David Dickerson was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for a brutal murder. According to court documents David Dickerson would go to his ex girlfriends home where the woman was shot than set on fire. David Dickerson was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
David Dickerson and Paula Herrington Hamilton were in a relationship in the mid–1990s, and they had a child, Courtney Dickerson. When the relationship ended, Dickerson had little contact with Paula and Courtney, unless it was negative. Paula later married Allen Hamilton. She had two children in addition to Courtney. Paula and her family lived on property near Wesson, Mississippi. Paula’s sister, Robin Herrington, lived with them. Several other family members lived on the property as well, including an aunt, Linda Austin, who lived in a trailer behind Paula’s house.
¶ 3. In 2010, Paula sought a protective order against Dickerson, claiming that he was stalking her and then-sixteen-year-old Courtney. She also filed a criminal affidavit alleging stalking. A protective order was entered, and a hearing was set for January 25, 2011, on the related criminal allegations. On the morning of January 25, 2011, Robin was outside Paula’s house around 6:30 a.m. when she saw a man on the property. She told Paula, who went outside to investigate. Robin heard a gunshot, and Paula yelled for her to call 911. Robin testified that Paula came back to the house, covered with blood, and the man was following her and demanding keys to a van. Robin recognized the man as David Dickerson.
¶ 4. Paula’s younger daughter, then-thirteen-year-old Kayla Herrington, was getting ready for school when her aunt Robin said a man was outside the house. Kayla testified that Paula went outside, then Kayla heard screaming, so Kayla went outside as well. Kayla saw a man “messing with a gun.” She went back inside to get her little brother, then she heard two gunshots. Kayla took her little brother into the bathroom and locked the door behind them. Kayla testified that Robin joined the children in the bathroom, and Kayla called 911. Kayla then looked out the window and saw the man pouring gas on the camper, then he took the gas can and ran off. Kayla testified that she heard her sister, Courtney, say that the man was David Dickerson.
¶ 5. Courtney also was getting ready for school when her aunt Robin saw a man outside. Courtney testified that Paula went outside, then Courtney heard screaming and they all ran outside. She saw her father, David Dickerson, holding a gun to her mother’s head. Courtney testified that Dickerson was demanding keys. Courtney tried to push Dickerson away from her mother, but Dickerson punched Courtney in the face. Paula told Courtney to go to her Aunt Linda’s, so Courtney ran to Linda’s trailer. A few moments later, Paula came to the trailer, drenched in blood. They let her in and locked the door behind her. Dickerson kicked the door in, and Linda pointed a gun at him. Dickerson pointed his gun at Courtney and threatened to shoot her if Linda did not put her gun down. Paula told Courtney to leave, so she and Linda fled the trailer. Courtney testified that Dickerson was holding a gas can, and she saw him pour gasoline on Paula and throughout the trailer. Linda ran to a neighbor’s house, and Courtney ran back to Paula’s house. Courtney then saw the trailer on fire.
¶ 6. Reverend Thomas McCormick and Reverend Ken Hedgepeth were driving past Paula’s house when they saw the trailer explode. They pulled into the driveway and ran toward the burning trailer. Reverends McCormick and Hedgepeth saw a man standing near the trailer. They found Paula, alive and on fire, trapped under the trailer. They testified that they pulled her away and that she smelled of gasoline. The men tried to help Paula, but she died before police arrived. She had sustained gunshots to the head and back, stab wounds to the neck and trunk, and first-degree burns.
¶ 7. Police officers arrived and searched the area. After speaking with Paula’s family members, Dickerson was named as a suspect and a be-on-the-lookout notice was issued. Kristina Stewart lived near Paula. She was driving home around 8:00 a.m., after taking her children to school, when she saw an unknown man emerge from the woods wet and covered in mud. She later identified Dickerson in a photographic lineup. Glenn and Betty Sue McInnis lived about a mile down the road. Around 9:30 a.m., Dickerson arrived at the McInnises’ home and asked for gasoline. By that time, the McInnises knew about the situation and had been advised to be on alert for a suspicious person in the area. Glenn led Dickerson to his shop, intending to lead Dickerson away from his wife and home. Sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested Dickerson.
¶ 8. Investigators found Dickerson’s motorcycle three-tenths of a mile from Paula’s house. Officers found recently discarded clothing in an abandoned house not far from the scene. The clothing matched a description of Dickerson’s clothing that day. A t-shirt with blood on it was later matched to Paula. A twenty-two-caliber pistol was discovered in a water well near the abandoned house. Ballistics determined that the pistol matched rounds found outside Linda’s trailer as well as the bullet that was removed from Paula.
