DAY TWO

DeKalb murder prosecutions

District Attorney: J. Tom Morgan

Party: Democrat; Served: 1992-2004

District Attorney: Jeffrey Brickman

Party: Republican; Served: 2004

"I do believe life without parole is better. I believe we have more life without parole sentences because of the death penalty, because [defendants are] looking at the death penalty and saying, 'Look, I'm not going to roll the dice. I'll take life without parole.'"

Record: Morgan and Brickman filed death notices against 25 of 117 eligible defendants. All were offered plea bargains. None received the death penalty, and 15 went to prison for life without parole.

Analysis: No one has received a death sentence in DeKalb since 1989. Morgan said he was obligated to pursue capital punishment, but he believes the death penalty is often a "travesty" for grieving family members because completing a capital trial can take years.

THE CASES

Life without Parole (Death sought)

Thomas Isaac Allen, 23 (see James Medell Echols and Jonathan Smith)
In 1996, Allen shot Frank Montgomery, 68, an employee of Shooters Pawn Shop in Clarkston. Allen and two co-defendants stole guns and jewelry. He confessed and pleaded guilty to five other armed robberies, including one in which he left another clerk for dead. Plea bargain.

Falicia Blakely, 18
Blakely, a prostitute, robbed and killed three johns — Raymond Goodwin, 34; Claudell Christmas, 35, and Lemetrius Twitty, 29 — in a one-night spree in 2002. Plea bargain. (An accomplice, Ameshia Ervin, 20, was sentenced to life in prison.)

Bradley Colton, 29
Colton shot and killed his estranged wife, Barbara Ann Wheeler, 23, and her boyfriend's brother, Charles Brooks, 36, outside the Avondale MARTA station in 1994. Wheeler's boyfriend was shot twice but survived. Colton's sons, ages 2 and 1, witnessed the murders. Jury trial.

Danny Edward Deloney, 27
Deloney held his 6-year-old daughter, Porsha Whitehouse, and her 8-year-old half-sister at knifepoint in 1999 while he set his ex-girlfriend's Candler Drive apartment on fire. Porsha died from smoke inhalation and burns. Plea bargain.

Charles Lee Duffy, 21
Duffy confessed to fatally shooting Gwendolyn Wyche, a 42-year-old mother, in the head while she walked down Columbia Drive in 1997. She had $54 in her purse, which Duffy used to buy crack cocaine. Two days later, Duffy shot and killed Pok Yeo Kim, a mother of three, in the head at Buddy's convenience store. Plea bargain.

John Vincent Echols III, 19 (see Michael Lynn Pollack)
Echols shot and killed Juvantino Silva, 25, an Indiana National Guardsman who was in town to provide security at the 1996 Olympic Games. A few months later, he killed Laboris Jones, 20, who owed him money for some stereo equipment. Plea bargain.

Rocky Hayes, 31
In 1996, Hayes beat Devante T. Nicholson, his girlfriend's 4-year-old son, to death while she was on Army Reserve duty. A medical investigator called the beating "the worst I've ever seen." Plea bargain.

Mark Steven Heald, 38
Heald forced Billie Chapman, a 67-year-old antiques dealer, to write him a $1,000 check in 1997 and then pushed her down a flight of stairs and hit her with a ceramic statuette. Plea bargain.

Dudley Hughes III, 19
Hughes shot Charles Barney, 20, and Fareedah Dukes, 16, in the head execution-style after breaking into their home in 1994. Plea bargain.

Andre Jerome Idlett, 27
Idlett, jealous of his ex-girlfriend Chamica Hardaway's new relationship, killed her, her friend Reginald Johnson and her 3-year-old daughter, D'Keesyiah Hardaway, in 2000. Plea bargain.

Razsan Jefferson, 23
Jefferson robbed 20-year-old Jamie Mulligan, a neighbor and a business major at Morris Brown College, in 2000. He locked her in the trunk of her Ford Escort; the car was set on fire. Plea bargain.

James Alexander Philpot, 26
Philpot got into a fight with a nightclub bouncer in 1995. He retrieved a 10mm pistol from a friend's car, shot one of the bouncers five times and then fired into the crowded club, killing Adrian Chester, a club employee, and injuring three others. Jury trial.

