DAY TWO

Cobb murder prosecutions

(ENLARGE)

Pat Head

District Attorney: Pat Head

Political Party: Republican; Served: 1998 to present

District Attorney: Tom Charron

Political Party: Republican; Served: 1977-98

Head in his own words

"If it's a death penalty case, it'll just jump out at you when you read the file. There are cases that are horrific but based on your experience you understand the jury is never going to give the death penalty."

Record: Cobb DAs, including Ben Smith, who served briefly in 1998, sought death for 12 of 62 eligible defendants. One was sentenced to death and seven to life without parole. Another was resentenced to death for a 1976 slaying.

Analysis: Cobb juries imposed death more than a dozen times under Charron's tenure but only once, in 1999, since Head took office.

THE CASES

Death sentence

Andrew Grant DeYoung, 19
DeYoung killed his parents and 14-year-old sister in 1993, hoping to collect insurance money and start a business. He cut the telephone line in their north Cobb home before dawn, then stabbed each more than 40 times. His 16-year-old brother escaped through a bedroom window when an accomplice could not go through with his part in the planned murder. DeYoung intended to burn the house down but fled when a neighbor arrived with a handgun.

Marvin Barclift Jr., 25
Barclift, a parolee from New York, robbed the Happy Hocker pawn shop in 2000 and killed owner Miley O'Neal, stabbing him 37 times. Head called it the "most gruesome" crime he'd ever been associated with. Sentencing trial by judge after guilty plea.

Michael Willard Buttram, 30
In 1999, Buttram shot and killed Tara Cantrell, a 19-year-old stripper who had broken off a relationship with him, and her mother, Mildred Cantrell, 41. Buttram had left his fianceé for Cantrell, who had performed at his bachelor party. He shot Cantrell's mother as she cowered in her laundry room. Buttram claimed both killings were accidents. Jury trial.

Melvin Dewayne Cooper, 18
Cooper shot and killed Ejaz Rana, 49, when he threatened to call police during a 2000 robbery of a Citgo convenience store. Cooper stole Rana's wallet but could not open the cash register before fleeing. Plea bargain.

Howard Lewis McDougal, 27
McDougal shot and killed Richard Jorgensen during a convenience store robbery in 2000. An accomplice, Allan Martez Johnson, received a life sentence for murder after testifying against McDougal. Jury trial.

Curtis Rower, 22 (see Fred Tokars)
In 1992, Rower shot and killed Sara Tokars in front of her 4- and 6-year-old sons. Prosecutors dropped plans to seek the death penalty when the victim's husband, who hired Rower to kill her, was sentenced to life in prison. Plea bargain.

Robert Charles Spickler, 23
In 1998, Spickler beat Bruce Belville, 53, seven times with a sledgehammer while he was sleeping, then stole his credit cards. Spickler said he beat Belville after he made unwanted sexual advances. Jury trial.

Anthony Joseph Zino, 48
Zino, a self-employed sales trainer, shot and killed his wife, Barbara, in 1999 while she was sleeping. Then he killed their 14-year-old daughter, Carolyn, as she ran down the hall clutching a stuffed animal. He told police he was facing financial ruin and "did not want to put [them] through that." Plea bargain.

Robert Aaron Floyd, 18 (see Antonio Lowery)
Rudolph Ottis, 25
Floyd was convicted of killing one of two girls during a 1993 robbery of their mothers' apartment. The assailants slit the throats of half-sisters Bridgett Lee, 15, and Britney Ikharia, 7, because they could identify Ottis' sister as one of the robbers. Prosecutors dropped the death penalty against Floyd after he was convicted of killing only one of the girls. Ottis was convicted of both murders. Jury trial.

Ronald Lupez Freeman, 21
Freeman shot and killed three people in three robberies in 1992: Rakesh Patel and Terri Waddell, both convenience store clerks, and Charles Planchard III, a 16-year-old Burger King employee. Waddell was killed as her 4-year-old daughter watched. Freeman was tried separately for each murder and was sentenced to life in prison each time, eluding a death sentence in the last trial because of one juror's holdout.

Fred Tokars, 39
Tokars, an attorney and part-time Atlanta municipal judge, hired Curtis Rower in 1992 to kill his wife so she wouldn't testify against him in a federal racketeering case. Tokars stood to collect $1.75 million in insurance on his wife's death. Tokars was already serving life without parole in federal prison when a Cobb County jury sentenced him to life for the murder.

Roderick Pernell Adams, 21
Viondi Lattran Lewis, 21
Adams, a parolee wearing an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts, and Lewis were accused of killing two drug dealers and robbing their friends in 1997. Adams pleaded guilty to one murder and Lewis to the other. Lewis blamed Adams for both shootings. Plea bargain.

Larry Armstrong, 24
Rodney Williams, 24
In 1999, Armstrong and Williams beat Albert Davis, 32, and stole about $160 after approaching his house and asking for a drink of water. Williams said Davis made unwanted sexual advances. Jury trial for Armstrong, plea bargain for Williams.

