William Hall Tennessee Death Row

william hall

William Hall and Derrick Quintero was sentenced to death by the State of Tennessee for a double murder. According to court documents William Hall and Derrick Quintero had escaped from the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville and had broken into an elderly couple’s home in Tennessee that ended with the couple being murdered. William Hall and Derrick Quintero would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Tennessee Death Row Inmate List

William Hall 2021 Information

Name:WILLIAM HALL
Birth Date:02/07/1963
TDOC ID:00165462
State ID Number (SID):583228

Derrick Quintero 2021 Information

derrick quintero tennessee death row

According to the Tennessee Dept. of Correction, Derrick Quintero, 59, passed away at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution around 3:31 a.m. Monday March 22 of apparent natural causes.

William Hall More News

The proof introduced by the State during the guilt phase of the trial demonstrated that Myrtle and Buford Vester were murdered in their home in the Leatherwood community of Stewart County, which is situated on Kentucky Lake and in close proximity to the Tennessee-Kentucky border.   The Vesters were murdered sometime after their son left their home at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, 1988 and sometime before their bodies were discovered by their neighbor around 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 22, 1988.

Along with six other men, the defendants in this appeal, Derrick Quintero and William Hall, escaped from the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville during the early morning hours of June 16, 1988.   Three of the escapees 3 were apprehended in the vicinity of the prison on or before June 18, 1988.   However, the other five escapees, including Quintero, Hall, James Blanton, Joseph Montgomery, and Ronnie Hudson left the area in a 1966 Chevrolet pick-up truck 4 which they stole from Curtis Rogers who lived about one-half of a mile from the prison facility.

The Stewart County Sheriff’s department was notified at 2:30 a.m. on June 16 that inmates had escaped from the penitentiary at Eddyville.   After news of the escape had been broadcast to the public, the Sheriff’s department received a telephone call from Zachery Pallay, a resident of the Leatherwood community, warning that Quintero was familiar with the area and would probably seek refuge there.   The Sheriff’s department’s also received several reports of suspicious individuals in the Leatherwood area including a report of three men attempting to flag down a car.   However, when a rash of burglaries broke out in the Leatherwood community, the Sheriff’s department became convinced that the escapees were in the area.   The burglarized residences in Stewart County were owned by Jim McMinn, Neal Foster, Essie Settles, Alfred Cherry, Thomas Harris, and John and Virginia Crawford.

Though it is not possible to determine from the record the precise order in which the burglaries occurred, the proof demonstrates that five of the six burglaries occurred before 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, 1988.

The first burglary was reported and occurred on June 18, 1988.   That day, Jim McMinn of Clarksville, Tennessee, arrived at his cabin in the Leatherwood area at approximately noon.   He left the cabin to go fishing in his boat at around 1:00 p.m. Upon returning to the cabin at 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., McMinn noticed a box of shotgun shells lying on the floor and discovered that his loaded .22 caliber pistol was missing from the bedroom.   The telephone in his cabin had been removed from the wall, and the outside portion of the phone line also had been severed.   McMinn went to his truck and discovered that the windows had been rolled up and the ignition destroyed with his ax.   The telephone from McMinn’s cabin was in the bed of the truck.

Following the report of the McMinn burglary on June 18, the Sheriff’s Department initiated an intensive search of the area, utilizing helicopters, four-wheel drive vehicles, and tracking dogs.   At one point law enforcement officers chased some individuals on foot through the woods, but they were not able to overtake the persons suspected to be the escapees.

At some point, perhaps during that chase, Hudson and Montgomery became separated from the defendants and Blanton.   Hudson and Montgomery left the Leatherwood community and drove to Lebanon, Kentucky in a 1982 White Ford Fairmont they stole from Essie Settles, a resident of the Standing Rock Community, which is approximately six highway miles from the Leatherwood community.   Montgomery’s fingerprint was found on Settles’ garage door.   Hudson’s fingerprint was found inside the car when it was later recovered.   Settles had seen the car in her garage around 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and discovered that it was missing at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.   The proof demonstrated that the car was stolen sometime Saturday night or before daylight on Sunday morning.   Burned matches were found inside the garage indicating that it had been dark when the theft occurred.   In addition, when she watered her flowers around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Settles noticed that someone had removed the hose from the outside faucet during the night.   Settles stated that the hose had been connected when she had used it on Saturday evening around 6:00 p.m.

Hudson and Montgomery arrived at Hudson’s brother’s apartment in Lebanon, Kentucky on Sunday, June 19, at approximately 1:00 p.m. They were driving a white car with Tennessee license plates, which witnesses identified at trial as the vehicle which had been stolen from Settles.   Hudson’s brother and a friend accompanied the two escapees to a secluded area on the river where Hudson and Montgomery hid the stolen car among the weeds.   Around 6:00 or 6:30 p.m., Hudson’s brother left the two escapees in the company of Hudson’s mother and sister.   The next day, Hudson’s sister, her two children, and Martha Grover picked up the two escapees and transported them to Grover’s apartment where they stayed until early evening on Tuesday, June 21.   The following day, Wednesday, June 22, Kentucky authorities apprehended both Hudson and Montgomery near the location where Settles’ car had been hidden.   Shots were exchanged prior to the convicts’ apprehension.   Hudson and Montgomery had in their possession McMinn’s .22 caliber pistol and a .22 caliber pistol which had been stolen from another resident of the Leatherwood community, Neal Foster.   Two live rounds were recovered from Foster’s pistol, and four spent shells were recovered in the area.   While this proof demonstrated that Hudson and Montgomery were some two hundred miles away in Lebanon, Kentucky when the Vesters were murdered in Stewart County, Tennessee, it also showed that the McMinn and Foster burglaries occurred before 1:00 p.m. on June 19.

