Jan. 21 GEORGIA----impending execution Condemned murderer Timothy Don Carr is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, 2005, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia. Carr was sentenced to death for the October, 1992 murder of Keith Patrick Young in Monroe County. There have been 36 men executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973. If executed, Carr will be the 14th inmate put to death by lethal injection. (source: Georgia Department of Corrections) ***************** Death penalty sought----A 'vile' slaying prompts DA Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a 36-year-old Hall County man charged with killing a Braselton woman and kidnapping her daughter, court records show. Billy Joe Grizzle is charged with burglary, cruelty to children, kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, 3 counts of kidnapping with bodily injury and two counts of murder in the Oct. 28 slaying of 33-year-old Rebecca Lynn Gooch of Braselton. "The offense of murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind or an aggravated battery to the victim," Jackson County District Attorney Tim Madison wrote in a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. Madison did not return numerous calls for comment Wednesday and Thursday. Jackson County Public Defender Donna Seagraves said her office would not handle the case since it involved the death penalty. A call to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which could appoint an attorney to the case, was not immediately returned. Grizzle forced his way into Gooch's double-wide mobile home at about 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 28 and stabbed her a number of times in the presence of her two children, ages 2 and 12, according to authorities and court records. Grizzle and Gooch had been long-time acquaintances, investigators said. The woman's 12-year-old daughter was tied and bound with duct tape and put in Grizzle's car, but escaped when Grizzle returned to the mobile home, the sheriff's office previously said. The girl fled and ran through the woods to a neighbor's house, where a Jackson County sheriff's deputy lived. The deputy, who was off-duty at the time, notified authorities and went to Gooch's home, where he found the woman dead on the kitchen floor and the 2-year-old in a living room crib, the sheriff's office said at the time of the slaying. The 12-year-old accompanied deputies to Hall County and pointed out Grizzle's residence, investigators have said. Grizzle, who was leaving as deputies arrived at his house, was arrested less than an hour after Gooch was killed. In a separate Jackson County case four years earlier, Grizzle was charged with simple battery, cruelty to children and interference with calls for emergency assistance in a case not involving Gooch or her children. Jackson County State Court Judge Jerry Gray on Nov. 1, 2002, placed the case on the Dead Docket, essentially ending the prosecution of the case, though the case can be reopened. Grizzle, who was indicted in December, was scheduled to be arraigned Monday on the murder charges. However, the case has been put on hold until an attorney is appointed, Seagraves said. (source: Athens Banner-Herald) KANSAS: Prosecutor Urges Delay on Death Penalty Law Another prosecutor is urging legislators to move slowly on repairing the state's death penalty law. Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston says lawmakers should wait to see if the US Supreme Court will review a state Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Kansas law. Johnson County's top prosecutor, Paul Morrison, made the same recommendation last week. But a key state senator says there's no reason for a delay. Judiciary Committee Chairman John Vratil of Leawood says it's unlikely that anything done in Topeka would influence the nation's highest court. The Kansas Supreme Court struck down the law last month over a section on how juries must weigh certain evidence. The ruling vacated the sentences of 6 men on death row. Some prosecutors believe the U.S. Supreme Court would refuse to hear the state's appeal if legislators correct the statute now. (source: Associated Press) WYOMING: Death penalty sought in prison murder Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of an inmate accused of killing a nurse. Floyd DeWayne Grady, 28, of Cheyenne, is charged in the murder April 15 of Wyoming Honor Farm nurse Tammy Sue Watts. Watts, 39, of Hudson, died of head trauma and strangulation. A motion was filed Monday informing the court of the state's intention to seek capital punishment, said Deputy County Attorney Marcia Bean, who is handling the case. "We feel it is absolutely appropriate in this case," she said. Grady is charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, 1 count of attempted sexual assault and 1 count of kidnapping. 1 count of murder charges him with killing Watts while attempting sexual assault; the other charges that Grady killed the woman with premeditated malice. He pleaded not guilty to all counts in December. Grady had been an inmate at the minimum-security Honor Farm in Riverton since November 2002. He originally was sent to the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins in May 1995 for 10 to 30 years after being convicted of first-degree sexual assault. He was moved to the Honor Farm after passing through the Corrections Department's screening and qualification process. Shortly after Watts' death, Grady was returned to the maximum-security penitentiary. The trial is to begin Oct. 31. (source: Associated Press) NEW MEXICO: Death Row Inmate Found Guilty Of 1996 Double Murder Robert Fry has been found guilty of 1st-degree murder in the 1996 slaying of 2 men inside a counterculture store in downtown Farmington. Jurors deliberated for 11 hours before reaching a verdict Thursday evening. Fry put his hands on the table before him and hung his head after hearing the verdict. He was charged in the November 1996 slayings of Matthew Trecker, 18, and Joseph Fleming, 25. The 2 Farmington men were stabbed and their throats slashed. Fry was also found guilty of larceny, tampering with evidence and intimidation of a witness. He was immediately sentenced to 2 consecutive life sentences and 10 1/2 years for the other charges. Fry had already been serving a death sentence for the killings of Betty Lee and Donald Tsosie. And Farmington law officers told Action 7 News that Fry's troubles don't end there. "There are 2 other people who are missing in San Juan County," Sgt. Tyler Truby, of the San Juan County Sheriff's Department said. "Robert Fry was acquainted with both of them, and at this time cannot be ruled out as a suspect." Defense attorney Steve Aarons said he would file an appeal in the latest conviction. (source: TheNewMexicoChannel.com) TENNESSEE: State Supreme Court upholds death sentence in $15 murder The state Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence for a convicted killer who shot an acquaintance in Memphis over a 15-dollar debt. The court rejected Detrick Cole's argument that his trial jury, in sentencing him to death, used incorrect instructions on how much weight to give his prior criminal record. Cole, then 20, shot and killed Santeife Thomas, a 27-year-old acquaintance, in October 2000 because the victim had not repaid the debt. The unarmed victim was shot in the head at close range, even though he promised to repay the money plus 100-dollars because of the delay in repayment. Cole, now 25, is the youngest man on the state's death row. (source: Associated Press)