¶ 9. A grand jury indicted Dickerson for capital murder of Paula Hamilton, arson of Linda Austin’s trailer, and armed robbery of Paula Hamilton. Dickerson maintained that he did not kill Paula and denied any involvement in the crimes. Before trial, Dickerson moved for a determination of his competency to stand trial and a determination as to whether he was intellectually disabled. The court appointed forensic psychologist Dr. Criss Lott to evaluate Dickerson. Dr. Lott determined that Dickerson was not mentally retarded, but he was not able to determine whether Dickerson was competent to stand trial.
¶ 10. On Dr. Lott’s recommendation, the court ordered further evaluation by the State Hospital at Whitfield to determine competency and intellectual disability. Dickerson was observed at the State Hospital for two months. Dr. Robert Storer, a forensic psychologist, and Dr. Reb McMichael, a forensic psychiatrist, concluded that Dickerson was mentally competent to stand trial and that he had no credible symptoms of mental illness. They found that Dickerson was uncooperative, malingering, and fabricating psychiatric symptoms. The doctors also concluded that Dickerson was not mentally retarded. The circuit court held a competency hearing, and all three doctors testified that Dickerson had the capacity to confer with counsel and that he was mentally competent to stand trial. Dickerson did not put on any evidence in the alternative. The trial court held Dickerson competent to stand trial.
¶ 11. Trial was held in July 2012. The jury heard testimony from several members of Paula’s family who were eyewitnesses to the attack, the two pastors who stopped to help, Kristina Stewart, Glenn McInnis, several deputies who responded to the scene, the investigator from the State Fire Marshall’s Office, and multiple forensic scientists from the Mississippi Crime Laboratory. Dickerson did not call any witnesses or put on any evidence. The jury returned guilty verdicts on all three counts.
¶ 12. During the sentencing phrase, several of Dickerson’s family members and two former employees of the Department of Human Services (DHS) testified about Dickerson’s home life as a child. Several former coworkers and employers testified about Dickerson’s work abilities. Dr. Lott testified as to his findings after evaluating Dickerson. Dr. Lott opined that Dickerson was not mentally retarded and that he thought Dickerson was exaggerating his psychological problems. Dr. Julie Schroeder, a social work professor, also testified. Dr. Schroeder had met with Dickerson and reviewed his school records, mental health records, test scores, and case file. She opined as to how Dickerson’s personality disorders and borderline executive functioning deficit could have affected his behavior.
¶ 13. The jury returned a unanimous verdict recommending the death penalty. However, the sentencing verdict failed to include any statutory aggravating factors. The circuit judge ordered the jury to review the jury instructions and return a verdict consistent with the requirements set forth therein. The jury returned with the verdict in proper form, recommending the death penalty and finding that the murder was committed while Dickerson was engaged in the commission of a burglary and that the offense was especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel. Dickerson filed a motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied. Dickerson appealed.
Charles Crawford was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for the sexual assault and murder of a college student. According to court documents Charles Crawford kidnapped Kristy Ray from her home, the woman was sexually assaulted, handcuffed to a tree and stabbed to death.
On Friday, January 29, 1993, at approximately 12:30 p.m., twenty year old Kristy Ray went to the bank where her mother worked. Kristy worked part-time at the Sunburst Bank, since she was also a student at Northeast Mississippi Community College. At about 5:15 p.m., Kristy and her mother, Mary Ray, left the bank, with plans to see each other later that night at their house in Chalybeate, a community near Walnut, Mississippi.
¶ 5. Mary tried to call Kristy around 6:45 p.m., but received no answer. She assumed that Kristy was visiting her boyfriend. Mary finally got to her house at about 7:00 p.m., but Kristy’s car was not there. When she walked into her house, Mary found a ransom note on a table. The note, which also contained a crude map, read, “There will be a red flag somewhere on this block Tuesday, 12:00 midnight, fifteen thousand dollars in gym bag or she dies. No police.” Mary noticed that Kristy had left her purse, that Kristy’s room was in disarray, and that the phone was dead.
¶ 6. Mary left the house and drove to Walnut, first stopping at the home of Kristy’s boyfriend, Brian Mathis. Not finding her there, she next went to the video rental store where Kristy worked on the weekends; however, no one there had seen Kristy. From the video store, Mary called her husband, Tommy Ray, and then she called 911 to report Kristy’s disappearance to the Tippah County Sheriff’s Department. After conducting preliminary investigations, the Sheriff’s Department contacted the FBI.
¶ 7. Mary returned home, noticing signs of forced entry. She found that a screen over a window in Kristy’s room had been cut out and that a stacking pallet had been left leaning against the house under Kristy’s window. Later Mary discovered that someone had been through one of the drawers in her and her husband’s bedroom.