The Cherry and Harris burglaries were discovered around 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. on June 19, 1988 by Alfred Cherry.   Cherry’s trailer was located approximately one-half of a mile from the murder victims’ residence.   The inside of the trailer was in disarray.   A bed was unmade and wet towels were in the bathroom.   The refrigerator light switch had been taped down to prohibit the light from operating when the refrigerator door was opened.   The hot water tank had been set on high.

Missing from the trailer were two bedspreads, a green thermal blanket, a sleeping bag, a portable radio, approximately fifteen cassette tapes, a rechargeable flashlight, a small handsaw, six knives, coffee mugs, various canned goods, a gallon of homemade wine, two bottles of bourbon, a six-pack of beer, a toothbrush, underwear, and two paperweights bearing the Cumberland Electric logo.5

Cherry did not have a telephone in his trailer.   Upon discovering the burglary, he went next door to call the police on the telephone in the trailer owned by his brother-in-law, Thomas Harris.   Cherry discovered that Harris’ trailer had also been burglarized.   The trailer had been ransacked.   The refrigerator light had been removed.   The sink was full of dirty dishes, and food was in a skillet on the stove.   Wet towels and sheets were strewn about and cigarette burns were all over the floors.   Stolen from the trailer were all the canned food items, two quilts, silverware, butcher knives, towels, toilet articles, and a fishing tackle.

When Harris later received his telephone bill, he realized that several unauthorized long distance telephone calls had been placed from his trailer.   Three of the unauthorized calls had been placed to a number in Springtown, Texas.   These calls occurred on Sunday, June 19, at 3:51 a.m., 8:55 a.m. and 9:19 a.m. Two additional unauthorized calls were placed to a telephone number in Hopewell, Pennsylvania, at 4:00 a.m. and 9:19 a.m. The telephone number called in Springtown, Texas, was listed to Bryan Quintero, who is a brother of Derrick Quintero.   The telephone number called in Hopewell, Pennsylvania, was listed to a Barbara Vasser, William Hall’s girlfriend.

At trial, Vasser testified that Hall told her during their first telephone conversation after the escape that his parole had been denied.   Hall would not reveal to Vasser his and Quintero’s location, but told Vasser that there were helicopters in the area searching for the escapees and that he and Quintero had been separated from Hudson and Montgomery.

Two knives taken from the Cherry trailer were found at Neal Foster’s residence indicating that it was burglarized sometime after the Cherry and Harris trailers.   Again, however, the burglary occurred sometime before 1:00 p.m on June 19, because Montgomery and Hudson had in their possession a gun which had been stolen from the Foster residence when they were apprehended.

However, Foster did not discover the burglary until Tuesday, June 21.   The residence had been ransacked.   Food was on a kitchen counter, deer steaks were in the microwave, and his binoculars were sitting on a kitchen counter.   A green ammunition box, a plastic bag full of old coins, a flashlight, and the holster for his .22 caliber RG pistol were on the floor of the living room.   The hallway floor was littered with a Diet Pepsi can, a tin can of old coins, a notebook that once had old coins in it, some socks, a laundry basket with clothes that did not belong to him, and a pair of white tennis shoes that did not belong to him.   Towels were strewn around the house.   He found in his bathroom a pocket knife, towels, a pair of socks, a .22 caliber shell box, and a 20 gauge shotgun shell.   The beds were unmade and had items spread on top of them.   The master bedroom dresser drawers were open, and items were scattered all around the bedroom, including two walkie-talkies, a hacksaw, and a 12 gauge shotgun barrel.   In the front bedroom, he found several hats, matchbooks, a jar of marshmallow cream, a box of graham crackers, and a small drinking glass.

In a walk-in closet in the residence Foster had kept a .22 caliber pistol, a Glenfield .22 caliber rifle, a Marlin .30-30 caliber lever action rifle, a 20 gauge shotgun, a single shot shotgun, and a Remington Model 1100, 12 gauge shotgun.   Following the burglary, he found the 12 gauge shotgun lying on his bed.   Someone had attempted to saw off the barrel and had rendered the gun inoperable.   The 20 gauge shotgun was missing from his house, but a portion of the gun’s barrel had been sawed off and left in Foster’s bedroom.   Also missing after the burglary were his .30-30 lever action rifle and ammunition for various weapons, including .30-30 accelerator rifle bullets, .30-30 caliber rifle shells, 20 gauge shotgun shells, and 12 gauge shotgun shells.   In addition to the ammunition, several coins which Foster had collected, including silver dollars, were taken in the burglary.

The authorities found several latent prints at the Foster residence, and identified some of them as belonging to the escapees.   A latent left thumb print matching that of Quintero was found on a full box of Federal 12 gauge shotgun shells.   A latent right ring fingerprint matching that of Quintero was found on another Federal 12 gauge shotgun shell box.   A right middle finger and a right index fingerprint matching Blanton’s print was found on a Federal field load 12 gauge shotgun shell box.   A right palm print matching that of Quintero was lifted from one of the gun barrels.   A latent right ring fingerprint matching that of Hall was lifted from a Diet Pepsi can.

