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Stephen Powers Mississippi Death Row

Stephen Powers was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for the attempted sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Stephen Powers attempted to sexually assault the woman and as she fought him off Powers would shoot her multiple times causing her death. Stephen Powers would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Mississippi Death Row Inmate List

Stephen Powers 2021 Information

Race: BLACK	Sex: MALE	Date of Birth: 05/15/1969
Height: 5′ 5”	Weight: 150	Complexion: MEDIUM BROW
Build: MEDIUM	Eye Color: BROWN	Hair Color: BLACK
Entry Date: 12/16/2000	Location: MSP	UNIT: UNIT 29
Location Change Date: 08/03/2017	Number of Sentences: 1	Total Length: DEATH

Stephen Powers More News

On the afternoon of June 13, 1998, Elizabeth Lafferty was introduced to Powers and his nephew, “Junior” or “Jay” Otis, Jr. by a mutual friend, Eddie Barnes. The four decided to cook out and drink beer at Lafferty’s home. Later, Otis and Barnes left the Lafferty home, leaving Powers and Lafferty alone. Lafferty’s body was discovered at approximately 1:00 a.m. the next morning in the hallway. Lafferty had been shot five times, three at a point-blank range in the back of the head, once under the chin, and once in the temple. The State’s experts were unable to determine the order in which the shots occurred. The bullets came from a .22 caliber gun.

¶ 4. Photographs were introduced at the trial to explain the position of the body in the hallway where it was found. The maxim “a picture is worth a thousand words” certainly holds true in this case. While words cannot fully illustrate the prone position in which the victim was found, suffice it to say that the victim’s legs were spread open more than ninety degrees, with a foot in each of the doors of the bedroom and bathroom, which are on opposite sides of the hallway where she was found. The left leg was raised slightly higher than the right and wedged within the doorjam to the bedroom. Her shorts were “wadded up” around the left ankle (keeping in mind that except for these wadded up shorts, she was nude from the waist down). The body had several injuries consistent with defensive posturing, including abrasions to the back of her right upper arm, back of her left hand, and on the right knee. Although Lafferty was menstruating, no feminine hygiene products were found on or near her body.

¶ 5. Upon learning that Stephen Powers was the last person seen with Lafferty and that he had a .22 caliber gun on the night in question, police obtained a search warrant. On Sunday, June 14 at approximately 8:00 p.m., the police searched Powers’s apartment and then arrested him. Powers was advised of his Miranda rights, but signed a waiver of those rights. Powers began writing a statement that the gun was in the woods, then stopped and agreed to take the police to the gun. After leading the police on several pretextual excursions to locate the gun, Powers finally led the police to a shed behind his apartment where a .22 caliber gun and bullets were found. Powers made the statement that “you did not have a case until I gave you the murder weapon.” Thereafter, Powers was taken back to the police station where he produced a written statement admitting that he killed Lafferty and left her body in her final position and state of undress. Powers told police that he and Lafferty “struggled with the gun, and the gun went off.” Powers denied having sex with Lafferty and claimed that she voluntarily partially undressed herself because she was “playing” around with him.

¶ 6. After making the statement, Stephen Powers asked to use the restroom. A search of his person revealed what appeared to be a blood-stained note to his mother located in his crotch area. The handwritten note said: “Everything I do is wrong.” However, the note was never tested to determine whether the stains were indeed blood or not. Powers also admitted taking a computer from Lafferty’s home and placing it in a nearby alley, where it was later picked up by Powers’s brother and/or his girlfriend.

¶ 7. While cleaning Powers’s apartment after his arrest, his mother found a used sanitary napkin rolled up in one of Powers’s baseball caps. This was turned over to the police. At trial, Powers’s mother testified for the State. On cross-examination, she testified that Powers’s girlfriend gave the used sanitary napkin to Powers as some sort of “hex” or “voodoo-type thing” to keep him from having sex with any other female. Although the sanitary napkin was sent to the State Crime Lab for analysis, the Crime Lab personnel were unable to positively match the blood on the napkin with that of the victim.

¶ 8. At trial, witnesses placed Powers at the scene with the gun immediately prior to the shooting. Additionally, testimony revealed that after Lafferty’s body was found, a nervous Powers told his friend that “something happened” to Lafferty.