¶ 8. Also on the day of Kristy’s disappearance, Charles Crawford’s family discovered a ransom note in their attic that was similar to the one found by Mary Ray. Fearing that Crawford, who was due for trial on the following Monday for assault and rape, might kidnap someone, Crawford’s mother, wife, and grandfather reported the note to William Fortier, the attorney representing Crawford on other pending criminal charges. Fortier alerted the law enforcement officials investigating the facts surrounding Kristy’s disappearance. On the following day, Fortier’s law clerk, Shawn Akins, met with law enforcement officials and turned over some medical records; the officials were trying to determine whether Crawford was capable of committing the crime against Kristy.
¶ 9. The local and federal authorities established a command post at the Chalybeate school on the Saturday following Kristy’s disappearance. Additionally, authorities stationed law enforcement officers at the residence of Mr. Miles, Crawford’s former father-in-law. Officers reported seeing Crawford approaching the residence, and Officers Jim Wall and Sammy Pickens of the Mississippi Highway Patrol proceeded to the place where Crawford was seen. At the scene were the sheriff of Tippah County, his deputies, and several FBI agents. When Crawford finally returned to the residence on Saturday, he was arrested, carrying a double-barrel shotgun and a switchblade.
¶ 10. Upon arrest, Crawford was transported by Wall and Pickens. Wall testified that in the car, he asked Crawford if he recognized him, to which Crawford replied yes. Then he advised Crawford of his Miranda rights. After Wall was done, Crawford asked something to the effect of “Why are you asking me this,” or “What is going on here.” Crawford said that he didn’t know Kristy personally, but he knew her when he saw her. Wall testified that in the car, Crawford said that he thought his leg was broken, but that he did not want to go to a hospital.
¶ 11. Originally, Officers Wall and Pickens were directed to take Crawford to the Tippah County Jail in Ripley. They discussed taking Crawford to the hospital. While en route to the jail, they were instructed to bring Crawford back to the command center in Chalybeate. They continued with Crawford to Chalybeate.
¶ 12. Upon arrival at the command center, Officers Wall and Pickens turned Crawford over to Joseph Jackson, the agent in charge of FBI operations in Mississippi. Jackson re-Mirandized Crawford, and proceeded to interview Crawford with Agents Jim Maddock and Tom Bush. Crawford did not sign a waiver of his rights, but he immediately responded to Jackson after being advised of his rights, saying that he could not understand why the officers wanted to talk to him but that he would answer questions. Crawford complained that he had not been doing anything and that his back was injured as a result of falling into a well. During the interrogation, Crawford was allowed to lie prone on the floor, to alleviate any back pain he might have been suffering. Initially, Crawford said that he had been hunting. Jackson asked Crawford if Kristy was alive and Crawford began to cry, admitting that Kristy was no longer alive. When asked, Crawford agreed to lead law enforcement to her body. Jackson testified that the questioning of Crawford took about twenty minutes.
¶ 13. Crawford and law enforcement officials left the command center at about 8:00 on that Saturday night. Crawford escorted law enforcement through extremely rugged terrain and thick woods. Crawford actually led the search team. Crawford never complained about his back during the search. The team reached a heavily wooded area covered with leaves, and Crawford indicated that Kristy was there. When Kristy’s body was found, Crawford asked investigators why they did not finish him off. Kristy was found at approximately 9:48 p.m., approximately four hundred yards from an abandoned barn (the Hopper Barn).
¶ 14. Officer Wall raked the leaves back to uncover Kristy’s body. He found her hands were cuffed behind her back around a small cedar sapling. A sock had been stuffed into her mouth, and a gag was around her head to keep it in place. Kristy had not been blindfolded. Her jeans had been pulled down below her hips.
¶ 15. Dr. Steven Hayne, a pathologist, testified that Kristy had suffered a single stab wound to her chest. Kristy had multiple abrasions over the right and left lower extremities, as well as scrapes to the skin on her back and buttocks. She also had scrapes on her face and chest, as well as contusions on her lips and abrasions on her wrist. The wrist injuries were consistent with Kristy being handcuffed. Hayne testified that the scrapes found on Kristy’s buttocks and thigh occurred while Kristy was alive and were consistent with injuries a person would receive while engaged in a fight or flight response. He also testified that the injuries were consistent with Kristy being dragged along a hard surface, possibly branches or twigs. The injuries were also consistent with those occurring on someone attempting to avoid or resist a rape. The abrasions on Kristy’s face and contusion on her lip were consistent with her face being pressed against a hard surface, as opposed to being dragged. Hayne testified that Kristy died from a large stab wound to the left mid-chest which punctured her heart and left lung, causing extensive internal and external hemorrhaging. It took Kristy between one and two minutes to die.
