Steven Mobley was sentenced to death for killing a pizza shop manager during a three-week robbery spree 14 years ago. Stephen A. Mobley, 39, was executed at the state prison in Jackson for the Feb. 17, 1991 murder of 24-year-old John Collins. The Georgia Supreme Court denied a stay of execution late in the afternoon, but just before 7 p.m. a federal court ordered a delay of up to one hour. The court ended the delay within 30 minutes and the execution took place. In a recorded statement made shortly before the execution, Mobley thanked his family "for their support and prayers through this seemingly unending struggle." He also thanked the victim's family "for their mercy and forgiveness." Mobley was convicted of murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and firearm possession in the death of 24-year-old John Collins at a Domino's Pizza in an Atlanta suburb. Mobley emptied the cash register and shot John in the head.  Mobley committed six additional armed robberies at restaurants and dry cleaners over a three-week period. He was arrested following a high-speed chase as he fled the scene of an attempted armed robbery, and the gun used in the murder was thrown from the car during the chase. Prior to the murder, Mobley had been convicted of at least seven other crimes, including credit card theft and burglary, that were committed between 1983 and 1986. Court records say evidence presented during Mobley's sentencing hearing included testimony that he tattooed the word "Domino" on his shoulder, sexually assaulted another inmate on two occasions while in pretrial detention, and threatened a guard by saying he "looked more and more like a Domino's delivery boy every day."

Willie Pondexter was sentenced to death for the 1993 slaying of a Clarksville heiress. On Oct. 29, 1993, James Henderson and Willie Poindexter broke into the home of Martha Lennox, the 85-year-old heiress to millions of dollars of a land-rich Red River County family. The two were arrested in Dallas in a stolen vehicle. Martha's home, land and millions were placed in a foundation for charities in Red River and Lamar counties. Case details are as follows: On the night of October 28, 1993, Ricky Bell, James Bell, Deon Williams, and Willie Earl Pondexter, Jr. met at an apartment and discussed robbing "an old lady." Following this discussion, the group walked to a corner store, and then to Martha Lennox's house where they checked to see what kind of car she owned. The group then walked to a trailer park, and then to a friend's house. Once there, they met with James Henderson. Pondexter borrowed a car and all five drove to Annona to buy beer and go to a club. During the drive to and from Annona, the five talked about robbing “the old lady,” and about “crips and bloods and stuff.” Specifically, they discussed which crip “had the heart” to do what they were planning to do to “the old lady.” On the way to Martha's house, the group stopped at a store where they talked about which crip had the heart to knock out a man who happened to be getting gas. Although Williams and Henderson did get out of the car, no harm was actually done to the man. The group drove to the victim's house, but parked the car a few blocks away. On their first attempt to enter the house, they were scared away by the sight of a patrolling police car. Four of the five ran back to the car, but James Bell ran in another direction and was not seen by the rest of the group again that night. Pondexter, Henderson, Williams, and Ricky Bell went back to the victim's house where Pondexter kicked in the front door. All four proceeded up the stairs and into the bedroom where the victim was sitting on her bed. Once all four were in the bedroom, Williams took the seven dollars that was in the victim’s coin purse. Immediately thereafter, Henderson shot the victim in the head and handed the gun to Pondexter. Pondexter also shot the victim in the head, stating “that’s how you smoke a bitch.” The four drove to Dallas and were arrested in the victim’s car. During the guilt-innocence phase of trial, Dr. Guileyardo, the Chief Medical Examiner for Dallas County, testified that he performed the autopsy on the victim. He testified that she had been shot twice and that the cause of death was “gunshot wounds to the head.” One bullet entered “through the [left] side of her skull, it went into her mouth, it went through her tongue, it went down and struck her jawbone on the right side and shattered that jawbone on the right side and then the bullet came out beneath her right ear. . . .” Another bullet entered through the forehead and “went all the way through the brain and came out the back of her head.” Henderson was tried separately prior to Pondexter’s trial and convicted of the capital murder of Martha Lennox and sentenced to death.

