Derrick J. Sonnier, a Louisiana native, was sentenced to death for the 1991 rape and murder of a mother of five children, Melody Flowers, 27, and the stabbing death of her two-year-old son, Patrick. Sonnier had a prior execution date of Feb. 26, 2008, which was set aside pending the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the lethal injection process. During his trial in 1993, evidence showed that Sonnier raped then beat Melody with a claw hammer until the handle broke off, strangled and then stabbed her with a kitchen knife. He dumped Melody's body in her bathtub. After he killed the toddler, Patrick, Sonnier tossed his body atop his mother's in the bloody bath water. Melody Flowers was a neighbor of Sonnier. Sonnier lived in an apartment with his girlfriend two doors from the Flowers apartment. Prior to her death, the evidence shows that Sonnier, on more than one occasion, intruded into her apartment without her knowledge or consent and scared her. Upon doing so, he would laugh and taunt her for her fear. The precise cause of Melody Flowers’s death is unknown; it could have been from any of the four injuries she endured: (1) the bludgeoning with a hammer upon her head; (2) the asphyxia due to manual and ligature strangulation; (3) the stomping upon her chest and neck; (4) or the two stabbings to her chest. Patrick Flowers, the child victim, died from being stabbed twice in the chest, one of which penetrated his heart; he was thereafter submerged in a bathtub. Jurors learned that Sonnier stalked Melody Flowers for two years before the killings.  

Special Agent David Mitchell of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation testified at Osborne’s trial that at approximately 1:45 pm on August 7, 1990, he received a call to investigate a murder on Pine View Road in Spalding County, Georgia. When he arrived at the scene, Agent Mitchell noticed glass fragments lying in the dirt roadbed and saw a 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix about 40 yards from the glass. The car was in gear and still running. Agent Mitchell observed that the driver’s side window was shattered and part of the glass was inside the car on the front seat, floorboards, and armrests. The windshield was cracked, and the passenger window was rolled down. Agent Mitchell saw two individuals, a woman, later identified as Linda Lisa Seaborne, and a man, later identified as Arthur Jones, in the front seat of the car. Linda, who was in the driver’s seat, was slumped over Arthur. Both victims had been shot. Agent Mitchell also noticed a black stick, similar to a policeman’s nightstick, lying on the floorboard to the rear of the driver’s seat. Agent Mitchell testified that he inspected the car and noticed that a bullet had struck the windshield and passed underneath it through the padded dash. The bullet was lying on the vent. There was also a bullet resting on the driver’s door where the glass was shattered. Arthur had sustained a gunshot wound below his left eye, and Linda had been shot in the neck. Agent Mitchell stated that there was blood all over the interior of the vehicle. Special Agent Chris Tolbert of the GBI testified that early on the day following the crime, he interviewed Arthur’s sister, Melinda Jones, and Arthur’s mother. Melinda’s boyfriend, Osborne, was at her house when Agent Tolbert arrived. Osborne told Agent Tolbert that three weeks earlier, Arthur had asked Osborne to help him sell his motorcycle. Osborne stated that he did not sell the motorcycle and had not spoken to Arthur since that time. Osborne also told Agent Tolbert that the only contact he had with Linda was several days earlier when he was trying to change the title on Arthur’s motorcycle. Agent Tolbert interviewed Marcus Matthews, who told Agent Tolbert that a week before the murders, Osborne sold him Arthur’s motorcycle for $400. After obtaining this information, Agent Tolbert considered Osborne a suspect and gave Osborne his Miranda rights before interviewing him a second time. Osborne repeated the same story that he had told Agent Tolbert earlier. Osborne elaborated a bit, though, and told Agent Tolbert that Arthur had approached him about selling the motorcycle because he needed the money. Osborne had offered Arthur an opportunity to sell cocaine for money, but Arthur declined. The next day, police arrested Osborne and interviewed him again. During this interview, Osborne admitted that he had sold Arthur’s motorcycle to Matthews, and he had kept the money. Osborne denied any involvement in the shootings and consented to a gun residue test. He informed the police that the test would be positive for gun residue because he fed his dog gunpowder on a daily basis. Osborne explained that the blood under his cuticles was the result of a hangnail. He also told police that his fingerprints could be on the car in which the victims were found because he had ridden in the car a week earlier when he went to WalMart, where Linda worked, to get a title for the motorcycle, and Linda asked him to move