Robert Lewis Rush Jr., 24
Rush shot and killed Tamileo Odister, 19, in 1996, taking his shoes and Ford Escort. He was indicted but never tried for the killing of Carolyn Thomas, 43, later that day in her Fulton County flower shop. Negotiated sentence.

Vernon Cortez Smith, 22
Smith shot and killed his former Hardee's restaurant manager, Kelly Jean Slocumb, 23, during a 1994 robbery. Smith said he killed her because he was afraid she would recognize him. He and his co-defendants pocketed $200. Plea bargain.

Tony Bernard Williams, 30
In 1997, Williams and a co-defendant rented a hotel room where they took drugs and made a lot of noise. After hotel manager Harshesh Patel, 32, called the room to complain, the men went to the office and choked, beat and stabbed him with a garden tool with sharp tines. They then took $200 from the cash register. Plea bargain.

Life in Prison (Death sought)

Lorenzo Critten, 44
Critten shot and killed two homeless men, then cut off their hands to get rid of their fingerprints in an insurance scam. He planted his contact information in their pockets and claimed he was their brother. He collected $100,000 after the first murder in 2001, but police became suspicious after the second death in 2002. Plea bargain.

Ahmond Dunnigan, 25
Samuel Parham, 17
Dunnigan, the leader of a gang called "Doom," and Parham tortured and killed Marsinah Johnson, 13, in 1993. They beat her, burned her with a red-hot knife and wire coat hanger and poured alcohol on her wounds. Then she was sodomized and shot twice in the head. Plea bargain. (Dunnigan was sentenced to life without parole in Fulton County for the 1993 torture slaying of Nekita Waller, 15.)

Donzell Johnson, 18
In 1998, Johnson crashed a "Sweet 16" birthday party in Stone Mountain where he thought he was disrespected. He fetched a .357 revolver and shot at a group of teens, killing Levi Simon III, 17, who was about to begin his first year at Fort Valley State College on a music scholarship. Plea bargain.

Michael Lynn Pollack, 20 (see John Vincent Echols)
Pollock was present when Echols shot and killed Laboris Jones, 20, in 1996 because he believed Jones owed him money. Echols told Pollack that if he participated in the crime he would be admitted to a gang. Plea bargain.

Bautista Ramirez, 19
Ramirez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, killed Doraville police Detective Hugo Arango, 24, in 2000. Ramirez said he killed Arango because he was afraid the officer was going to shoot him after finding a handgun during a search outside a nightclub. Jury trial.

Jimmy Lee Rucker, 24
Rucker bound Evelyn Whitlow, a 66-year-old grandmother, with an electrical cord, shoved her in a closet, started a fire, and then blocked the closet door with a chifferobe in 1994. The prosecution could not come up with a motive. Plea bargain.

Shawn Stewart, 25
Stewart beat and tortured Kyshawn Punter, his girlfriend's 2-year-old son, in 2003. The child was admitted to the hospital with blunt force trauma to his head, shaken baby syndrome and burns. Plea bargain.

Demaris Thomas, 18
Thomas robbed a store in 1997 to pay a debt he owed for a gun. He shot the owner, Andrew Lowe, 57. Plea bargain.

Demarco Wymbs, 19
Wymbs, known as "Little Ugly," pleaded guilty in the 1991 torture and murder of Lauriel Leonard, 42. Wymbs and a co-defendant robbed Leonard, burned his skin with bleach, stabbed him several times, shot him and ran him over with a car. Plea bargain.

Life in prison (Death not sought)

Darryl Adams, 21
Adams befriended Calvin Carson, a 49-year-old math teacher at Mays High School, in 1998 and gave him a ride from a gas station. He shot Carson 15 times in the head and torso after Carson allegedly made homosexual advances. Jury trial.

Asif Ahmadi, 68
Ahmadi, a native of Afghanistan, shot and killed his estranged wife, Shamsi Ahmadi, 52, and 34-year-old daughter Roshan Haney in a 2000 domestic dispute. Then he cut his own throat. Ahmadi died in prison a year later. Plea bargain.