On June 17, 1998, Robert Freeman was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime in connection with the shotgun shooting deaths of 46-year old Mamie Shamsid-Din and 63-year old Dalton Johnson. Freeman was formally sentenced to death on June 19, 1998. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in an opinion dated May 30, 2003. *There are still appeals pending in this case and the execution is not expected to take place on this date. UPDATE: A judge's order issued today says the state can't execute a convicted killer on March 8th as planned. The ruling comes in the case of Robert Freeman, a 69-year-old man on death row since 1998 for a pair of Philadelphia shootings. Freeman is convicted of killing Mamie Shamsid-Din and Dalton Johnson. Philadelphia Judge John Poserina issued the stay of execution to give Freeman more time to pursue appeals. The evidence presented at trial established that Freeman had an intermittent, romantic relationship with Mamie Shamsid-Din over the course of many years. Although they were never married and never lived together, Freeman and Mamie had a child together, a daughter named Denise, who was approximately 21 years old at the time of the murders. Their relationship was, by all accounts, tempestuous. Testimony was presented that Freeman beat Mamie and frequently stalked her; he would follow her in his car, ride by her place of work, and wait outside of places where he knew she could be located. During the last year of her life, Mamie took steps to avoid contact with Freeman, including entering her place of work by a side entrance, changing her work hours and, on several occasions, not reporting to work at all. Approximately six months prior to the murder, Mamie began a romantic relationship with Dalton Johnson, and she eventually moved into Johnson's home in Ambler, Pennsylvania. On September 6, 1989, Dalton was dropping Mamie off at her place of work at 52nd and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, when Freeman suddenly appeared at the driver's side window of Dalton's car and began beating him in the face and body with his fists. Dalton, who was immobilized by his seatbelt during the attack, sustained cuts and bruises and required hospitalization. Freeman was arrested at the scene and was ultimately charged with aggravated assault. On September 21, 1989, Freeman rented two cars from two separate rental car companies. Later that morning, he appeared at the main office of his employer and requested his paycheck, which was usually delivered to the job site. At approximately 2:00 pm that same day, Freeman met with his daughter who noticed that Freeman had a large amount of cash in his possession - approximately $5,300 - and two rental car keys. Freeman admitted to his daughter that he had beaten Dalton Johnson and told her that he would have killed him if Dalton had gotten out of his car. In addition, Freeman told his daughter that he was not going to let Dalton Johnson take his "wife" and that he was going to kill him. He also told Denise that she would not be seeing him for a long time. The next day, September 22, 1989, Freeman appeared outside Mamie's office in one of the rental cars that he had rented the day before. When Dalton Johnson and Mamie drove up, Freeman walked up to their car armed with a loaded, high-powered, pump-action shotgun and shot Dalton once in the head. He then turned the gun on Mamie and shot her in the face at least once. The victims died almost instantaneously. Freeman then got into his rental car and fled the jurisdiction. Almost seven years later, on August 22, 1996, police apprehended Freeman at his brother's home in Washington, D.C. after his sister-in-law called police with Freeman's whereabouts. As police took him into custody, Freeman told his brother that he would get the gas chamber for killing two people. At trial, several witnesses identified Freeman as the shooter. *There are still appeals pending in this case and the execution is not expected to take place on this date. 

In June 2001, Hanible was sentenced to death for the street robbery and shooting of 74-year old Milton Wise, who “ran numbers” in Philadelphia. Hanible was also convicted of second-degree murder for killing Wise’s “numbers” partner, 30-year old Rodney Walters. Hanible was formally sentenced to death on June 13, 2001. *There are still appeals pending in this case and the execution is not expected to take place on this date. 