Though the Crawford burglary was not discovered until after the Vesters’ bodies had been discovered, a glove taken from the Crawford residence was found at the home of the murder victims, indicating that the burglary actually occurred before the murder.   The Crawford residence was less than a quarter of a mile from the Vesters’ home.   John and Virginia Crawford had left their trailer, clean and orderly, around 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June, 19.   Following the burglary, they found their kitchen ransacked.   Canned foods, crackers, and candy bars from the cabinet and refrigerator had been eaten.   Prints were lifted from several items in the trailer.   A latent left thumb print matching that of Hall was found on the bottom of a can of ham.   A latent right index fingerprint left by Blanton was lifted from a Butterfinger candy wrapper found inside the refrigerator.   The Crawfords identified two gloves found at the trailer, one white jersey and one brown jersey, as belonging to Mrs. Crawford.   A patch on one of the gloves had been sewn on by Mrs. Crawford.   Mr. Crawford testified that a flashlight had also been taken from the trailer.   One of the gloves found at the Crawfords’ trailer matched a glove found outside the Vesters’ front bedroom window.   A fiber analysis of the two gloves indicated that they were likely originally sold together as a pair.

With respect to the timing of the murder, the proof showed that late on Monday evening, June 20, John Corlew and Arthur Jenkins arrived at the Leatherwood boat dock, launched their boat, and night fished in the Leatherwood Bay. Between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. they heard five gunshots emanating from the direction of the Vesters’ residence.   Corlew testified that he first heard two gunshots that were fairly clear, and after a pause, he heard two additional shots, another pause, and one final shot.   Corlew testified that the first two shots and the second two shots sounded as if they were from different weapons.   Mr. Jenkins testified that the two initial shots sounded like repercussions from a pistol.   Both Jenkins and Corlew heard a total of five gunshots.

The victims, Buford and Myrtle Vester, were last seen alive around 6:00 p.m. on Sunday June 19 by their son Wayne.   He, along with his twelve-year-old son, had arrived at his parents’ home for a weekend visit on the evening of Friday, June 17.   He had picked up groceries for his parents including Pepsi colas, lunch meat, bread, and milk.   Wayne Vester left his parents home on Sunday, June 19, at approximately 6:00 p.m. At that time, the Vesters were alive and well.   Wayne attempted, unsuccessfully, to reach his parents by telephone once on Monday, June 20, and twice on Tuesday, June 21.   Concerned, Wayne called their neighbor, Howard Allor, who lived approximately one quarter of a mile from the Vesters, but Allor had not seen them since the preceding Friday morning.   When Wayne was still unable to reach his parents on June 22, he again called Allor and asked him to check on them.   Allor drove to the Vesters’ residence and discovered their dead bodies.   He attempted to telephone the Sheriff from their residence, but the telephone was not functioning, so he returned home and reported the murders to the authorities.

David Hicks, Sheriff of Stewart County, was notified of the Vester murders at approximately 1:00 or 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22.   The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (“T.B.I.”) conducted the primary investigation of the crime scene.   The only entrance to the Vester residence was a screen door located at the side of the house opposite to the victims’ bedrooms.   The screen door had not been damaged.   However, the front window was open, and the screen from the front window was lying on the ground near Myrtle Vester’s bedroom window which was located at the back of the house.   Underneath the front window was a concrete block which apparently had been taken from the front of a shed located at the back of the house.   A cloth glove which matched a glove found at the Crawfords’ residence was found on the ground beside the concrete block.   An unopened Pepsi cola can lay next to the walkway to the screen door of the house.   The packages of Pepsi cola that Wayne Vester had brought his parents were missing from the porch.   The Vesters’ maroon 1985 Pontiac Bonneville also was missing.   The wires to the telephone connection box outside the Vesters’ residence had been damaged and the line was dead.   A live 20 gauge Federal shotgun shell with number 6 bird shot was found lying near the electrical box.   A spent 20 gauge number 4 shot Federal shotgun shell casing was found near the shed approximately 18 feet from Mr. Vester’s back bedroom window.

The windows to the victims’ bedrooms were located along the back of the house.   Buford Vester’s bedroom window frame was visibly bent.   The screen covering the window had a hole in it which indicated that Mr. Vester was shot at least once from outside the house.   Some the glass louvers were broken, and shards of glass were found lying on the bed.   Mr. Vester’s body was found on the floor next to his bed.   The covers were drawn back, and blood was on both the pillow and the bed.   Number 4 and 5 bird shot pellets were retrieved from Mr. Vester’s room.   Two shot shell filler wads were found beside Mr. Vester’s body, and a 20 gauge plastic shot wad was recovered from beside his head.   A plastic shot sleeve, one shot shell, a plastic shot wad, and several shot pellets, all either number 4 or 5 bird shot, were recovered from Mr. Vester’s body.