¶ 9. The jury found all four of the Enmund factors: the defendant actually killed, attempted to kill, intended that a killing take place, and contemplated that lethal force would be employed. Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982). The jury also found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the capital offense was committed while Powers was engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit the crime of rape and that the capital offense was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. Finally, the jury found that there were “insufficient mitigating circumstances to outweigh the aggravating circumstances” and “that the defendant should suffer death.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1439465.html

Terry Pitchford Mississippi Death Row

Terry Pitchford was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for a robbery murder. According to court documents Terry Pitchford and an accomplice would murder a store owner, Reuben Britt, during the course of a robbery. Terry Pitchford would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Mississippi Death Row Inmate List

Terry Pitchford 2021 Information

Race: BLACK	Sex: MALE	Date of Birth: 12/30/1985
Height: 5′ 7”	Weight: 172	Complexion: MEDIUM BROW
Build: MEDIUM	Eye Color: BROWN	Hair Color: BLACK
Entry Date: 02/10/2006	Location: MSP	UNIT: UNIT 29
Location Change Date: 08/07/2019	Number of Sentences: 1	Total Length: DEATH

Terry Pitchford More News

On the morning of November 7, 2004, Walter Davis and his son entered the Crossroads Grocery, where they discovered the body of the owner, Reuben Britt. They immediately called 911, and Grenada County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Greg Conley responded.

¶ 3. During his initial investigation at the scene, Investigator Conley observed that some of Britt’s wounds appeared to have been made by a projectile, and others by pellets, suggesting to Investigator Conley that two different weapons were involved. Missing from the store were a cash register, some cash, and a .38 caliber revolver loaded with “rat shot.” Also during his initial investigation, Investigator Conley received information suggesting that a vehicle owned by Terry Pitchford matched the description of the car used by Britt’s assailants, and that Pitchford had been part of a previous attempt to rob the Crossroads Grocery.

¶ 4. At Pitchford’s home, Conley found a car matching the description of the one involved in the homicide at the Crossroad’s grocery. After a search of the vehicle produced the missing .38 caliber revolver, Pitchford was taken into custody.

¶ 5. On November 7 and 8, 2004, Investigator Conley and Investigator Robert Jennings of the local district attorney’s office interviewed Pitchford. During those interviews, Pitchford confessed that he and Eric Bullin had gone to the store with the intention of robbing it. Pitchford stated that Bullin had shot Britt three times with a .22 caliber pistol, and that he (Pitchford) had fired shots into the floor. Pitchford also confessed that he had attempted to rob the same store a week and a half prior to the murder on November 7. Pitchford also confessed his role in the murders to fellow inmates Dantron Mitchell and James Hatchcock.

¶ 6. On January 11, 2005, the Grenada County Grand Jury indicted Pitchford for capital murder. After he was appointed counsel, he was arraigned on February 9, 2005, and jury selection commenced on February 6, 2006. Of the 350 registered voters of Grenada County who were summoned to a special venire, 126 returned jury questionnaires and appeared upon their summonses. Of these, forty were African-American, eighty-four were Caucasion, one was Hispanic, and one did not provide race information.

¶ 7. The trial judge (without objection from either party) excused certain jurors for statutory cause and other reasons unrelated to the case. At that point, the venire stood at ninety-six, of which thirty-five were African-American, and sixty-one were white. Following voir dire by the attorneys, the trial judge (without objection from either party) struck fifty-two prospective jurors for cause and three others for reasons not disclosed in the record, leaving thirty-six white persons and five African-Americans in the venire.

¶ 8. The attorneys were allowed to exercise strikes only on the twelve lowest-numbered members of the venire. Each time a strike was exercised, the next lowest-numbered juror joined the twelve potential jurors subject to peremptory strikes. The State exercised seven peremptory strikes, and Pitchford exercised twelve. The persons who replaced the nineteen strikes, plus the original twelve, resulted in thirty-one potential jurors subject to peremptory strikes by the attorneys.

