenty-year sentences for the single first degree arson offense and is directed to strike the sentence imposed on Count 6.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1123659.html

Michael Nance Georgia Death Row

Michael Nance was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for a murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents Michael Nance robbed a bank and warned the tellers not to put in any “dye packs”. When Michael Nance went to his vehicle a dye pack exploded. Nance would leave the vehicle and run across the road to a liquor store where he stole a vehicle shooting and killing the owner.

Georgia Death Row Inmate List

Micheal Nance 2021 Information

YOB: 1961
RACE: WHITE
GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 6’01”
WEIGHT: 240
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HAIR COLOR: BLACK

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

Michael Nance More News

The evidence adduced at trial shows that Michael Nance stole a 1980 Oldsmobile Omega and drove to the Tucker Federal Savings & Loan on December 18, 1993. He entered the bank wearing a ski mask and gloves and carrying a .22 caliber revolver. While ordering the tellers to put money into two pillowcases he had brought with him, he said “no dye money or I’ll kill you” and “I’m going to come back and kill you all if the dye thing goes off.” Despite Nance’s threats, the tellers managed to slip two dye packets in with the money. Michael Nance exited the bank and got into the Oldsmobile where the dye packets activated, emitting red dye and tear gas. Nance abandoned the Oldsmobile holding the gun in his right hand covered by a plastic trash bag. His ski mask and the dye-stained bags of money were left in the car.

Michael Nance ran to a liquor store parking lot. Dan McNeal had just made a purchase at the liquor store and was standing in the parking lot. Gabor Balogh had just left the liquor store and was backing his car out of a parking space. Balogh was only halfway out of the parking space when Nance ran around the front of Balogh’s car, yanked open the front driver’s-side door, and thrust his right arm into the car. McNeal saw Balogh leaning away from Nance with his hands on the steering wheel. He heard Balogh screaming and saying “No, no.” Nance shot Balogh in the left elbow and the bullet entered his chest. The medical examiner testified that the bullet moved downward through Balogh’s body, passing between the upper and lower lobes of his left lung and lacerating his heart before stopping in his liver.

Nance then pointed the gun at McNeal and said, “Give me your keys.” McNeal ran around the side of the liquor store and Nance fired another shot. McNeal was not hit. Nance apparently ran around the other side of the store because the two men encountered each other behind the store. McNeal turned and ran back around the store to the parking lot. He went to Balogh’s car and saw Balogh slumped over and gasping for breath. Balogh died before the ambulance arrived.

Michael Nance ran to a nearby gas station where he held the gun to his head during a one-hour standoff with police. He told the police, “If anyone rushes me, there’s going to be war.” The police convinced him to surrender. Nance’s gloves and shirt were stained with the same red dye used in the dye packets. A firearms expert testified that Nance’s gun, which contained two spent shells, was probably the same gun used to kill Balogh. Nance confessed to the bank robbery, but said that he had only fired once up in the air to scare Balogh because Balogh was trying to run him over with his car. To show Nance’s intent and bent of mind, the State presented evidence that Nance robbed another bank in the same county in September 1993 and issued a similar threat to the teller. In the penalty phase, the State presented evidence that Nance committed an armed robbery in Kansas in 1984.

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt proof of Nance’s guilt of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, theft by taking, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The evidence was also sufficient to authorize the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt the two statutory aggravating circumstances which support his death sentence for the murder. Id.; OCGA § 17-10-35(c)(2).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1185452.html