¶ 16. Hayne testified that the wound that caused Kristy’s death could have been made by a Marine Corps-style Ka-Bar knife. The wound itself measured one and one-quarter inches in width and four and one-half inches in depth, corresponding with that knife. Kristy also suffered “multiple contusions that measured up to approximately one centimeter which would be three-eighths of an inch about the anal orifice,” which suggested penetration of the anus.
¶ 17. On the Monday following his arrest and the location of Kristy’s body, Crawford gave a more detailed account of the kidnaping and murder to the FBI. Agent Newsom Summerlin of the FBI conducted an interview of Crawford at the Union County Sheriff’s Office with Lieutenant Steve Williams of the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Summerlin testified that prior to the interview, Crawford read an interrogation advice or rights form, and signed a waiver of those rights. Summerlin testified that Crawford stated that he did not know Kristy but that he had seen her around the Walnut, Mississippi area. Crawford also stated that he was worried about “an upcoming event” and wanted to be alone, and that when he wanted to be alone, he went to the Hopper Barn. Crawford stated that in the early morning of Friday, January 29, 1993, his mother, Johnny Ruth Smith, dropped him off along Providence Road (near the Hopper Barn) to go hunting. He had an over-and-under double barrel shotgun. Crawford also stated that he had a knife similar to a Marine Corps Ka-Bar knife and a .22 caliber revolver. Crawford said that he had been stockpiling food and drink at the Hopper Barn for approximately one month, so when he got to the barn he had some cookies and a drink.
¶ 18. Crawford said that he was very concerned about his upcoming event, and he had considered running away, but had no money. He also considered suicide, but could not bring himself to do it. He stayed at the barn until midday, when he left to hunt and hike. After reaching an area he was not familiar with, Crawford decided to build a fire, which he soon put out because he was concerned that someone would see the smoke. It was at this point that Crawford claimed to have a blackout; he stated that the next thing he remembered was being inside the Ray residence. Crawford said that when he came out of the blackout, he heard someone crying in one of the back bedrooms of the house. Kristy was on the floor of one of the rooms with her hands cuffed behind her back. Crawford said that he put on a ski mask so that Kristy would not be able to identify him and asked Kristy where the keys to her car were. Crawford stated that he took Kristy and put her in the car and drove away. Crawford stated that he took Kristy from the house because he did not know what he was going to do and figured it was better to take her with him.
¶ 19. Crawford denied writing or ever having seen the ransom note found by Mary Ray. Crawford stated that Kristy was very upset when they left her house that Friday night, but as they drove around and began talking, she began to calm down. He claimed that they drove around for about forty-five minutes to an hour talking to each other. Crawford then abandoned the car and took Kristy out. She was still handcuffed, and he still had the knife, revolver, and shotgun. He claimed that he removed the handcuffs when she promised not to run away. The two of them walked back and forth along Jonesburough Road, and Crawford decided that since it was getting cold, they should go to the Hopper Barn and spend the night there.
¶ 20. Crawford stated that as they approached the barn, he fell into a sinkhole that came up to his neck, tossing his shotgun away as he fell. He claimed that Kristy asked him if he was all right, picked the shotgun up, and helped pull him out. Crawford claimed that he and Kristy had something to drink, ate cookies, and huddled together in the barn for warmth and talked throughout the night.
¶ 21. Crawford said that the next morning, Saturday, he heard a police siren and thought he saw a sheriff’s office car coming away from his grandparents home, which was near the Hopper Barn. He said that he told Kristy it was the law, and she tried to talk him into turning himself in. Crawford then fled into the woods with his shotgun and knife.1 He claimed that Kristy ran after him in order to try and convince him to turn himself in to the authorities. He claimed that Kristy told him no one had been hurt and she would help him if he turned himself in. He was concerned because he did not know how he was going to explain abducting her. Crawford said that he felt low, and Kristy had more or less convinced him to let her go.
¶ 22. Summerlin noted that until this time, Crawford said that he kept the ski mask on at all times except when it was dark inside the barn and Kristy could not see his face. Crawford said that when Kristy convinced him to let her go, he then took his mask off and Kristy allegedly recognized him as someone she had seen around town. Then Crawford stated that as they began walking back to Kristy’s car, he gave Kristy the shotgun. Crawford claimed that at that point he had another blackout.
¶ 23. The next thing Crawford remembered was sitting on a stump in the woods wearing a T-shirt, blue jeans, and no shoes. Kristy was lying at his feet, handcuffed behind her back, dead. He claimed that she was fully clothed with one of his socks in her mouth. He then decided to hide the body and dragged Kristy by her feet across the ground. This is how Crawford explained her pants and underwear being pulled down and her shirt being pulled up. Then he covered her body with leaves, so that no one would find the body. Crawford stated that he sat on the tree stump for a while and thought about what he was going to do. He put his boots back on, retrieved his shotgun and knife and headed back through the woods toward the Providence Road area. Crawford said that he knew people were looking for him, but did not know why. When he neared Providence Road he saw a patrol car, so he sat on the hillside hidden from view. When the patrol car left, he crossed the road into another wooded area. Crawford claimed that he then fell into an abandoned well that was about ten feet deep and had to use his knife to dig himself out.