Darren Alladyce, 22
Jack Cofield, 20
Adam Upperman, 26

The three co-defendants were involved in a $3,200 drug deal that ended with three people dead at a Tucker motel in 1998. The victims were Keith Allen White, 33; Livingston Laura, 31; and Terry Kimbrough, 22. A prosecutor said he did not pursue the death penalty because police could not identify the triggerman. Plea bargain.

Haile Allen, 20
In 1998, Allen shot and robbed a friend, Terrance McRae, 20, who was carrying money to buy a set of wheel rims for his car. Jury trial.

Christopher Arthur, 19
Arthur shot and killed Mohinder Kumar, 53, a clerk at a LaVista Road liquor store, during a 2000 robbery. Plea bargain.

Marcus Austin, 18
Austin worked as a handyman for David Schultz, 38, until Schultz fired him for stealing a credit card number and two checks. In 1996, he stabbed Schultz with a pruning shear at his Sagamore Hills home while a friend held him at gunpoint. Jury trial.

Orlando Corey Bell, 18
In 2001, Bell and two accomplices robbed Jorge Galan, 52, as he stopped at a gas station on the way home from work. Bell shot Galan in the stomach and took his wallet, which held $5. Plea bargain.

Quinton Bibbs, 19
Mike Morris, 39, was killed at his Tucker golf shop in 1999; the killer took thousands of dollars and two guns. Two years later, police found the guns during a traffic stop, then found Nike sneakers with Morris' blood on them when they searched Bibbs' apartment. Jury trial.

Victor Biggs, 23
In 1994, Biggs shot and killed Ebony Cameron, 19, a crack cocaine dealer, after knocking on her apartment door and forcing his way inside. He was also convicted of the murder of her unborn child. Jury trial.

Junior Allen Blake, 44,
Blake couldn't get over it when Shelly Richards, 47, whom he'd dated for a couple months, broke up with him in 1997. He talked her into driving him to a car dealership. When she came to pick him up, he shot her 14 times, then stabbed her repeatedly. Her 1-year-old grandson witnessed the incident. Jury trial.

Bryce Bonaparte, 21
John Mallard, 18
Mallard shot and killed Pablo Rivera, 35, during a home-invasion robbery in 1999. Plea bargain for Mallard, jury trial for Bonaparte.

David Breland, 21
Breland was asked to leave a convenience store in 1996 because he was drunk. Michael Cook approached and offered to sell him a beer. Breland took it without paying and shot Cook four times when he tried to get it back. Jury trial.

Larry Lee Brewer, 42
Brewer's wife, Linda Kay Brewer, 42, left him in 2003, taking their 8-year-old son and checking into a motel. He persuaded her to return the next day, then shot her when she arrived and again as she ran away in front of their son. Plea bargain.

Larry Cornelius Burgess, 30
Leviticus Swift, 26
In 2000, Swift and Larry Burgess kidnapped Deanthony Carter, 29, bound him and put him in a car trunk. They drove him to a remote area and each man shot him in the head. Carter had stolen drugs from Swift. Jury trial.

Anthony Butler, 23
Damion Foley, 17
Foley shot Evelyn Carlock, 62, as he and Butler robbed her in a Cub Foods parking lot in 1994. They chose Carlock because she was alone. Carlock had less than $5 in her purse, which was not taken. Jury trial.

Zhukov Camphor, 47
Valecia Henderson had obtained a court order barring Camphor, her ex-husband, from her house. In July 1997, Camphor entered the home and found Tony Leslie, her 37-year-old boyfriend, who was repairing a VCR. She watched as Camphor shot and killed him. Jury trial.

Desmond Carr, 17
Lashundra Carr, 22
Unree Carr, 20
Lindsey Humphrey, 21
Robert Carlos Jackson, 26
Joseph Rayford, 23
The Carrs and others took part in the 2003 torture-beating of Kareem Cowan, a 20-year-old neighbor who had allegedly threatened to kill Lashundra Carr's children. Her friends and relatives lured Cowan out of his house, beat and kicked him, stripped him naked, urinated on him, poured gasoline on him and dumped him in the woods. His body was found three days later behind Columbia Elementary School. Jury trial for Lashundra Carr, plea bargain for others.