¶ 9. Of the thirty-one potential jurors subject to peremptory strikes, Pitchford struck twelve whites and no African-Americans. Thus, there were nineteen potential jurors-fourteen of whom were whites and five of whom were African-Americans-subject to the State’s peremptory strikes. Although the State was allowed twelve peremptory strikes, it exercised only seven-three whites and four African-Americans.

¶ 10. Following jury selection, the case proceeded to trial, and on February 8, 2006, the jury found Pitchford guilty of capital murder. On February 9, the case proceeded to the penalty phase, at which the jury imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection. Pitchford filed a motion for a new trial on February 17, 2006, which was denied. He timely filed his notice of appeal.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1528946.html

Eric Moffett Mississippi Death Row

Eric Moffett was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for the sexual assault and murder of a five year old child. According to court documents Eric Moffett would repeatedly sexually assault the five year old child. Eric Moffett would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Mississippi Death Row Inmate List

Eric Moffett 2021 Information

Race: BLACK	Sex: MALE	Date of Birth: 12/13/1973
Height: 5′ 7”	Weight: 208	Complexion: DARK
Build: LARGE	Eye Color: BROWN	Hair Color: BLACK
Entry Date: 02/27/2006	Location: MSP	UNIT: UNIT 29
Location Change Date: 03/02/2020	Number of Sentences: 1	Total Length: DEATH

Eric Moffett More News

Felicia Griffin was sexually abused, [FN1] battered, [FN2] and murdered during the early morning hours of December 31, 1994. Felicia lived in Jackson with her two sisters; mother, Pennie Griffin; and, Pennie’s boyfriend, Moffett. On December 30, 1994, Moffett, Pennie, and the three girls were at home. Moffett left the house at approximately 9:45 p.m. while Pennie was preparing to go to work. Pennie expected Moffett’s mother, Florence Moffett Powell, to arrive soon to take her to work. When Powell did not timely arrive, Pennie went to a nearby gas station to phone her employer and Powell. Pennie checked on the children before leaving, and locked the door and burglar bars as she departed. After going by Pennie’s home, Powell picked up Pennie at the gas station and proceeded to take Pennie to work. It was disputed at trial whether Powell was alone when she arrived at the gas station, or whether she was accompanied by her daughter, Sheritha Moffett. Sheritha testified that she had accompanied Powell and had observed Powell enter the house looking for Pennie. Powell did not testify, as she died before trial. The jury heard evidence that Moffett returned to the house a few hours later, took Felicia into the bedroom he shared with Felicia’s mother, abused Felicia, and savagely raped her with his fingers and fist.

FN1. The perineum had been savagely ripped or torn, resulting in open communication of the excretory opening of the alimentary canal with her genital orifice.

FN2. She had bruises on her neck, face, and left leg; and petechial hemorrhages on her face.

Moffett reported Felicia’s death via a 911 call and awaited the arrival of officers from the Jackson Police Department (JPD). After the police officers arrived, Moffett exhibited anger and began to behave strangely. His behavior escalated to the point that he was “out of control” and “throwing furniture,” according to the testimony of police officers. Four officers subdued Moffett. He was handcuffed and arrested. From his arrest on December 31, 1994, Moffett remained incarcerated until September 7, 1995, when a grand jury returned no true bill. Moffett was released the same day. He had been in custody 250 days.

Years later, a JPD cold-case unit reviewed the file and submitted its findings to the district attorney. Moffett was indicted in April 2002. Moffett was tried, convicted, and received a death sentence in February 2006. Substantial evidence was presented at trial, including the live testimony of numerous witnesses. Witnesses included, but were not limited to, Pennie Griffin; LaQuandia Griffin, the victim’s sister; Donald Davis, a prison inmate; Mary Esther Pearson, a nurse practitioner; Huma Nasir, a forensic DNA analyst for a private DNA laboratory; and Detective Rod Eriksen, a JPD officer.

