DAY TWO

Murder prosecutions in Clayton Judicial Circuit (Clayton County)

(ENLARGE)

Robert Keller

District Attorney: Robert E. Keller

Party: Democrat

Served: 1977-2004

In his own words

"You have to look at the victim's [family], the survivors and see how they feel. Some of them are so emotional it's the eye-for-the-eye mentality. Others don't want the death penalty. They do not want the death penalty because when you embark on a death penalty case, it changes people."

Record: Keller sought death for 12 of the 45 defendants who were eligible — almost exactly the statewide average. He got six death sentences in those cases, most recently in 2002.

Analysis: Keller's six death sentences were the second-highest in the state, but the Georgia Supreme Court overturned three of them. Those defendants were resentenced to life without parole.

THE CASES

Death sentences

Christopher Kirkprock Lewis, 31
A few days before Christmas 1996, Lewis broke into his estranged wife's apartment where she and two children were hiding from him. He attacked Cheryl Lewis, 33, with a kitchen knife, stabbing her more than 40 times in front of her 13-year-old daughter.

David Aaron Perkins, 34
In 1995, Perkins invited a neighbor, Herbert Ryals, 38, to his home after buying a bottle of whiskey. He stabbed Ryals, bashed him in the head with a liquor bottle and stole his wallet.

Richard Lester Sealey, 35
Sealey and others broke into the home of his girlfriend's grandparents in 2000. He tortured Fannie Mae Tubner, 63, with a hot poker, then killed her and her husband, Johnny Tubner, 71, with multiple blows from the blunt side of an ax. A year earlier, a jury had acquitted Sealey of charges that he strangled an Atlanta man in his home.

Jerry Larry Bowden, 50
Bowden rented out a room in his house on the condition that the tenant could not have men visit while he was there. He caught her in bed with the victim, Willie Walker, 34, in 1996. Bowden, who had two prior convictions for armed robbery, chased Walker into the kitchen and shot him. Jury trial.

Anthony "Tiger" Carruthers, 25
In 1995, Carruthers cut the throat of his ex-girlfriend, Jannette Williams, 28, nearly severing her head. Her autistic 11-year-old son found the body. Carruthers stole her car and drove it to Florida, where he exchanged it for drugs. Carruthers' death sentence was vacated on appeal because the prosecutor urged jurors to follow the religious mandates of the Bible rather than Georgia law. Jury trial.

Keith D. Henry, 42
Henry and his wife stole $17,000 in 1999 after forcing an employee of a check-cashing business to open the safe. He strangled an employee's daughter, Regina Dates, 21, and his wife strangled the employee, who survived. Henry's wife killed herself in a New Jersey hotel room before the FBI arrested him. Smith's death sentence was overturned and he accepted a plea deal for life in prison.

John L. Lucious, 18
Lucious killed Mohammad Aftab, a 30-year-old clerk, during a 1996 convenience store robbery. Beforehand, he told a friend, "I got to have a murder tonight." Lucious netted $37. Plea bargain.

David Phillip Smith, 18
Smith and Jeremy K. Javies, 16, argued in March 1995 when Javies backed out of a plan to commit some robberies together. They were in a wooded area when neighbors heard gunfire. Smith's conviction and death sentence were overturned because he was not allowed to present more evidence to support his claim of self-defense. Jury trial.

Marcus J. White, 20
White wanted a car to return to Alabama to see his children. In 1997, he used a high-powered .300 Magnum rifle to shoot at two brothers using a pay phone because he wanted their Cadillac. White shot and killed Aaron Jones, 62, but fled after missing Jones' brother. Plea bargain.

Bradford Todd Barlow, 19
Matthew Emanuell Robinson, 18
In 2000, Barlow acted as lookout while Robinson knocked on the door of an apartment on Tara Boulevard. Robinson hit Angela Horne, 29, in the head five times with a hammer when she answered the door. They stole money and marijuana. Plea bargains.

Hughey Edward Ritter, 36
Ritter killed a friend, Jack Barnhill, 67, in 1995 and stole his wallet so he could buy crack cocaine. He beat Barnhill in the head with an industrial broom handle. His first trial, a death penalty case, ended in a mistrial. A second jury convicted Ritter after prosecutors dropped the death penalty.

Ricardo Antonelli Trent, 22
Trent and three others called the victim, Kendall Starks, 22, to set up a marijuana buy at a local Dairy Queen in 1995. The four men planned to steal the drugs and money by force. Both Starks and his girlfriend, Tamala Hollis, 20, were shot and killed in the incident. Plea bargain.

Johnny Lee Adams, 43
Adams beat Dorothea Daniels, 40, to death in 1998 after she questioned him about seeing another woman. He killed Daniels by hitting her in the head and face with a rock. The state sought the death penalty until a jury ruled he was mentally retarded. Another jury found him guilty.

Tangin Tequia Alexander, 19
Andre Earl McClellan, 29
Alexander and her boyfriend beat her 3-year-old son, Timothy, to death for wetting his pants in 2000. The child had stopped breathing when emergency workers responded to a call from the couple's room at an extended-stay hotel. The beating lacerated the child's liver. Jury trial.

Mark Alan Amerson, 39
Amerson punched David Devine in the stomach in 2002 after his mother left the 2-year-old in his care. The boy died from blunt force trauma to his abdomen and head; his pancreas was completely separated from his abdominal cavity. Plea bargain.

James Clark Batsel IV, 30
Batsel, a Riverdale police officer, shot and killed Atlanta nightclub owner Henry Lamar Jeffcoat, 49, in 1993 when they exchanged gunfire at the victim's home. Batsel was part of a burglary ring that was trying to rob Jeffcoat. Prosecutors did not officially seek the death penalty because of Batsel's cooperation. Plea bargain.