her car from one parking spot to another. Osborne provided police with the clothes he was wearing on the day of the murders, but he told the police that his mother previously had washed the clothes in bleach. Spalding County Sheriff Richard Cantrell testified at trial that he interviewed Osborne on August 10, 1990. Sheriff Cantrell taped the interview. During the interview, Osborne told Sheriff Cantrell that on the day of the crime, he left a message for Arthur to come to Griffin, Georgia, to pick up the money from the sale of Arthur’s motorcycle. Osborne stated that he spent the rest of the day on the street selling cocaine. Osborne further stated that later in the day, Arthur and Linda approached him and told him to get in the car. Arthur then hit Osborne with a nightstick. Arthur asked Osborne for the money from the sale of the motorcycle, and Osborne told him that the money was in a hotel room with two Cuban drug dealers from Florida named Jeff and Scott. Osborne stated that they stopped at a motel, and one of the Cuban drug dealers gave Osborne a .38 caliber gun that he put in his pants. Osborne further stated that he shot Arthur in the back of the head because Arthur had threatened to beat him and was reaching for a weapon on the floorboard of the car. Osborne stated that he climbed out of the driver’s side window and ran. At no time did Osborne state where he left his gun and pager. Ron Buchanan, an investigator with the Sheriff’s Department testified that he searched for a weapon and pager, but could not find either. Buchanan also testified that he went by the hotel where Osborne claimed the Cuban drug dealers were staying, and Osborne pointed out Room 213 as the room they occupied. However, the manager of the hotel, Ramesh Parekh, testified that the hotel records showed that Room 213 was not occupied on the day in question. Dr. Randy Hanzlick, the Fulton County medical examiner, testified that he performed the autopsies on the victims. The autopsy of Arthur Jones revealed that he died as a result of a gunshot wound to the back of the head which exited to the left of his eye. The blood pattern showed that Arthur’s body was in an upright position when he was shot and that the gun was only an inch away from his head when the perpetrator fired. The bullet fractured Arthur’s skull, causing hemorrhage and destruction of brain tissue. Dr. Hanzlick stated that the wound would indicate that the perpetrator used a .38 caliber, 9 millimeter, or a .357 magnum weapon; more likely, it was a 9 millimeter or a .357 magnum. Dr. Hanzlick testified that Linda Seaborne died as a result of a gunshot wound to the back of the neck. The bullet entered the right side of her neck, grazed the shoulder up through the spinal cord, went through the bottom of her skull and exited through her left cheek. He stated that the gunshot wound was inflicted from one to two feet away from Linda. Dr. Hanzlick testified, however, that the wound was not typical of an “execution” style wound. Additionally, Osborne’s mother testified that her husband’s .357 Ruger was missing. Kelly Fite, the state crime lab firearms examiner testified that she received a .357 magnum lead bullet that Agent Tolbert had found at Osborne’s home pursuant to a search warrant. Larry Hankerson, the latent fingerprint examiner, testified that Osborne’s fingerprints were found on the door of the driver’s side of the vehicle in which the victims’ bodies were found. A Spalding County jury convicted Osborne on two counts of malice murder and two counts of felony murder, with the underlying felonies consisting of aggravated assault. The jury found that Linda’s murder was committed in the course of Arthur’s murder, itself a capital felony. The jury based their death recommendation on this aggravating circumstance. UDPATE: Executioners struggled for 35 minutes to find a vein before Curtis Osborne died by lethal injection Wednesday for a 1990 Spalding County double murder. Osborne, 37, was pronounced dead at 9:05 p.m., 14 minutes after his executioners injected the first of three fatal drugs. He was the second man Georgia has executed in a month. He also was the fourth person in the country to die by lethal injection since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the method was constitutional. (From the Atlanta Journal Constitution)