¶ 24. Crawford continued toward his residence, a house belonging to his ex-father-in-law. As he approached the house, he was arrested. After discussing with Summerlin that he realized that taking Kristy was wrong, Crawford later stated that he originally denied any knowledge of Kristy’s disappearance to buy himself time to think about what he was going to do. Crawford also said that he must have killed her, but could not remember doing so. He told Summerlin that he sometimes had blackouts and could not control himself.
¶ 25. Stephen Thompson of the Mississippi Highway Patrol testified that clothing, bedding, handcuff keys, a padlock with keys, ammunition, food and soft drinks were found in the Hopper Barn. Tim Wilbanks testified that on February 7, 1993, volunteer searchers found a pair of shoes, men’s briefs, long john bottoms, and a T-shirt near where Kristy’s body was found. Wilbanks stated that the shoes, found between trees and shrubs, looked as if they had been thrown there, while the underwear and T-shirt were found under a brush pile. Joe Foster testified that he later found a knife and a pistol in a nylon holster in his field which is located approximately one-quarter mile from the Hopper Barn. Dick Koster of the Walnut Police testified that he searched the area where the knife and gun were found and discovered a belt with a Harley Davidson buckle with the name “Chuck” stamped on the back of it. This belt was similar to one worn by Crawford, whose nickname is “Chuck.” Crawford had previously admitted to investigators that he owned a Marine Corps Ka-Bar knife and a Taurus .22 caliber revolver. The weapons and belt matched the descriptions Crawford gave investigators of the ones he had on the day of Kristy’s disappearance.
¶ 26. Joe Andrews, of the Mississippi Crime Lab, testified that hairs collected from the clothing found in the Hopper Barn were compared with known samples of hair from Kristy Ray and found to exhibit the same characteristics. Andrews also testified that hairs found on clothing recovered by Wilbanks exhibited the same microscopic characteristics as pubic hairs taken from Crawford. Debbie Haller, a forensic serologist with the Mississippi Crime Lab, testified that stains found on the briefs appeared to be a mixture of blood and seminal fluid. The long johns also contained blood stains. The crime lab could not determine the blood group type from these stains. Heller forwarded samples from the briefs and long john bottoms to Cellmark Diagnostic Laboratories to conduct DNA testing, along with known blood samples from Kristy Ray. A vaginal swab taken from Kristy’s body determined the presence of seminal fluid. Heller determined that Crawford could be included as a possible source of the seminal fluid.
¶ 27. Cellmark Laboratories conducted DNA testing of the stains found on this evidence. Julie Ann Cooper of Cellmark testified that DNA evidence extracted from the vaginal swab matched the known DNA samples of Crawford. The mix of blood and semen found on the briefs was matched to Kristy and Crawford. The bloodstain on the long johns also matched both Kristy and Crawford.
¶ 28. Crawford presented an insanity defense through the testimony of family members and Dr. Stanley Russel, a psychiatrist with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Russel treated Crawford during the time he was housed at Parchman, from June of 1993. Russel testified that Crawford suffered from depression and periods of time lapse about which he has no memory. Russel diagnosed Crawford as a psychogenic amnesiac. Russel referred to the prior medical history of Crawford, including medication prescribed by a psychiatrist when Crawford was ten, his hospitalization in East Mississippi State Hospital in 1989, his hospitalization at a psychiatric facility in Memphis in 1991 and two forensic evaluations at Whitfield. Crawford had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness) in 1989, and he had been prescribed lithium, which seemed to calm the moods of manic people. Russel also testified regarding Crawford’s anger and resentment as a child and his antisocial behavior as a teenager. Russel ultimately testified that in his opinion Crawford satisfied “the M’Naghten test for not being criminally responsible for his actions as a result of mental disorder that affected his reasoning to the point that he was not aware of the nature and consequence of his behavior.”
¶ 29. Rebuttal testimony was presented by Dr. Chris Lott, a clinical psychologist with the Mississippi State Hospital. Lott testified that he saw no evidence that Crawford ever suffered from bipolar illness, based on his review of the diagnosis at the East Mississippi State Hospital. Lott did not think that Crawford had a disease of the mind, an illness, or major mental disorder. He testified that there was nothing in Crawford’s records to show that he was delusional or that he was suffering from irrational belief or hearing voices. He also testified that Russel improperly diagnosed Crawford as a psychogenic amnesiac because Crawford “appeared to be malingering his problems or memory deficits.” Lott stated that Crawford showed premeditation and that he knew the nature and the quality of his actions and that he was able to distinguish between right and wrong.