LaQuandia testified that she was seven years old at the time of the murder. The night of the crime, Pennie helped her and her sisters, Jessica and Felicia, get ready for bed and checked on them before she left for work. The three girls were sleeping on a pallet in a room across the hall from the bedroom shared by Pennie and Moffett. Lights were on in the girls’ bedroom, the hallway, and bathroom. LaQuandia woke up and saw Moffett standing in the doorway of the girls’ bedroom. She saw Moffett pick up Felicia, who was sleeping closest to the door. He took Felicia to his bedroom. He did not close the doors all the way, so she could see him. He placed Felicia down on the bed and started touching and rubbing on her chest and stomach areas. She heard Felicia making “all kind of painful cries.” She then dozed off, only to be awoken later. She saw someone [FN3] in the hallway going into Pennie’s bedroom. She remembered looking into the bedroom and seeing Felicia “laying in the bed and the covers were real bloody.” After the police arrived, Moffett approached her, hugging and attempting to reassure her. She recalled seeing Moffett “throw a fit, ․ he was ․ yelling and screaming, ․ picking up chairs and ․ throwing things as if he cared.” She saw the paramedics take Felicia away on a stretcher. She was not sure what she told the policeman who questioned her about the murder, but she did recall being afraid to tell him about Moffett, as he was still in the house at the time.

FN3. This person was later determined to have been a paramedic.

Donald Davis, an inmate with Moffett during the 1994–95 confinement, testified. During his testimony, he read a statement he had written on September 15, 1995, [FN4] when he was interviewed by a JPD officer at the Hinds County Detention Center. Moffett had confessed the crime to Donald Davis at a Bible study on September 3, 1995. The confession had included graphic details of the crime and Moffett’s attempt to seek forgiveness by inflicting injury upon himself (smashing his hand in a steel door at the detention center).

FN4. This was after the no-bill report of the September 1995 grand jury.

Mary Esther Pearson testified that she was a nurse practitioner who provided medical services to inmates at the detention center where Moffett was incarcerated. She testified that she treated Moffett in March 1995 for an injury to the middle and [fourth] fingers of his right hand. Moffett told her he had “mashed [his fingers] in a door.”

Huma Nasir testified about DNA tests performed on laboratory samples taken at the emergency room, at autopsy, and at the murder scene, as well as known samples drawn from Moffett. She stated that the vaginal swab, vaginal wash, and anal swab were all positive for semen on the presumptive test, but were negative for sperm cells on the confirmatory test, indicating that there were no “physical sperm cells” remaining in the semen samples. She testified at length about DNA tests done on cuttings from the bath towel found in the bed where Felicia had been found by paramedics. The towel was positive for semen and epithelial cells, but was negative for blood. There were two stains on the towel. The first was a semen stain and the other was a mixed stain, including semen and epithelial cells. [FN5] The semen stain was found to match Moffett’s DNA on all fifteen markers. Nasir testified that there was less than one chance in five trillion, nine hundred billion (5,900,000,000,000) [FN6] that the semen had come from anyone other than Moffett. As for the mixed stain, neither Moffett nor Felicia could be excluded as the source of the two sets of DNA found there. There were matches on four foci and six alleles, which Nasir described as “weak” alleles. She stated that, from this evidence, more than 99 .9% of the population could be excluded as possible donors of the two components, thus, there was less than one chance in a thousand that anyone else contributed to the mixed stain.

FN5. Epithelial cells include mucous, saliva, vaginal secretions, and skin, but not semen. Blood normally would be included in the epithelial portion, but not here, as the towel was found to be negative for blood.

FN6. This is more than nine hundred times the estimated population of the entire world in 2006. Population Reference Bureau, 2006 World Population Fact Sheet 5 (chart), 06/06 world data sheet. pdf (last visited September 4, 2010).

Pennie testified that, on the morning of December 30, 1994, she and Moffett had an argument and that he hit her “upside the head.” She stated that, at that point, she decided to end the relationship with Moffett and that she wrote him a letter telling him that it was over. Police Lieutenant Rod Eriksen testified that the letter, which he saw as establishing a possible motive, was found in the bedroom where Felicia was found. The jury viewed a videotape, taken as Eriksen and the crime-scene investigator carried out their investigation of the scene. The jury saw, inter alia, Eriksen discovering the letter at the scene.

Several other witnesses testified, including, but not limited to, an emergency room physician; an emergency medical technician; JPD officers, including detectives and crime scene investigators; and pathologists.

Moffett, 49 So.3d at 1077–79. Additional facts are provided when relevant to the discussion of each issue infra.