The South Carolina Supreme Court has set a June 6 execution date for a man who murdered three social workers in Aiken County. Hill had argued that he deserves to die for the killings on September 16, 1996, when he walked into the Aiken County Department of Social Services office in North Augusta and shot to death his family's case worker and two other employees after losing custody of his children. Hill was found a day later in a wooded area, suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. When these murders took place, Hill was married and had three children: a three-year-old daughter who was a quadriplegic and twin two-year-old boys. (The daughter, who was paralyzed in a 1994 car accident, died in 1998.) DSS became involved with the family because of concern about the parents’ abuse of prescription drugs. The children were eventually removed from the home. On the morning of September 16, 1996, Hill had a telephone conversation with his caseworker, James Riddle. Hill then called his sister-in-law to ask for a ride to the DSS office. The sister-in-law and her husband gave Hill a ride to the Business & Technology Center where the DSS office was located. On the way, Hill said that he was tired of people “playing God” with his children. The couple dropped Hill off at the front of the building. Sometime before 2:00 pm, several DSS workers returned to work after a birthday luncheon. Annette Michael was walking towards her cubicle in the DSS office area when another worker, Josie Currie, approached with her hands up. Hill was behind Josie with a gun. Josie asked Annette where James Riddle's office was. When Annette motioned with her hand, Hill told her to step in behind Josie. The three of them walked down the aisle to James's cubicle. James was seated at his desk speaking on the telephone. Josie stepped into the cubicle and said, “This man would like to see you.” Hill fired a shot into the cubicle, hitting James in the head. He then pointed the gun over Annette’s shoulder and shot Josie in the head. Annette fell with Josie as a third shot was fired. Annette saw James fall over in his chair and she saw a hole in his forehead before she fainted on the floor. Another DSS worker, Michael Gregory, was found dead of a gunshot wound in the men's restroom. Both Josie and James died within the next few hours. Annette was not injured. The next morning, police were still searching for Hill. At around 9:20 a.m., he was found lying on the railroad tracks behind the building with his gun nearby. He had a bullet hole through the roof of his mouth and an exit wound in the top of his skull. Although he was seriously injured, Hill was able to speak. After he was taken to the hospital, he was given Miranda warnings. Hill admitted to the shootings. He said he first shot Michael Gregory in the restroom because Gregory had seen him. He shot James Riddle because Riddle was his caseworker. He shot Josie Currie “because she was black.” In deciding to forego his appeals, Hill stated that his religious beliefs are that "if you kill somebody, you shed somebody else’s blood, that your blood has to be shed or you have to die in order to be forgiven for that." UPDATE: Twelve years finally came to a head Friday for David Mark Hill, as he was the 269th South Carolinian executed. It all happened on the afternoon of Sept. 17, 1996 at a Department of Social Services office in North Augusta. That was the day three department workers were gunned down by Hill. His victims were 30-year-old Michael Gregory, 33-year-old Josie Curry and 52-year-old Jimmy Riddle. Hill was angry that DSS took away custody of his quadriplegic daughter and twin sons.  (from WIS News 10)

Percy Levar Walton murdered three people in the same neighborhood in Danville, Virginia, in two separate incidents. Two of the victims were an elderly couple, Elizabeth and Jessie Kendrick. While burglarizing their home, Walton shot both of them at close range in the top of the head. Walton murdered the a young man, Archie Moore, in his home by shooting him above his left eye. Although the physical evidence alone overwhelmingly established Walton’s guilt, Walton also admitted to several other jail inmates that he committed the murders and described the graphic details of the murders to his cellmate. Two mental health professionals determined that Walton was competent to stand trial, i.e. that Walton understood precisely the charges against him, he knew that evidence was required to convict him, he was able to assist his lawyers in his own defense, and he realized that he could get the death penalty for his crimes. Based on this evidence and the fact that Walton had told at least two of his fellow inmates that he intended to "play crazy," Walton’s counsel ultimately decided not to pursue further a claim that Walton was incompetent to stand trial or plead guilty. With the assistance of counsel, on October 7, 1997 Walton pled guilty to all three murders, three counts of robbery, one count of burglary, and six counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. After determining that Walton would likely commit additional criminal acts and would be a continuing serious threat to society, the Danville Circuit Court sentenced Walton to death for the three murders. Walton was no stranger to crime before he murdered these three people. His prior convictions include burglary, grand larceny, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, juvenile possession of a firearm, and assault and battery. Walton has tried to play the mental retardation trump card so popular among condemned inmates these days, however, his IQ score in 1996, shortly before he turned 18, was 90 - well above the accepted threshold for mild mental retardation of 70.