¶ 30. Dr. Reb McMichael, a forensic psychiatrist with the Mississippi State Hospital, testified that Crawford did not meet the requirements of M’Naghten at the time of the crime. McMichael stated that psychogenic amnesia was a rare diagnosis and that in his opinion, Crawford did not have it. McMichael believed that Crawford was planning an act and purposely concealed Kristy Ray’s body and that this showed that he knew the nature and quality of his act-that the act was wrong and that he did not want to get caught.2
David Cox was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for kidnapping and murder. According to court documents David Cox shot his way into his ex wife’s home and would shoot and severely injure the woman. David Cox would barricade himself into the home and refused to release the woman for medical attention. By the time David Cox was placed under arrest his wife had died from her injuries. David Cox would be convicted and sentenced to death.
David Cox (“Cox”) and Kim Cox (“Kim”) had two children of their marriage, D.C. and J.C. Cox was the stepfather of Kim’s daughter, L.K., born in April 1998.2 Kim and Cox separated in 2009 after L.K. told Kim that Cox had raped her. Kim reported the crime to local law enforcement. In August 2009, Cox was arrested on charges of statutory rape, sexual battery, child abuse, possession of precursors, and possession of methamphetamine. During his nine months in jail prior to posting bond, Cox often would become enraged and would proclaim to his cellmates his hatred for Kim, blaming her for his incarceration. Cox professed to them that he would kill Kim once released. Because Kim feared Cox, she and the children moved in with her sister, Kristie Salmon.
¶ 3. Cox was released on bond from the Pontotoc County Jail in April 2010. Cox was working as a commercial truck driver. On his way home on May 14, 2010, Cox purchased a .40 caliber hand gun and two extra magazines. Cox then borrowed a van from his sister and brother-in-law and went to Salmon’s home. Cox shot his way into the home. Kim, L.K., D.C., J.C., and Salmon were at the home. J.C. and Salmon escaped and called for help. Kim, L.K., and D.C. were taken hostage by Cox for more than eight hours.
¶ 4. The first 911 call was made at 7:10 p.m. Cox communicated with police throughout the night and early morning. Through those communications, police learned that Cox had shot Kim twice, once in the arm and once in the abdomen, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:10 p.m. During the ordeal, Cox communicated with hostage negotiators, Kim’s father and stepmother, and members of Cox’s family. The last confirmation that Kim was still alive was at 12:45 a.m. on May 15. While Kim lay dying, Cox sexually assaulted L.K. in Kim’s presence on three separate occasions.
¶ 5. Agent Chris Jones of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation testified that Cox cursed and screamed into the phone and stated that he was going to kill Kim and L.K. Cox threatened that if law enforcement entered, he would “be going for head shots,” as he knew the officers would be wearing body armor. Cox also threatened that, if Jones called back, he would “shoot [L.K.] in the head.”
¶ 6. Officer Alan Chavers, a police officer and hostage negotiator for the Tupelo Police Department, testified that Cox told him that he had shot Kim in the stomach. Chavers encouraged Cox to release Kim for medical treatment. Unmoved, Cox said that he wanted to watch Kim die. Chavers testified that he repeatedly pleaded with Cox to release Kim. Cox replied, “since you’re so interested in her ․ I want you to hear her beg before she dies.” Kim also spoke with Chavers, pleading for her life. Chavers and Cox had several conversations in which Cox repeatedly said that he would not release Kim, because he wanted her to die. Cox also continued to threaten to kill the children if anyone tried to enter the home. Kim expressed her fear that Cox would follow through on his threats against the children.
¶ 7. Cox also spoke with Kim’s father, Benny, and Kim’s stepmother, Melody. Cox told Benny that his original plan had been to kill Benny, Benny’s other daughter, and Melody, then to “go to Sherman and finish up and kill the rest of them.” Cox told Benny that he “shot her and she was bleeding like a stuck pig.” Benny spoke with Kim and she told him, “Daddy, I’m dying.” Cox spoke with Melody multiple times, but he refused to speak to Benny again. Cox told Melody, “You f––––bitch, I hate your guts, but I hate his worse so this is the way it’s going to be. You and me are going to do the talking․” Melody testified that Cox taunted Kim while talking to Melody, saying, “Are you having fun yet, you bitch? Are you enjoying this? Is this fun, Kim?” Cox renewed his threats to “put a bullet in [L.K.’s] head.”