Dante Collins, 21
Maganbhai Patel, 59, had just bought his Stone Mountain dry-cleaning business in 1996. Collins entered and asked from some dry cleaning; he shot Patel when he returned from the back of the store while an accomplice was trying to break into the cash register. Jury trial.

Kenya Ferlando Davis, 20
Davis shot and killed Nicholas Grant, 20, in a drug-related robbery in 1999. Prosecutors said he later killed two witnesses so they could not testify against him, but he was not charged with those killings. Jury trial.

Joel Lee Domingues, 33
Domingues' girlfriend believed her brother had improperly taken items from their mother's estate. In 1999, they lured him away from his house so they could search it. After entering the home, Domingues stabbed Kelly Fuss, the brother's 31-year-old wife, 30 times. Jury trial.

Richard Dorsey, 68
Dorsey snuck into the house of Sheila Walls, 40, a former girlfriend, in 1998 and found her in bed with Willie James Pope, 42. He shot and killed them both. Jury trial.

Sidney Dorsey, 60
Dorsey had been sheriff of DeKalb County for four years when Derwin Brown, a DeKalb police captain, unseated him in the 2000 Democratic primary. At Dorsey's direction, Brown was ambushed and gunned down as he returned home a few weeks before he was to take office. Jury trial.

James Medell Echols, 23
Jonathan Smith, 19
Smith and James stole numerous guns and jewelry from a Clarkston pawn shop in 1996. A co-defendant. Thomas Isaac Allen, shot and killed a clerk, Frank Montgomery, 68. Plea bargains.

Ameshia Ervin, 20
Ervin, a prostitute, took part in the robbery and murder of three johns — Raymond Goodwin, 34; Claudell Christmas, 35, and Lemetrius Twitty, 29 — in a one-night spree in 2002. Plea bargain.

Demetre Evans, 29
Oshadotaive Roberson, 27
In 2004, the women beat Evans' 4-year-old daughter, Rita Moody, with a leather strap and sexually molested her with a wooden dowel in front of her other children. Plea bargain for Evans, jury trial for Roberson.

Octavious Fann, 21
Fann shot Clemmie Adams, 33, and stole his Lincoln Navigator in 2000. He stood over him in the street yelling, "Give me the money. Give me the dope." He sold the Navigator's wheels and rims for $500 and then abandoned it. Jury trial.

Antonio Freeman, 25
Freeman killed Aaron Pounds, 18, at a Memorial Drive apartment complex in 1998. He and three accomplices robbed Pounds of cash and marijuana. Jury trial.

Zarai Frezghi, 37
Frezghi, a native of Eritrea, stabbed his 31-year-old wife, Askula Gebremeskel, 44 times and cut her throat while pursuing her through their home in 1995. Jury trial.

Manuel Griffin, 18
Alex Scruggs, 18
In 1997, Scruggs' girlfriend, a stripper, lured Jamar Lewis, 34, into the laundry room in her Brockett Road apartment complex. The men ambushed Lewis, shot him in the back and stomach and robbed him. Jury trial.

Richard Guevara, 22
Guevara, smelling strongly of alcohol, shot and killed Fernando Martinez, 30, and Emilio Perez, 22, in 1994 at a Clairmont Road nightclub. Plea bargain.

Eugene Hammond, 45
Hammond, who had once served three years in prison for armed robbery, shot his 16-year-old son Carl Carstarphen after he intervened in a domestic dispute between his parents at their Decatur home in 1999. Jury trial.

Ian Harris, 18
Demond Johnson, 21
Johnson shot Cesar Garcia, a Mexican Army doctor, in front of his wife and two children in a 1994 robbery in the parking lot of a Doraville hotel. Harris drove the getaway car. Jury trial.

Albert Henley, 37
Henley beat his 13-year-old son to death in 2000 with a belt and electrical cord. He beat Antonio Gunn for 45 minutes for using a birthday gift of $5 to buy lunch at school. Henley told his wife afterward, "I'm glad the Lord has taught me how to whip [Antonio]." Jury trial.

Carl Hewitt, 23
Hewitt and his brother attacked and beat purported drug dealer Jeffrey "Nigel" George, 26, then shot him six times with an AK-47. The 2001 assault occurred in front of the home of Patrick Cuffy, the admitted triggerman who received immunity in the murder three months earlier of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown. Jury trial.