Karl Eugene Chamberlain lived next door to Felicia Prechtl, a single mother, and her five-year-old son. On August 12, 1991, Chamberlain observed Felicia’s brother leaving with Felicia’s son. Chamberlain went next door “to borrow a cup of sugar.” Upon gaining entry to Felicia’s apartment, Chamberlain bound her with duct tape and sexually assaulted her. Chamberlain then shot Felicia in the forehead, killing her. Felicia’s semi-nude body was discovered on the bathroom floor some thirty-five minutes later by her brother and son upon their return to the apartment. Chamberlain walked his dogs after the murder. Chamberlain’s guilt was not uncovered until 1997. In the meantime, he confessed the murder to others, relating that he had gone to borrow a cup of sugar from his neighbor and that she had answered the door naked and seduced him. Chamberlain further elaborated that Felicia had delighted in their sexual intercourse and explained that he had killed her in a panic only when she threatened to inform his wife of their sexual encounter. While Chamberlain says his non-violent past supports his contention that the evidence is insufficient to show that he is a continuing threat to society, the evidence does show a history of violence. The State introduced evidence that Chamberlain had attacked a fellow soldier with a knife and a woman at a shopping mall with a stun gun. The State also introduced evidence that Chamberlain broke into a pornography shop when, seeking pornography, he had found the shop closed. In addition to this evidence of a violent past, the State introduced the testimony of Dr. Kenneth DeKleva, a psychiatrist. DeKleva asserted that the facts of the offense reveal a sexually sadistic, antisocial personality disorder. DeKleva noted that the crime scene revealed that the perpetrator needed to inflict humiliation, degradation and pain to achieve sexual gratification. DeKleva testified that leaving Felicia uncovered and exposed evinced a lack of regard for her humanity and utter lack of remorse. Similarly, DeKleva testified that the fact that Chamberlain walked his dogs after committing the offense also revealed a disturbing lack of remorse. The subsequent fantasies blaming Felicia for seducing him, along with Chamberlain’s claims that she enjoyed the assault and then blaming her for the murder because she was going to tell his wife, were all, according to DeKleva, evidence of a dangerous personality disorder. DeKleva noted the evidence of Chamberlain’s overpowering sexual urges, i.e., that as a teenager he kept a mannequin with the crotch cut out, that he burglarized the pornography store when he found it closed and had stolen inflatable sex dolls. DeKleva testified that there is no known treatment for a sexually sadistic killer and no evidence that their fantasies eventually subside. DeKleva testified that these traits reveal a dangerous person, particularly when that person had already fulfilled some of his violent fantasies. DeKleva concluded the evidence established that Chamberlain would probably commit criminal acts of violence constituting a continuing threat to society. At trial, evidence showed that a number of obscene calls were traced by the phone company to Chamberlain’s telephone at work. A phone company spokesperson testified that after receiving complaints about obscene phone calls to two Pennsylvania establishments, they traced a number of subsequent calls to a telephone extension registered to a telemarketing firm. The owner of the company testified that each salesman’s telephone was limited to an assigned geographical area. He testified that a computer system recorded each salesman’s calls, so that supervisors could see from what extension a call was made, what time it was made, the number dialed and the length of the call. When he was informed by the police about the obscene calls to Pennsylvania, he ran the two phone numbers given to him by the police through his computer system. Chamberlain’s extension was shown as the number from which the calls originated. Chamberlain was confronted with these facts and though he never admitted to the phone calls, the calls ceased after he was confronted.