¶ 8. Cox also talked to his sister and brother-in-law, bragging that he had shot “the bitch” and that he wanted her “to die a slow and painful death.” Cox’s brother-in-law, Michael, testified that he spoke with D.C., who told him that “Daddy hurt Mama.” Michael also testified that Cox was yelling at L.K. and threatening to shoot her. Michael stated that Cox told him that he had a bullet for L.K. and for himself. Michael testified that he heard Kim say, “David, you know I’m dying,” and Cox unmercifully responded, “I know you are.”
¶ 9. Cox never released Kim for medical care, satisfying his depraved desire to see Kim suffer and die mercilessly. After negotiation attempts failed, a SWAT team entered the home at 3:23 a.m. Cox was taken into custody, L.K. and D.C. were removed from the scene, and Kim was found dead, having bled out as a result of the abdominal gunshot wound.
David Neal Cox will die by lethal injection Wednesday for the May 2010 killing of his estranged wife, Kim, in the northern Mississippi town of Sherman, the state’s first execution since 2012.
Here is what to know about the upcoming execution at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman:
The Coxes separated in 2009 after Kim Cox’s daughter, who was a minor, said David Cox sexually assaulted her, according to court documents. Kim Cox reported the incident to the police, leading to David Cox’s arrest.
On May 14, 2010, David Cox purchased a handgun and two extra magazines, according to court documents. He went to the home of his sister-in-law, where Kim Cox and her three children, including two with David Cox, were staying.
Court documents say David Cox shot into the home. His sister-in-law and one of his children escaped and called for help. David Cox took the others hostage for more than eight hours.
He shot Kim Cox in the stomach and sexually assaulted his stepdaughter in front of his dying wife, according to court records. Kim Cox pleaded for her life to police and her relatives who were brought in as hostage negotiators.
David Cox pleaded guilty in 2012 to eight charges, including capital murder, sexual battery and kidnapping, according to court records. A jury unanimously sentenced him to death for capital murder and 185 years for his other charges.
David Cox appealed in 2015, arguing that the jury was impartial because of amplified local news coverage and his in-laws worked in law enforcement in the community, according to court records. He asked for a new sentencing hearing in a different location.
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld Cox’s sentence in June 2015, according to court records.
In 2016, attorneys from the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, which represented Cox at the time, filed for post-conviction relief, asking the court to reduce or reverse Cox’s conviction based on new evidence, according to court records.
In July 2018, David Cox sent a handwritten letter to the local district attorney asking for his appeals and lawyers to be dismissed and for the court to set a date for his execution.
“If I had my perfect way & will about it I’d ever so gladly dig my dead sarkastic wife up whom I very happily and premeditatedly slaughtered on 5-21-2010 & with eager pleasure kill … agan & agan, happilly if chance was given,” he said in the letter, which included various misspellings.
A week after that, Cox filed a motion on his own asking his appointed lawyer be dismissed because Cox is an Anabaptist and having a lawyer or state representative conflicts with his religion, according to court documents.
That August, Cox wrote to the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court saying he was “worthy of death” and requested to fire his lawyer, waive his appeals and set a date for his execution, according to court records.
In response to Cox’s requests to dismiss his lawyers and waive his appeals, the Mississippi Supreme Court asked the Union County Circuit Court in December 2018 to determine whether he was mentally competent to make those decisions.
In April, Union County Circuit Court Judge Kent Smith ruled Cox was mentally competent to waive his appeals, which the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, which represents Cox, appealed a month later, court records show.
Cox filed three motions between July and September asking for his attorneys be fired, for them not to file any additional appeals or motions on his behalf and to waive his appeals, according to court records.
On Oct. 17, Mississippi Supreme Court justices agreed with the Union County judge’s decision that Cox was competent.
In the ruling, justices said they are aware of the heightened standard in death penalty cases to ensure an innocent person is not executed, but said Cox declared guilt and accepts his punishment.
“The record before this court resoundingly evinces Cox’s waiver was made intelligently and understandingly, knowing full well the end result would be sure and certain death,” wrote Chief Justice Michael Randolph.
A Mississippi man who shot his estranged wife to death and sexually assaulted his stepdaughter during an eight-hour 2010 standoff with police was put to death on Wednesday, local media reported.
David Cox, who in 2018 dismissed his attorneys and dropped his appeals in the case, saying he deserved the death penalty, was the first prisoner executed in Mississippi in nine years.
He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. central time at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, the Clarion-Ledger newspaper reported.
The condemned man, in his final words said: “I want to tell my children that I love them very, very much and that I was a good man at one time,” Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain told the paper.
Cox was the first inmate executed in Mississippi since 2012 and the ninth executed in the United States in 2021. Mississippi is among the U.S. states that have had recent difficulties in buying lethal-injection drugs from pharmaceutical companies unwilling to supply them for executions.