Terrence Brown, 27
Barry "Manilow" Stills, 22
Demetrius "Meat" Wymbs, 21
Brown, Stills and Wymbs set up a fake drug buy for $750 at the home of a Riverdale man in 1997. They planned to rob John Ring IV. Brown shot Ring six times, once in the heart, with a 9mm pistol. Plea bargains.

Anthony Jacob Castillo, 17
James Edward Neason, 28
Castillo and Neason forced their way into the apartment of Patricio Ibarra, 59, in 2000 and demanded money. Castillo shot Ibarra when he threw a beer bottle at him. Plea bargain for Castillo, jury trial for Neason.

Yolanda Delois Diamond, 22
Tommy Anthony Forrister, 36
Diamond and Forrister were fleeing police in 1994 after committing a burglary and smoking crack cocaine. Diamond was driving a stolen pickup truck at 90 mph when it slammed into a car, killing Shirley Sloan, 24; her sister Sandra England, 29; and their nephew, Marcus Sloan, 5. Jury trial.

Kori Tyrell Dobbs, 20
Dobbs was angry at Treasa Carter for taking drugs from him. He and others found her in March 2002 in a van driven by Jose Montez-Esparza, 33. They followed the van, demanded money and shot both victims, killing Montez-Esparza. Plea bargain.

Randall Fulton, 38
Fulton, a convicted armed robber, killed his wife, Cassandra Fulton, 38, in 2003 by slitting her throat. Co-workers found her body bound in sheets in her apartment, and police found her blood on Fulton's clothing. Plea bargain.

Christopher Thom Grantham, 34
Mark Douglas McKenna, 27
Grantham, a bouncer at a strip club, was the getaway driver when Riverdale officer James Clark Batsel IV killed club owner Henry Lamar Jeffcoat, 49, in a bungled 1993 robbery. McKenna, also a Riverdale police officer, took part in the robbery and was wounded in the ensuing gun battle. Plea bargains.

Bobby Eugene Gray, 45
James Stewart Odom, 44
Gray and Odom were drug abusers who had borrowed money from the victim, Buford Evans, a 26-year Air Force veteran, in the past. Evans, 54, gave them $20 when they came to his home near Hampton in 2001, but they beat and stabbed him and took $90 more and his checkbook. Jury trial.

Famoris Jermaine Jackson, 22
Jackson threatened his girlfriend when she returned from a date with another man in 1997. She ran inside her house. Jackson kicked in the door, held her mother and brother at gunpoint and shot and killed her father, Thad Lane, 54. Jury trial.

Montaque Jackson, 32
Jackson stabbed William Anthony Bowden, 18, nineteen times in a 2001 dispute over drug money and then stuffed him in the trunk of a car. Plea bargain.

Derrick Lynn Johnson, 20
Idris Antwjuan Mitchell, 19
Mitchell shot cab driver Pedro Huerta, 35, in the face during a 2000 attempted robbery in Forest Park, while Johnson held a gun on Huerta's passenger. The men targeted Huerta after trying to rob an alleged bootlegger who was not home. Jury trial.

Tai Huu Le, 17
An Nguyen, 18
Authorities said Le ordered Nguyen to fire into another car following an argument at a pool hall in 1997. The victim, John Sundara, was 15. Plea bargains.

Nicholas D. Leslie, 18
In January 1999, Leslie and others armed themselves and went to a home near Riverdale to demand money to compensate them for poor-quality marijuana they had bought. Leslie shot and killed Ron Phillips, 17. Plea bargain.

Michael Lee Parker, 42
Parker beat and killed his girlfriend's 2-year-old son, Zackary Martin, in 1995. The child had numerous head injuries and appeared to be malnourished. Jury trial.

Carl Millard Patton Jr., 28
In 1973. a woman hired Patton to kill her husband in Henry County. Four years after the killing, the woman approached Patton again to kill her ex-boyfriend, who was Patton's uncle, and his new girlfriend in Clayton County. A few weeks later, Patton killed his accomplice, Joe Cleveland, and Cleveland's girlfriend in DeKalb County when he grew distrustful of them. Patton confessed to all five killings in 2003 after DNA evidence linked him to the DeKalb crimes. Plea bargain.

Andre Ray Peck, 25
In 1999, Peck and a 16-year-old accomplice robbed an apartment where Christonia Woods, 23, and Christopher Lynch, 28, were selling marijuana. They killed both of them and their dog. Jury trial.

Charles Johnny Rice, 36
Rice, who had prior rape and kidnapping convictions in Tennessee, robbed an elderly couple who had picked him up hitchhiking. They had invited him to their house for sex in 1998. He killed Chester W. Smith, 72, by slitting his throat. Plea bargain.

David M. Scott, 19
Scott beat and kicked William Castleberry, 35, in the Clayton County jail in 1996 after Castleberry attacked him with a sharp piece of wood. Scott argued self-defense, but authorities said Castleberry had let go of his weapon before the beating. Jury trial.

Jason Robert Sharp, 25
Sharp shot and killed Chhon Prak, a 56-year-old Cambodian immigrant, during a 2001 attempted robbery as Prak was filling up his car's gas tank at a Riverdale Road convenience store. Jury trial.

Robert Lee White, 22
In 2001, White staged a fake marijuana deal with Arthur Lee Moore, 19, so he could carjack Moore's Caprice. He shot and killed Moore when he resisted. Plea bargain.