Stanley Hollmon, 20
Obed Thomas III, 34, was driving home about 4 a.m. in 2002 when he stopped at a traffic light. Hollmon approached the pickup truck and tried to force Thomas to slide over. Hollmon shot Thomas when he refused and stepped on the accelerator. Plea bargain.

Belinda Howard, 18
Howard shot and killed Tony Ehigie, 40, a Nigerian immigrant and father of three who drove a cab, while robbing him of $80 in 2001. Plea bargain.

Eric Johnson Jr., 18
Johnson ordered a pizza, then robbed and shot the deliveryman, Sidney Souza-Neto, 22, in 2001. He claimed the shotgun went off during a struggle. Plea bargain.

Lewis Jordan, 30
Jordan severely beat his wife, Victoria, during an argument in 1993, then threw her in his car. He said he drove her around but was scared to take her to a hospital. When he realized she was dead, he abandoned the car and walked to a bus station. Plea bargain.

Ramone Kegler, 23
Kegler and two others arranged a 1994 drug buy at an apartment, where they robbed and tied up two people. The drug dealer, Tim Dunlap, 29, was shot and killed when he entered the apartment. Jury trial.

Vernon Kennedy, 40
Kennedy, a drifter with two prior convictions for armed robbery, accosted 71-year-old Leo Houston at a truck stop in 1995. He hit Houston over the head with a beer bottle and strangled him, then took his pickup truck and wallet. He was arrested a week later as he gassed up Houston's truck. Plea bargain.

Johnny Franklin Lee, 22
Lee, just released from jail in 2001, was at a gas station with some friends, talking about robbing someone to make some quick money. An automobile pulled in to the station. Lee told a witness he planned to rob one of the car's occupants, approached the vehicle and shot passenger Charles Watford. Jury verdict.

Therron Lockheart, 19
Lockheart and a friend shot Lucius Adkison, 53, in 2001 as he lay unconscious in his car. They wanted money, but Adkison's wallet turned out to be empty. Jury trial.

Ernest Love, 23
In 1994, Love fired several shots at a rival gang member. Love missed but his shots struck an innocent 17-year-old bystander, Sonya Victrum. Jury trial.

Pierre Mayfield, 17
In 1999, Mayfield and two others attempted to rob drug dealers Demetrius and Stanley Holder in their apartment. The Holder brothers were shot when they resisted. Demetrius died; Stanley lived but spent four months in the hospital. Jury verdict.

Bianca Miller, 22
Robert Rolack, 23
Miller and Rolack, her boyfriend, killed his former boss, Richard Lerza, in 2001 while Lerza was driving Rolack's former delivery route. They stole his truck and about $4,000. Plea bargain.

Jamal Miller, 19
In 1995, Miller ambushed Larry Thomas and shot him 10 times in the back at the request of Thomas' wife, who wanted to collect the insurance money. Before the killing, Miller insisted she give him a written contract, which she scrawled on a piece of paper. Lanekia Thomas died in childbirth before facing trial for murder. Jury verdict.

James Fitzgerald Mitchell, 32
Mitchell shot and killed four longtime friends who were gathered to watch a late-night NBA playoff game in 2003. He told police he feared they were "setting him up," but witnesses said there was no sign of a dispute before Mitchell opened fire. Plea bargain.

Reginald Murphy, 29
Damien Chapman, 15
In 1997, Murphy choked Chapman's mother, Janelle Sanders, with a video game controller after smoking crack cocaine. He said he did it because Chapman told him he hated his mother and wanted her dead. Murphy then tied her up and suffocated her by taping plastic bags over her head. They took her cash to buy drugs. Jury verdict.

Leonard Parks, Jr., 21
Kevin Taylor, 22
Ronnie Purvis, 19
Parks, Taylor and Purvis decided to rob Anthony Bailey in 1998 because he had taken a stereo from Parks' car. Purvis, accompanied by Taylor, broke into Bailey's house and shot him while Parks waited in the car. Jury verdict.