The victims were in separate bedrooms joined by a bathroom.   Myrtle Vester’s body was found lying in a pool of dried blood on the floor of her bedroom next to the bathroom.   Mrs. Vester had been shot three times, once with a 20 gauge shotgun, once with a high-powered rifle, and once again with either a shotgun or a high-powered rifle.   She also had been stabbed thirteen times.   A copper-jacketed bullet was recovered from her body.   Blood was found on Mrs. Vester’s bed, and a considerable amount of blood was found on the bathroom floor.   Blood was splattered on both the bathtub and the commode, and the bottoms of Mrs. Vester’s feet also were covered in blood.   The screen covering Mrs. Vester’s bedroom window also had a hole in it, indicating that at least one shot had been fired from outside.   The open and unbroken condition of the glass louvers indicated that the high-powered rifle or shotgun had been near the window when it was fired.   Shot was sprayed all over the house, especially the kitchen.   All of the shot pellets found in the house were either number 4 or 5.

On the victims’ sofa authorities found a portion of The Tennessean, dated Monday, June 20, 1988.   The local mail carrier testified that the victims did not receive The Tennessean by mail.   A live 20 gauge shotgun shell with number 7.5 shot was found lying on the floor in the front bedroom next to a ransacked jewelry box.

Dr. Charles Harlan, the medical examiner, performed an autopsy on each victim and testified that the Vesters had died within two hours of consuming dinner.   He stated that the victims had been shot a total of five times, and a minimum of three different weapons had been used to murder them.

Mrs. Vester had sustained three gunshot wounds.   Gunshot wound A, located at the right portion of Mrs. Vester’s chest just below her collarbone, measured approximately a quarter of an inch and was basically round in shape.   This wound resulted when a copper jacketed bullet entered Mrs. Vester’s body and lodged in her left arm.   Wound B resulted from a shotgun blast and was located in the upper arm.   This wound measured 3.4 inches by 1.8 inches, was jagged, with an irregular edge, and had multiple associated tangential abrasions.   Wound C resulted from either a high-velocity rifle or shotgun.   This gunshot blast had severed the two bones in Mrs. Vester’s right forearm, leaving her hand and wrist attached to her body by a piece of tissue, consisting of only skin, muscle, and fat.   Dr. Harlan could not determine the order in which these three gunshot wounds were inflicted.

Mrs. Vester also had sustained thirteen stab wounds, one to the middle of her back and twelve to her head, neck, and shoulder region.   A majority of the stab wounds were inflicted to the left side of her head and neck.   Dr. Harlan surmised that the puncture wounds were made by a squared object with a sharp edge, such as a kitchen or hunting knife.   Two of the stab wounds severed her right and left common carotid arteries.   The right carotid artery was 90 percent severed, and the left was 10 percent severed.   Dr. Harlan testified that either the injuries to her carotid arteries or the gunshot injury to her right forearm would have been fatal.   Dr. Harlan determined that Mrs. Vester could have survived the brutal attack for up to 15 minutes.

Mr. Vester had sustained two gunshot wounds.   Shotgun wound A was located at the head and neck juncture.   The total dispersal pattern of shotgun pellets was 13 inches.   Wound A caused significant injury to his left lung, aorta, and pulmonary artery.   Shotgun wound B was to Mr. Vester’s right breast and caused trauma to his right lung and to his liver.   Dr. Harlan recovered shotgun pellets and a shot column from Mr. Vester’s chest and abdomen.   Dr. Harlan opined that Mr. Vester could have survived from four to twelve minutes after sustaining the gunshot injuries.

On June 21, 1988, around 8 a.m., employees of the Memphis Funeral Home observed three men, in a maroon Pontiac which was later identified as the victims’ car, enter the funeral home parking lot and park the car approximately 250 feet from the building.   Two employees of the funeral home testified that one man got out of the front seat, took his tank top off, and put on three additional shirts.   The two other men also exited the car.   None of the witnesses could make a positive identification of the three men.   The witnesses testified that all three men were white and about the same height, but two of the men were approximately 180 pounds and had darker hair.   They stated that all three men had facial hair.   One funeral home employee described the three men as having beards and stated that one had long hair.

The three men remained in the parking lot for approximately five to eight minutes.   Then, after one of them took something out of the trunk, the three men walked towards a hospital across the street from the funeral home.   One of the men turned, walked back to the car, and appeared to have placed an item back into the car.   He then joined the two other men, and then all three walked away.   The funeral home employees assumed that the three men were working on a construction project at the hospital.   However, when the car had not been removed by Thursday, the funeral home employees contacted the Memphis Police Department.

On the morning of Thursday, June 23, the Memphis Police Crime Scene Squad responded to the call from the Memphis Funeral Home. The police found a 1985 maroon Pontiac Bonneville in the funeral home’s parking lot.   The vehicle matched the description of the victims’ vehicle.   The keys were in the car’s ignition.   The officers found a sawed-off 20 gauge shotgun containing one live round under the floor mat behind the driver’s seat which was later identified as the weapon stolen from the Foster residence, and as the weapon from which a spent shell found outside the Vesters’ residence had been fired.   Foster was able to identify the weapon by its serial number;  however, the gun also had Foster’s full name carved into it.   The police also discovered under a floor mat a .30-30 caliber cartridge which matched ammunition that had been taken from the Foster residence.   From a crumpled Budweiser beer can which also was found under the back seat police were able to lift three latent prints belonging to Blanton.   No other prints were found in the car.   The officer noted that the extremely hot temperatures in Memphis at the time the car was found made it difficult to lift intact prints.   Other items retrieved from the vehicle included a Ray-O-Vac flashlight, similar to one taken from the Crawford residence, electrical tape, thirteen 20 gauge shotgun shells, three 12-ounce Pepsi colas, one 12-pack of Pepsi colas, a portable electric air compressor, a Black & Decker car vacuum, and a brown umbrella.