Larry Gene Baker Jr., 20
Gregory Bryant, 20
Joseph Mark Skidmore, 18
The three men approached Sabas Castillo, 31, outside his Mableton apartment in 1998 and demanded money. Castillo ran and Bryant followed him into an apartment and shot him in the head. They also robbed two other victims at gunpoint. Plea bargains for Baker and Skidmore, jury trial for Bryant.

Robert Edward Baker, 31
Christopher Ehle, 25
Paul Whittemore Jr., 41, invited Ehle and Baker to his apartment after meeting them in a bar in 1995. Once there, the men gagged Whittemore with socks, tied him to his bed, ransacked his apartment and stole his car. The victim died of asphyxiation. Plea bargain for Baker, jury trial for Ehle.

Timothy Bryan Barlow, 27
In 1989, Barlow raped Gloria Waldrop, then strangled her and shot her in the head in her car, which was found at a construction site. Barlow, who had worked at a nearby gas station, was arrested and tried 10 years later. Jury trial.

William Jamar Belton, 19
Belton, a convicted burglar, strangled Addie Dean, 84, in 1995 in her Marietta home. He ransacked the house and stole her 1982 Buick Regal, which was recovered in Pennsylvania after a police chase. Jury trial.

John Wayne Broussard, 20
Broussard was attending a Sweet 16 party in 1999 for a McEachern High School student when a friend got into an argument. Terrence L. Greene, 19, was shot in the back when Broussard and another man fired as many as 13 shots into a crowd. Jury trial.

Daryl Thomas Burton, 18
In 2001, Burton chased Jeffrey Grisham, 19, and beat him to death with a baseball bat while he pleaded for mercy. The murder occurred after a dispute over some stolen speakers. Plea bargain.

Patrick Rancey Burton, 18
Burton and three others, out to rob someone, saw Victor Love, 29, as he was returning from the store in 1994. Burton approached Love along with an accomplice, who shot the victim three times at close range. The assailants ran; Love still had $5 in his pocket when his body was found. Jury trial.

Cortez Carter, 22
In 2002, Carter robbed and strangled Paul Wojcik, 46, a driver for Pizza Hut who had just delivered a pizza to a vacant Marietta apartment. Someone calling himself "Tito" had ordered the pizza from a nearby apartment. Jury trial.

Jimmy Lee Coleman, 19
Coleman shot and killed Phillip and Felix Duvall in a drive-by shooting in 2000. A third victim was shot in the face but survived. Plea bargain.

Savina Delacruz, 20
Delacruz's 3-year-old daughter, Alejandra, died in 2003 after prolonged physical abuse. Alejandra's injuries included extensive bruising and retinal hemorrhages consistent with shaking. Delacruz admitted beating the girl and burning her fingers on a stove to punish her for urinating on the carpet. Jury trial.

Miles Victor Dempsey, 37
Dempsey, a maintenance worker, beat Jennifer Causey, a 17-year-old clerk at an Acworth motel, with a club or similar object in 2001. He robbed the cash register. Jury trial.

Cleveland David Dunn, 25
Dunn tied up Pleasant Payne, 34, at his Austell apartment in a 1996 dispute over a debt. Payne jumped off a second-story balcony to escape, but Dunn chased him down and shot him several times. Plea bargain.

Irma Jean Hall, 48
Hall was charged with assaulting two elderly residents of a Marietta personal care home where she worked as a caretaker. The charges were upgraded to murder when Ethel Majors, 83, died of her injuries in 2000. Plea bargain.

Khambay Inhkeo, 21
Inkheo held up a Texaco gas station in 1997. He shot the clerk, Walter Robinson, 50, when he pulled a gun from behind the counter and opened fire. Inkheo, who had robbed another Texaco a day earlier, fled without taking any money. Plea bargain.

Aubrey Derunte Lewis, 21
Lewis shot Patrick Cousins, 16, in the head during a 1996 robbery in the parking lot of a Marietta apartment complex. A jacket, a wallet, jewelry and car keys were taken. Lewis was arrested in the shoe department of a Value City store in Clayton County. Jury trial.

Keith Dallas London, 30
In 1995, London beat his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter, Brianna Cansler, and threw her down the stairs while her 3-year-old sister watched. Doctors testified bruising suggested a hard kick with a pointed shoe or having a broomstick pushed into the rectum. Jury trial.

Antonio Lowery, 21 (see Robert Aaron Floyd)
Inez Ann Ottis, 25
Lowery, Ottis' boyfriend, confessed to his role in the 1993 murder of two girls, 15 and 7, and testified against his co-defendants. After the killings, Ottis remarked, "What is done is done, they seen [my] face." Plea bargain for Lowery, jury trial for Ottis.

Samuel A. McClure, 20
McClure was riding with two other men to a Kennesaw apartment complex in 2001. When they arrived, McClure demanded money, pulled a gun and shot the driver, Shaun Walker, 19. He wounded another passenger who tried to run away. Jury trial.