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 Preston, 20
Preston carjacked Lenita Howard, 35, shooting her and a passenger in a parking lot on New Year's Day 2002. A police officer pulled Preston over as he drove off with Howard's body dragging behind the car by a seatbelt. Jury trial.

Ciprian Ramirez, 31
In 1998, Ramirez kicked in the door of an apartment where Maria Green, a woman with whom he'd had a prior relationship, was with another man. He stabbed her with a butcher knife, chased her to the leasing office and stabbed her three more times. Jury verdict.

Antwane Robinson, 23
In 2002, Robinson drove his victim to pick up and cash a $2,000 insurance check. The victim was found shot to death four days later. Jury verdict.

Willie James Robinson, 33
In July 2000, Robinson climbed in a window to rape a single mother, with whom he had a prior relationship, while her two children slept nearby. He stabbed her 13 times and set the duplex on fire. He was later convicting of raping and stabbing another single mother five months earlier. Plea bargain.

John Sampson, 21
Gregory Styles, 18
Sampson and Styles, who were brothers, held up a group of men playing cards in 2002. When the men resisted, Styles shot one of them in the leg, and Sampson shot and killed Lafe Johnson. He also shot himself in the foot. Jury verdict.

Rolland Simon Jr., 20
Simon and two co-defendants followed an older couple home from a restaurant in 1997 and attacked them as they sat in their driveway. The men hit the woman in the head and shot and killed her husband, Frederick Miller, a disabled Korean War veteran. They stole and torched the couple's car. Plea bargain.

Eddie Smart, 20
Smart stabbed minister James Henry Williams more than 40 times in Williams' apartment in 1999. Smart claimed Williams made homosexual advances; prosecutors said he'd told a friend he wanted to rob Williams. Jury verdict.

Bruce N. Smith, 41
While high on crack cocaine and marijuana, Smith stabbed his wife, Wilana Smith, at least six times in 1994 in front of their 10-year-old son. He told police it was because he discovered she had been appearing in pornographic films for drug money. Plea bargain.

Edward George Smith, 46
In 1994, Smith set fire to a hotel frequented by homeless people as revenge against a man he'd quarreled with. Hector Ortiz died in the blaze and another man was injured. Jury verdict.

Charles Townes, 22
Townes asked his Eatzi's co-worker, Marc Jackson, for a ride after work in 1999. Townes slit Jackson's throat and stole his car and cell phone; tree cutters found Jackson's body eight months later. Plea bargain.

Jeremy Veasley, 25
Veasley fatally stabbed an acquaintance, Kelvin Banks, in his apartment in 1996. He chased Banks' girlfriend from the apartment and choked her in the parking lot until she pretended she was dead. Then, after she returned to check on Banks, he crashed through the front window and stabbed her repeatedly. Jury verdict.

Otis Weldon, 23
Weldon shot Edward Rouse in the chest with a shotgun in 2003. Rouse was in a drug house to trade a gun for methamphetamine when Rouse and others decided to beat and rob him. Jury verdict.

Kourtnay Wiggins, 25
Wiggins was drinking at the same bar as Truvoy Washington one night in 2001 until 3 a.m. Washington's body was found an hour later in the parking lot of Wiggins' apartment complex. Authorities seized a baseball bat and a bloody plastic bag containing Washington's wallet from Wiggins' apartment. Jury verdict.

Alonzo Wilson, 48
Wilson, a convicted rapist, strangled Selina Ridley and attempted to rape her in 2001. He claimed she had picked him up in her car to help her find cocaine. He was sentenced as a recidivist to life without parole. Jury verdict.

Derrick Worthem, 21
Worthem tried to hold up a Southeast Atlanta supermarket in 1996. A clerk, John Kyung Jun, pulled a pistol from behind a counter and shot Worthem in the leg. Worthem returned fire, hitting Jun four times. Jury trial.

Jose Wright, 20
Wright planned to rob David Whitley in 1995 while buying marijuana from him. They tussled in Whitley's truck and Wright shot him. Wright was shot in the leg in the incident. Plea bargain.

Melissa Wright, 28
In 1998, Wright killed her lover, Navy Seaman James Preston, in hopes of collecting on a $200,000 insurance policy. She shot him in the head with a .38 caliber revolver fired through a pillow. Jury verdict.