Curtis Jones, who was a security guard at the Memphis Greyhound bus station, testified that he worked Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the bus station in June of 1988.   The bus station, located in downtown Memphis was approximately one mile from the Memphis Funeral Home. His job was to prevent loitering at the bus station.   Mr. Jones sat in a booth and observed people who came inside to determine whether they purchased tickets.   Periodically, he would walk around and ask people whether they had tickets or if they were waiting for someone to arrive.

Mr. Jones recalled three men entering the bus station either Tuesday, June 21, or Wednesday, June 22, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Two of the men sat down and watched television.   One of the two seated men spoke to a man seated nearby.   The third man, who had darker skin and appeared Hispanic, used a telephone.   Mr. Jones approached the two seated men and asked them whether they had tickets.   A man, whom he identified as Blanton, told him that they would leave as soon as their friend finished using the telephone.   The three men remained in the station five to ten minutes.   Later that same day, the Memphis police stopped by the bus station with a photographic line-up of the eight escapees.   Jones responded that Blanton and Hall had previously been at the station.   Later in the week, Jones spoke with T.B.I. Agent Stout.   Jones identified Blanton and Hall from a photographic line-up and made an in-court identification of Hall as one of the men at the bus station.

The Blue Movies West adult bookstore and entertainment center was located across the street from the bus station.   Shirley Denise Morrow testified that she worked as a cashier in the bookstore in June of 1988.   On Tuesday, June 21, the day before her birthday, three men entered the bookstore around 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. Two of the men were white, and one appeared Mexican.   The men traded a few silver dollars and half dollars for tokens.   Morrow also purchased some of the silver dollars and half dollars for herself.

The men went to the back of the establishment to watch movies.   Darlene Christof, a dancer at the establishment, testified that three “scruffy” men entered her booth on June 21.   Two of the men were white, and the other appeared either Hispanic or Mexican.   Ms. Christof informed the men that only one was allowed to remain in the booth.   Two of the men left.   From a photographic line-up, she identified the man who remained in her booth as Quintero.   Quintero later gave her several silver dollars and tried to sell her a class ring and a man’s wedding band.

The men then returned to the front of the establishment approximately fifteen to twenty minutes later.   They attempted to sell Morrow what appeared to be a class ring and a wedding band.   Morrow declined and suggested they try a pawn shop.   One of the men indicated that they did not have any identification and offered Morrow fifty dollars if she would allow them to stay in the movie house until their transportation arrived.   Morrow declined their offer.   Christof then came out from the back of the establishment and pretended to use the telephone.   When Christof commented that the three men resembled the escapees from the Kentucky prison, they left.   Morrow then contacted the police.

When shown a pre-trial photographic array of the eight escapees, Morrow identified Blanton, Quintero, and Hall as the three men who had visited the bookstore.   Morrow turned over to the authorities the six silver dollars she had purchased from the men, and later, Foster identified the coins as those stolen from his residence.   Morrow also made an in-court identification of both Quintero and Hall.

Lt. Thomas Pryor, an employee at the Eddyville penitentiary, testified that Quintero had long hair, a moustache, long side burns and a goatee prior to the escape.   Lt. Pryor stated that he had never seen Hall with a beard.

Hall was eventually captured in El Paso, Texas.   Both Blanton and Quintero were captured in Mexico near El Paso. Barbara Vasser, Hall’s girlfriend at the time, testified that her mother called the Pennsylvania State Police after Hall called her for a third time following the escape.   Afraid for Hall’s safety, Vasser notified the authorities that she had agreed to wire money to him at the Western Union on North Stanton Street in El Paso, Texas.   Hall was apprehended by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“F.B.I.”) when he entered the Western Union in El Paso at approximately 2:20 p.m. on July 6, 1988.

On July 10, 1988, Quintero and Blanton were apprehended by Mexican officials at the Santa Fe Hotel in Juarez, located just across the border from El Paso, Texas, and transported across the international bridge.   F.B.I. agents took custody of both Quintero and Blanton from Mexican officials at a border checkpoint.   Found in Quintero’s possession when he was taken into custody was an old wallet bearing an imprint of Neal Foster’s driver’s license.

Based upon the proof summarized above, the jury convicted both Hall and Quintero of two counts of murder during the perpetration of first degree burglary, three counts of grand larceny, one count of petit larceny and three counts of first degree burglary.6

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tn-supreme-court/1130389.html

Michael McDonnell Oregon Death Row

michael mcdonnell

Michael McDonnell was sentenced to death by the State of Oregon for a murder committed during a prison escape. According to court documents Michael McDonnell would escape from the Oregon State Penitentiary farm on November 21, 1984. A month later Michael McDonnell would murder the victim, Joey Keever, who was found dead on the side of the road, the woman had been stabbed over forty times. Michael McDonnell would be arrested, convicted an sentenced to death.

Oregon Death Row Inmate List

Michael McDonnell 2021 Information

michael mcdonnell
Offender Name:Mcdonnell, Michael M
Age:69dot clearDOB:10/1951dot clearLocation:Oregon State Penitentiary
Gender:Maledot clearRace:White Or European Origindot clearStatus:AIC
Height:6′ 00”dot clearHair:Browndot clearField Admission Date:03/01/2002
Weight:235 lbsdot clearEyes:Hazeldot clearEarliest Release Date:Death

Michael McDonnell More News

Michael McDonnell was serving a 10-year sentence for perjury and theft when he walked away from the Oregon State Penitentiary farm on November 21, 1984. While an escapee McDonnell encountered and stabbed Joey B Keever, 22, of Roseburg 42 times in her pickup truck near Yoncalla on December 22, 1984. Keever’s throat was cut and she was dumped near U.S. 99.