George Allen McCutcheon, 19
McCutcheon and a 17-year-old accomplice stole cash and an ounce of marijuana in a June 2000 Smyrna home invasion in which Michael Gresser, 20, was shot and killed. Plea bargain.

Reginald Keith Moore, 36
Moore found John Henry Lamar, 49, in bed with his girlfriend in 1995. He beat him in the head eight to 10 times with a lead pipe and, with his girlfriend's help, dumped the body down a ravine. Moore stole a cellphone and gold chain from Lamar. Jury trial.

Arthur Scott Moss, 39
Dwayne Moss, 34
In 1997, the Moss brothers burglarized the apartment of Zannie Mae Dunn, 26, after knocking on her door to borrow sugar. The older brother stabbed Dunn and stole items that could be pawned for money to buy crack cocaine. Both were sentenced to life without parole because of earlier felony convictions. Jury trial.

Jesus Jesse "Puppet" Parra, 22
Parra, his 17-year-old sister and two juveniles were involved in the 2003 shooting and robbery of Adolfo Alvarez, 26, a cab driver whose body was found near Six Flags Drive in Mableton. They took his cab and cash. Parra also admitted assaults and armed robberies the day before and day after the murder. Plea bargain.

Michelle Lynn Prather, 23
In 1999, Prather shot Thomas Christy, 54, in his Smyrna home after a fight, then dragged him on a rug into his bedroom and put him in bed. She took $380 in cash and ripped a telephone from the bedroom wall. She was arrested later that day driving Christy's car. Jury trial.

Eugenio Cadavillo Quijano Jr., 35
Quijano shot and killed Amanda Puckett, a 16-year-old clerk who was working alone in her mother's jewelry store. Quijano moved to Mexico, then to Seattle and back to Atlanta before he was arrested. Jury trial.

Joseph Anthony Quintana, 35
Quintana shot and killed his friend William Sands, 70, in 1994 during an argument over Quintana's drug use, then stole his car. Quintana confessed to a detention officer and told him, "It was fun." Jury trial.

Donnell Rainey, 16
Dewaine Lamont Williams, 19
Williams and Rainey planned to rob a Marietta convenience store in 1997. Rainey shot the clerk, Hassan Abubakari, 34, while Williams hopped up on the counter and stole cigarettes. Plea bargain for Rainey, jury trial for Williams

Curley James Richard, 21
Richard and another man met Eric Sean Cole, 34, in a club in 2001 and went with him to a motel room. Richard beat and stabbed Cole before taking his money and car. Jury trial.

Ronald Douglas Rouse, 25
Ricky Lewis Wilson, 23
In 1995, Wilson, Rouse and a 15-year-old planned a robbery of the car-rental agency where Wilson worked. The juvenile shot and killed the business' manager, Norris Lee. Jury trial.

Mark Steven Smith, 23
In 1995, Smith beat and choked Keith Stapleton, a 32-year-old businessman from Detroit, in his Galleria-area hotel room, then stole his rental car. Smith said Stapleton had promised him a ride to Atlanta but made him wait while he slept, then propositioned him. Jury trial.

Rodgerick Dane Swanson, 40
In 2003, Swanson burst naked into the Marietta home of a family having Sunday dinner and stabbed Ronald Gresham, 45, several times with a butcher knife. Swanson had been treated for bipolar disorder and admitted using marijuana and cocaine on the day of the assault. He was sentenced to life without parole because he had an earlier conviction for armed robbery. Jury trial.

Michael James Taborn, 20
Makeba T. Thomas, 21
In 1995, Taborn and Thomas, his girlfriend, murdered Deidre Stewart, 26, a chiropractic student at Life College who had let them live temporarily in her vacant townhouse. After beating her with a table leg and suffocating her with a plastic bag, they ransacked her apartment and stole her car and jewelry. Jury trial.

Julia Lynn Turner, 26
In 1995, Turner poisoned her husband, Cobb County police officer Glenn Turner, with antifreeze to collect insurance and death benefits. She was sentenced this year to life without parole for poisoning a second man, a Forsyth County firefighter who fathered her two children, six years later. Jury trial.

Michael Andrew Washington, 20
Washington and a 16-year-old accomplice entered a hot wings store in Marietta in 2002. Washington robbed and shot Myung Ho Cho, 64, twice in the chest. Jury trial.

James Edward Wilson, 17
In 2003, Wilson strangled Curtis Emmitt Paris, the 82-year-old owner of a trailer park, and stole his truck, wallet and wedding ring. Plea bargain.

Nicholas Stephen Wood, 20
In 1998, Wood shook, beat and dropped his 9-month-old stepdaughter, Bryanna Cox, causing injury and fractures to her ribs, abdomen, liver and leg. Plea bargain.

Eric R. Wooten, 34
Wooten, a doctor with a practice in Forest Park, strangled, stabbed and beat his ex-wife, Phyllis Wooten, in 2001. He rolled her body up in a carpet and put it in the crawlspace under his house. Plea bargain.