Cox had petitioned the Mississippi Supreme Court for all attorneys to be removed from the case and all appeals on his behalf to be halted. In 2018, Cox wrote a letter to the court’s chief justice, saying that he was “a guilty man worthy of death.” On May 14, 2010, Cox bought a gun and went to his sister-in-law’s Sherman, Mississippi, home where his estranged wife Kim, their two children and his stepdaughter lived. Cox shot his way into the home and took his wife and two of the children hostage for more than eight hours, prosecutors said.
During the standoff with police, Cox shot his wife in the stomach and arm. As she lay dying for several hours, he sexually assaulted his stepdaughter three times in front of her.
He also refused medical treatment for his wife, forcing her to beg for her life to hostage negotiators, court documents showed.
Police entered the home early the next morning and arrested Cox. A jury sentenced him to die in 2012 after he pleaded guilty to all eight charges he faced, including capital murder.
Tony Clark was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for the murder of a thirteen year old boy. According to court documents Tony Clark would shoot and kill thirteen year old Muhammad Saeed while he was in the process of robbing a store. Tony Clark would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
A Madison County jury has handed down a decision in the 2014 murder of 13-year-old Muhammad Saeed.
38-year-old Tony Clark has been found guilty of capital murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The sentencing phase of this case will begin Wednesday morning at 8:30 am. The Madison County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against Clark
Investigators say Clark shot and killed Saaed while he was working at the Fat Boy convenience store in November of 2014.
Tony Clark’s 23-year-old nephew, Teaonta Clark, is also charged with murder in the case. Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest says he faces a separate trial.
The prosecution anticipated bringing four to five witnesses to testify, including Muhammed’s father, Fahd Saeed.
Fahd Saeed was heavy in emotion when asked about his family. At the time of the murder, Muhammad was his only son.
More emotion came when Fahd was asked who came into his store after 10 p.m. He said Tony and Teonta Clark and then pointed to the defendant identifying him “as the man who killed my son”.
He identified Tony and Teonta Clark as customers of his businesses in Canton over 15 years. He said Teonta was a daily visitor to Fat Boy and Tony had only been in that store once.
Fahd said that Tony Clark didn’t get any money from the register after shooting them both. He testified that Tony “punched the register” but was unable to access it, and said Teonta told Tony that “people are coming, hurry up”. Both suspects then left, according to Fahd.
Fahd Saeed bought the Fat Boy store in 2013 and renovated it to be a home for he and his son, known as Lil Ali to patrons. The 13-year old helped his father run the store and was working the cash register the night he was killed.
Ricky Chase was sentenced to death by the State of Mississippi for a robbery murder. According to court documents Ricky Chase and Robert Washington was in the process of robbing a house when the owner came home and would be fatally shot by one of the men. Ricky Chase and Robert Washington were arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
A Mississippi inmate is citing a decision in a Florida case to support arguments that he is mentally disabled and his death sentence should be overturned.
Ricky Chase was convicted and sentenced to death in 1990 for the Aug. 14, 1989, killing of 70-year-old vegetable salesman Elmer Hart in Copiah County.
Authorities said Hart apparently arrived at home as his wife was being robbed by Chase and another man.
Prosecutors said Hart’s wife had been doused with an ammonia-like substance and tied up and gagged. They said she watched helplessly as her husband was shot. Hart’s body was found on a bedroom floor beside his wife.
In the years since his conviction, Chase’s attorneys have argued a pretrial mental examination showed he was mentally incapacitated. Attorney Jim Craig said Chase was examined by two doctors. But court records show one doctor did not find him mentally disabled.
State prosecutors have argued there’s no proof to back up Chase’s claim
In 2013, a Copiah County judge found Chase mentally competent. Chase argues to the Mississippi Supreme Court that the decision was in error. The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on Dec. 8.
Chase, now 45, is arguing in his new appeal that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Florida case precludes his execution.
In May in a Florida case, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited states in borderline cases from relying only on intelligence test scores to determine whether a death row inmate is eligible to be executed.
In a 5-4 decision, the court said that Florida and a handful of other states must look beyond IQ scores when inmates test in the range of 70 to 75. IQ tests have a margin of error, and those inmates whose scores fall within the margin must be allowed to present other evidence of mental disability, the court said.
A score of 70 is widely accepted as a marker of mental disability, but medical professionals say people who score as high as 75 can be considered intellectually disabled because of the test’s margin of error.
Prosecutors said court records showed Chase had an IQ of 71 but Chase’s attorney said under the Florida ruling other factors also must be considered and there has been testimony that Chase struggled with simple tasks such as choosing his own clothes or making macaroni and cheese.
Prosecutors said the Copiah County judge properly found that though Chase had a borderline IQ of 71 there were no significant deficits in adaptive behavior to support a finding of mental retardation. Adaptive behavior refers to the management of routine tasks.
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