Michael McDonnell Other News

Defendant previously had been committed to the Oregon State Penitentiary and was received there on May 16, 1984. He was assigned to the Farm Annex on November 9 and escaped from custody on November 21. He was still an escapee on the day he killed Keever.

In 1986, the trial court set aside the indictment against defendant, concluding that ORS 163.095(2)(f) violated Article I, sections 16 and 20, of the Oregon Constitution, and the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, because it imposed an unconstitutional sentence. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for trial, concluding that “[t]he fact that a sentencing statute authorizes imposition of an arguably unconstitutional sentence does not mean that the statute defining the crime violates any of the * * * constitutional provisions [cited by the trial court].” State v. McDonnell, 84 Or.App. 278, 281, 733 P.2d 935, rev. den. 303 Or. 455, 737 P.2d 1249 (1987).

At his trial in 1988, defendant stipulated that he caused Keever’s death by cutting her with a knife. His defense was that he did so while in a drug-induced psychosis and that, while he was in that condition, he was unable to form the intent necessary to commit the crime of aggravated murder and that, therefore, he was guilty only of the crime of manslaughter.

Martin and Jennifer Thompson testified for the state that on December 22, 1984, they were driving to a livestock auction. They stopped to observe a pickup at the railroad tracks on Boswell Springs Road near Drain. They thought that the pickup had been in an accident because it was parked against the tracks. Martin Thompson left his car to investigate and saw defendant with a knife in his hand and blood on himself. Defendant told Thompson “to get the hell out of there.” As Thompson returned to his car to get a gun, defendant threw Keever out of the pickup, *944 slashed at her with the knife, and drove off at high speed.

Keever got up and ran toward the Thompsons. Her throat had been cut. The Thompsons placed Keever in their car and drove her to the Drain fire station, where a volunteer ambulance crew commenced life-saving measures. Keever was dead on arrival at the Douglas Community Hospital.

The cause of death was loss of blood, primarily due to the severing of Keever’s neck vessels. Dr. Roos, who performed the autopsy, found 40 knife wounds on Keever’s body, including multiple wounds to the chin, neck, hands, chest, and abdomen. Keever had eight stab wounds on her right hand and 13 on her left. Roos characterized them as “defense” wounds, which he described as occurring “where someone is grabbing for something and then it’s pulled away and then it just slices through, here, there, everywhere.” On the day after Keever’s death, Deputy Sheriff Cannaday arrested defendant. At the time, defendant had scratches on his face and some cuts on the back of his right index and middle fingers. A criminalist testified for the state that he would not consider these cuts to be “defensive wounds,” because the wounds were on the backs of defendant’s fingers. Samples of head hair, fingernails, and blood were taken from defendant. His hair matched strands of head hair found intertwined in the fingers of each of Keever’s hands. Blood found on the back of defendant’s pants matched Keever’s blood.

After a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of aggravated murder. In a separate sentencing hearing, the jury answered in the affirmative the three questions then posed by former ORS 163.150(1)(b). See post, at 958. The trial court then entered an “order” sentencing defendant to death. ORS 163.150(5). Later, pursuant to leave granted by this court, State v. McDonnell, 306 Or. 579, 761 P.2d 921 (1988), the trial court entered a judgment of conviction and sentence of death.

https://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/supreme-court/1992/313-or-478.html

Randy Haight Kentucky Death Row

Randy Haight

Randy Haight was sentenced to death by the State of Kentucky for a double murder following a prison escape. According to court document Randy Haight broke out of the Johnson County Jail with another inmate. The bodies of Patricia Vance and David Omer were found dead inside of their car. Randy Haight would be arrested days later, convicted and sentenced to death

Kentucky Death Row Inmate List

Randy Haight 2021 Information

Randy Haight 2021
Name:HAIGHT, RANDY
Active Inmate
DEATH ROW
PID # / DOC #:207803 / 086706
Institution Start Date:10/14/1981
Expected Time To Serve (TTS):DEATH SENTENCE
Classification:Maximum
Minimum Expiration of Sentence Date (Good Time Release Date): ?DEATH SENTENCE
Parole Eligibility Date:DEATH SENTENCE
Maximum Expiration of Sentence Date:DEATH SENTENCE
Location:Kentucky State Penitentiary
Age:68
Race:White
Gender:M
Eye Color:Blue
Hair Color:Brown
Height:5′ 08″
Weight:155

Randy Haight More News

Randy Haight escaped from the Johnson County Jail August 18, 1985 with his girlfriend and another male inmate. He was there while awaiting trials in three counties. He stole guns and several cars; shot at a KY. State Police Trooper and caused another police officer’s death in a gunfight. He executed a young couple while they were inside their car. He shot the man in the face, chest, shoulder, and back of the head and shot the woman in the shoulder, temple, the back of the head, and through the eye. He spent all but two of his 15 adult years in four Ohio, three Virginia, and four Kentucky prisons.