¶ 5. Moffett filed his Motion for Leave to Proceed in the Trial Court with a Petition for Post–Conviction Relief on December 7, 2011. On December 22, 2011, Moffett filed an amended motion for leave. This Court later entered a stay of Moffett’s post-conviction proceedings to allow his experts access to Moffett for a mental evaluation. Moffett was then permitted to file a supplemental motion on April 8, 2013. The State has responded to Moffett’s motions.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1664411.html

Thomas Loden Mississippi Death Row

Thomas Loden was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for the sexual assault and murder of a teenage girl. According to court documents Thomas Loden kidnapped sixteen year old Leesa Marie Gray who was repeatedly sexually assaulted before being murdered by strangulation. Thomas Loden was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Thomas Loden Was Executed On December 14 2022

Mississippi Death Row Inmate List

Thomas Loden 2021 Information

Race: WHITE	Sex: MALE	Date of Birth: 08/16/1964
Height: 6′ 6”	Weight: 190	Complexion: MEDIUM
Build: MEDIUM	Eye Color: HAZEL	Hair Color: GREY OR
Entry Date: 09/21/2001	Location: MSP	UNIT: UNIT 29
Location Change Date: 10/08/2019	Number of Sentences: 3	Total Length: DEATH

Thomas Loden More News

Late in the evening on June 22, 2000, Thomas E. Loden, Jr. (“Loden”) kidnapped sixteen-year-old Leesa Marie Gray (“Leesa”). Over the next four hours, Loden repeatedly raped and sexually battered Leesa, videotaping portions of the sadistic acts, before murdering her by way of suffocation and manual strangulation. Following his arrest, Loden was indicted for capital murder, rape, and four counts of sexual battery. On September 21, 2001, Loden waived his right to a jury for trial and sentencing, and pleaded guilty to all six counts in the indictment. The Circuit Court of Itawamba County, Mississippi, accepted those pleas and adjudged Loden guilty on each count. At the sentencing hearing, Loden elected to waive cross-examination of all of the State’s witnesses, to waive objection to all exhibits presented by the State, and not to offer any mitigation evidence on his own behalf. During the proceeding, Loden addressed the court and apologized to the friends and family of Leesa, by stating “I hope you may have some sense of justice when you leave here today.” The circuit court found all four factors required by Mississippi Code Annotated Section 99-19-101(7) (Rev.2007) were satisfied, that sufficient aggravating circumstances existed, and “that the mitigating circumstances do not outweigh the aggravating circumstances and that the death penalty should be imposed.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1466270.html

Thong Le Mississippi Death Row

Thong Le was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for the murder of a mother and her two children. According to court documents Thong Le and accomplice turned a robbery into a bloodbath with the murders of Minh Huynh, and her daughters Thanh and Thuy Nguyen. Thong Le would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Thong Le accomplice Ngan Tran would commit suicide while in custody

Mississippi Death Row Inmate List

Thong Le 2021 Information

Race: ASIAN OR PACIFI	Sex: MALE	Date of Birth: 06/10/1983
Height: 5′ 4”	Weight: 130	Complexion: LIGHT BROWN
Build: SMALL	Eye Color: BROWN	Hair Color: BLACK
Entry Date: 08/28/2002	Location: MSP	UNIT: UNIT 29
Location Change Date: 04/02/2019	Number of Sentences: 1	Total Length: DEATH

Thong Le More News

Thong Le and Ngan Tran were indicted for capital murder in the beating and strangulation deaths of Minh Heiu Thi Huynh and her two daughters, Thuy, age eleven, and Than, age fifteen. Ngan Tran, who was believed to have committed the actual killings, took his own life while in custody. Le went to trial and was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

At Le’s trial the State presented evidence which showed that the pair had gone to Huynh’s home for the purpose of robbing her. The two were admitted into the apartment by the children, who were home alone. When Huynh returned, she and the children were bound, savagely beaten and strangled to death. Le and Tran spent hours attempting to sanitize the scene with water and bleach. The two left with $1,300 cash and a book bag containing some household items. Following their arrest, Tran hanged himself in his cell. Le went to trial where he was convicted of capital murder committed during the course of a robbery. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme-court/1285607.html