Randy Height was sentenced to death March 22, 1994 for the murder of Patricia Vance and David Omer on August 22, 1985.

http://www.lexingtonprosecutor.com/court-info/deathrow/

Randy Haight Other News

Haight was sentenced to death on March 22, 1994 in Jefferson County for the murder of Patricia Vance and David Omer on August 22, 1985. Haight escaped from Johnson County Jail on August 18, 1985 with his girlfriend and another male inmate while awaiting trial. The bodies of Vance and Omer were discovered inside their car near Herrington Lake in Garrard County. Haight was apprehended in a cornfield in Mercer County on August 23, 1985.

Ronald Williams Arizona Death Row

ronald williams

Ronald Williams was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for a murder during a robbery. According to court documents Ronald Williams would break into an elderly man’s home and shoot him dead. Ronald Williams who was previously convicted of the murder of a off duty police officer would be arrested by the FBI in New York City. Ronald Williams would be convicted and sentenced to death..

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Ronald Williams 2021 Information

Not Held In Arizona

Ronald Williams Other News

A jury convicted Ronald Turney Williams on February 10, 1984, of first degree murder and armed burglary in the first degree for breaking into a home, burglarizing it, and shooting and killing someone who saw him, John Bunchek. Williams was sentenced to death on the murder conviction and to an aggravated term of fourteen years for the burglary conviction.

John Bunchek, an elderly Scottsdale resident, was shot and killed on March 12, 1981. A white male who had been seen wandering around the neighborhood just before the shooting knocked on the Bunchek’s door and asked Sylvia Bunchek whether her next-door neighbors were home. Mrs. Bunchek told him that they were not. Mrs. Bunchek saw the stranger walk toward the neighbors’ (the Tancoses’) house. She expressed concern to her husband when he arrived a few minutes later. He went to investigate. When he failed to return, Mrs. Bunchek went to the Tancos house where she found her husband lying face down in a pool of blood, having been shot in the chest. John Bunchek ultimately died from the wound.

In addition to Mrs. Bunchek, five other witnesses saw the stranger in the neighborhood that day. Brenda Wood and William Koranda had talked with him face-to-face; Alan and Elizabeth Tautkus saw him for about five seconds as they drove by in their car. Wood and the Tautkuses provided the police with a description from which a composite sketch was prepared. This sketch was televised and published in local newspapers on March 13.

It was seen by one of Williams’s roommates, Lynn Walsh. Williams rented a house that was about three minutes from the Tuatkus home with Walsh, James McClaskey and Cheryl Le Duc. Walsh told McClaskey and Le Duc that the drawing looked like “Randy.” “Randolph Cooper” and “Randy Despain” were names that Williams testified he used while he was in Arizona. The roommates looked at the drawing and made the composite face look thinner and more bearded. McClaskey then called Silent Witness and reported their suspicions that Williams was the suspect.

Meanwhile, without telling anyone, Williams “threw his stuff in the trunk of the car” and took off from Scottsdale the day of the murder. He was arrested after a shoot-out with FBI agents in New York City on June 8, 1981.

An Arizona grand jury indicted Williams and, following an extradition hearing, Williams was arraigned on April 3, 1983. Counsel was appointed for him, but Williams elected to represent himself at the guilt phase with the assistance of advisory counsel.

The evidence at trial showed that none of the items taken from the Tancos residence during the burglary was found in Williams’s possession. However, the Mauser.380 semiautomatic pistol that Williams used in the New York shoot-out was the same gun that fired the bullet which killed Bunchek. Williams had bought this gun in Mechanicsville, Virginia, in 1980. Also, a footprint on the door of the Tancos house matched the tread marks of a type of athletic shoe that Williams had owned when he was in Scottsdale. In addition, Mrs. Tautkus identified Williams as the person she saw on March 12, although Wood and Koranda both testified that Williams was not the man they had seen in the neighborhood.

After Williams was shot and apprehended in New York, a nurse asked the FBI agent accompanying Williams to the hospital what Williams had done. The agent indicated that “he killed a bunch of people down south.” When Williams mumbled “no, no, no,” and the agent said “What about the old man in Scottsdale,” Williams replied either “If[I] hadn’t been framed in the first place, it never would have happened,” or “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t been framed in the first place.” Williams’s reference to being framed was to a prior murder conviction in West Virginia.

Williams subsequently also admitted to burglarizing the home of Marjorie Larson in Virginia in December 1980. Like the door to the Tancos residence, the Larson front door was opened by bodily force. Both were daytime burglaries during which small items were stolen. As Williams was leaving the Larson house, he saw Larson standing in a neighbor’s driveway and shot at (but did not hit) her. The gun used to fire at Larson was the same gun that was used in the Bunchek murder and that Williams used in the shoot-out with the FBI. Williams left Virginia after the Larson burglary although he was engaged to be married at the time.

Williams testified on his own behalf. His defense was that McClaskey and McClaskey’s friend, “Bobby,” had borrowed his gun and committed the crime. However, LeDuc and Walsh testified that McClaskey looked and dressed differently from the man seen in the neighborhood that day. Neither knew of any friend of McClaskey whose name was “Bobby.”

Williams also testified that he left Scottsdale to avoid being investigated for escaping from jail in 1979, committing the burglary in Virginia, and having no identification. Williams admitted that he lied under oath (at the extradition hearing) about aliases he had used, people he knew, and his presence in Arizona at the time Bunchek was killed.

The jury returned a guilty verdict on the first degree murder and burglary counts on February 10, 1984.

Ronald Williams Other News

One of West Virginia’s most notorious criminals turned 76 this month.  Ronald Turney Williams remains housed in the state’s maximum-security prison at Mount Olive in Fayette County where he will spend the rest of his life.

Williams was already serving a life sentence at the old Moundsville penitentiary for the murder of Beckley Police Sgt. David Lilly when he helped lead a mass escape of 15 inmates on November 7, 1979.  Williams and others commandeered a passing vehicle and fatally shot the driver, off-duty State Trooper Phillip Kesner.

Most of the escapees were rounded up quickly, but Williams managed to elude authorities for 18 months. During that time, he sent taunting postcards to some of his inmate friends and continued his violent ways, murdering a Scottsdale, Arizona man.  The FBI put him on their Most Wanted List.

Finally, in June 1981, he was tracked to a hotel in New York City where FBI agents arrested him following a shootout where he was wounded.

Today, Williams’ life is confined to a simple routine at Mount Olive.  Here are some facts about his imprisonment, according to the State Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

He is housed in small cell in one of the maximum-security Quilliams units (named after correctional officer William Quilliams, who was stabbed to death by an inmate in in 1972). Prisoners in this unit are segregated from the rest of the prison population.

His cell is very basic—about 80 square feet of floor space, a toilet, wash basin, desk with stool and a bunk with mattress. He does have a television and radio and receives newspapers. Williams has an Xbox and a word processor, but no access to the internet.

Williams is a “pod janitor.”  His duties include cleaning floors, walls and the unit shower.  He also is allowed to go to “outdoor recreation” one hour a day, five days week.

I had other questions about Williams confinement, but DMAPS is limited on what inmate information it can provide. For example, I wanted to know whether Williams has caused any disruption or whether he has any health problems that require treatment.  Inmate medical privacy issues preclude any comment about his health.

They did add, however, that Williams does receive visitors.

This will likely be the extent of Williams life for the rest of his days.  He is serving two life-with-mercy sentences for murder, plus two consecutive 25- to 100-year terms for kidnapping. His earliest possible parole hearing would be in 2047. Additionally, Williams faces the death penalty in Arizona.

Derek Sales Arkansas Death Row

derek sales arkansas death row

Derek Sales was sentenced to death by the State of Arkansas for the murder of a disabled man. According to court documents Derek Sales was serving a seventy five year prison sentence for rape and kidnapping when he escaped from a Warren jail. On the run Derek Sales would break into the home of the victim, Willie York, who was confined to a wheelchair. The victim would be murdered in his home. Derek Sales would be arrested in the victim’s home the day after the murder. Derek Sales would be convicted and sentenced to death.

Arkansas Death Row Inmate List

Derek Sales 2021 Information

ADC Number 000968

Name: Sales, Derek

Race BLACK Sex MALE Hair Color SALT & PEPPER Eye Color BROWN

Height 71 inches Weight230 lbs.

Birth Date 01/08/1961

Initial Receipt Date 01/29/1986

Facility Varner Supermax

Derek Sales More News

A Warren man convicted in the April 2005 killing of a man in a wheelchair has been sentenced to death.

Bradley County Circuit Court Judge Bynum Gibson on Thursday sentenced Gibson Derek Sales, 46, to death, following a jury’s recommendations. A jury deliberated about two hours before returning with the death sentence, said Prosecutor Thomas Deen.

The jury convicted Sales of stabbing and strangling Willie York, 56. Sales also received a life sentence on an aggravated robbery charge.

Police said they found Sales in York’s home the day after the April 16, 2005, killing.

Sales was already serving 75 years in prison before a Christmas Eve 2005 escape from a Warren jail. He and another prisoner overpowered guards with pepper-spray and a sock loaded with bars of soap. Police captured Sales shortly after his escape.

Deen said Sales had previously been in prison for other convictions, including rape and kidnapping

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2007/may/19/warren-man-convicted-murder-sentenced-death/

Derek Sales Other News

Willie York, whom Sales knew and visited, was found murdered in his home on April 16, 2005. York, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, had very limited use of his hands and could not walk. For this reason, York was mostly confined to a recliner and a bed that was kept in the living room of his home. It was adduced at trial that Sales was aware that York, who sold beer by the can out of his home, used a cigar box as a cash register and as storage for some personal papers. Sales was also aware of the fact that York kept this cigar box near him at all times.

On the day of the murder, Sales was at the York home several times and purchased several beers from York. When York’s family left his home at approximately 6:30 that evening, Sales was there, and he was still there later in the evening when York’s granddaughters brought him dinner and when York’s daughter stopped by for a short visit. Later that night, two of York’s granddaughters went to the home to help York get into bed. When they arrived at the house, they could not see York sitting in his recliner and then noticed a shadowy figure, whom they recognized as Sales, moving about the house. Concerned, they called 911. One of the officers at the scene confronted Sales on the front porch of the home, and after Sales tried to flee, he was taken into custody. York was then found inside the home lying in a pool of blood on the floor. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the medical examiner later determined that there were three possible causes of his death: strangulation, blunt-force trauma to the abdomen, head, and chest, and a stab wound of the neck. Sales was subsequently charged with residential burglary, aggravated robbery, and capital murder, although the residential burglary charge was later nol-prossed.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ar-supreme-court/1679451.html