Alexander Martinez had numerous criminal convictions since the age of 18, including theft, criminal mischief, aggravated assault and attempted murder.  He had been released on parole on July 20, 2001.  Less than one month later, Martinez sexually assaulted Helen Joyce Oliveros, a 45-year-old woman, robbed her of $150, then stabbed her to death. In an appeal, Martinez concedes that he murdered the victim, but claims that the only evidence supporting a finding that he committed the murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault came from a "jail snitch" who was not worthy of belief. Martinez gave three different versions of the offense to police. In his first confession, videotaped on August 23, 2001, he stated that he arranged a meeting with the victim, a prostitute, on the phone. He agreed to the victim's price of over two hundred dollars, but he "told her that just to get her there." He stated that he really planned on trying "to get it for free." He stated that he met Helen at a mall and they got into her car and began driving. When he attempted to negotiate the price with Helen as they were driving, she became upset. Martinez told Helen to pull over so he could use the phone and when she stopped, he dragged her out of the car and cut her throat with a knife. He said he killed her because he did not like the way she was talking to him. He did not mention anything about sexual contact with the victim. Martinez gave a written statement the following day. This statement was largely consistent with the first statement except that he also stated that he took $150.00 in cash and some cocaine from Helen after he killed her. He reiterated that he agreed to the price for the victim's services on the phone but stated again that he "never intended to pay her that much money." He stated that he "didn't have any money at all." Again, he did not mention sexual contact with the victim. In a third interview Martinez admitted to killing Helen in his room at his mother's house. He stated that he had not been truthful about where he killed Helen because he was trying to protect his mother. In this interview, most of which was taped, Martinez stated that he had sex with Helen before stabbing her and that Helen "complied" with the sex. He also stated, however, that he did not pay her and never intended on paying her. He said he stabbed Helen when she "started tripping" about the money. She wanted to be paid around three hundred dollars and when Martinez told her he would not pay her, Helen started to leave. He said he grabbed her and "put the knife to her."  Cesar Rios, a cell mate of Martinez's at the Harris County Jail, testified for the State. Rios acknowledged his own pending criminal charges for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and aggravated assault. Because he was a "habitual offender" Rios stated that the punishment range for the offenses was two to twenty years and twenty-five to ninety-nine years or life, respectively. Rios testified that could not read and write and that he did not learn any of the facts of the case from any source other than Martinez. Rios testified that Martinez told him about the offense during the course of two different conversations. Martinez told Rios that he contacted Helen through a phone number for an escort service. On the phone, he agreed to the victim's price of $300 which would make her trip across town worthwhile. Martinez told Rios that he really only had $30. Martinez explained that when Helen arrived at his house she sat down on the floor in his room and they began discussing money. Helen wanted the money first and when it became apparent that Martinez did not have it, she got mad and tried to leave. Martinez attempted to stall her, and she again asked him to see the money. Martinez then said Helen "started going off on him." He told Rios that he had a knife in his pocket and when she said she was leaving and started gathering her things, Martinez put the knife to the side of her neck. He said she was still sitting on the floor and he pushed her back. He then got on top of Helen to have sex and pushed the knife into her neck. According to Rios, Martinez told him he was "inside of" Helen attempting to have sex with her when she kicked him off of her. Helen was bleeding and began begging him not to kill her and to call an ambulance. She told him that if he killed her, there would be no one to take care of her dog. Martinez told her to be quiet so as not to wake the others in the house and tried to figure out how he could kill her without making too much noise. He finally sliced across her throat. After she was dead, Martinez put a towel over her sliced throat and had sex with her. He told Martinez he also played with sex toys he found in the victim's bag. When he was done, he stated that he folded Helen up and put her in a trash bag. He kept the body in his closet for about three days before disposing of Helen and her things. Martinez also described cleaning up his room and replacing the carpet. At the end of his testimony, Rios stated that the prosecutor had offered to drop the unauthorized use and habitual criminal charges against him in exchange for his testimony, the result being that Rios would plead to aggravated assault with a punishment range of two to twenty years. Other evidence was consistent with and corroborated Martinez's confessions and Rios' testimony. Houston police officers testified that the blood spatters and stains found in Martinez's room were consistent with Martinez's version that Helen was stabbed while sitting on the floor next to his bed. The victim's body was found in a trash bag at the vacant lot where Martinez stated he had taken it. The condition of the body and the way in which it was wrapped was consistent with Martinez's descriptions. Martinez's brother testified that he had assisted Martinez in replacing the carpet in Martinez's room. He described the stains on the carpet and also described an unpleasant odor in Martinez's room. Finally, the medical examiner testified that although the victim's body was in an advanced state of decomposition when found and was partially "skeletonized," he nonetheless concluded that stabbing to the neck was the cause of death based on hemorrhage in the neck area and cutting lesions to the bones in the neck.

On the early morning of February 28, 1996, the bodies of the victims, Gregory Ewing and D’Angelo Lee, were discovered in a remote part of a construction site in the Berry Hill area of Nashville, Tennessee. Ewing had been shot seven times, including three gunshot wounds to his head. Lee had been shot five times, including three gunshot wounds to his head. As a result of an investigation, the defendant, Christopher A. Davis, was charged with two counts of premeditated first degree murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping. The evidence at the trial was as follows: Antonio Cartwright, age 14, testified that on February 27, 1996, he was smoking marijuana in an apartment located on Herman Street in Nashville with the defendant, Christopher Davis, Yakou “Kay” Murphy, Gdongalay Berry, and an individual nicknamed “Sneak.” Davis told Cartwright that there was going to be a “highjacking . . . and a gun deal” that evening involving D’Angelo Lee and Gregory Ewing. Davis told the others that he wanted Lee’s car and planned to “draw down on him.” Davis told Cartwright that they would have to kill Lee and Ewing because the two victims knew where they lived. Cartwright testified that when Davis, Berry, Murphy, and Sneak left the apartment on foot that evening, Davis was carrying a nine millimeter handgun and Berry was armed with a .45 caliber handgun. Davis and Berry returned in approximately one hour in 2 a white Cadillac with four or five assault rifles, a pair of green tennis shoes with yellow laces, a black and blue jacket, an additional .45 caliber handgun, and a gold cross necklace. Davis told Cartwright that he had killed the two victims and that he had shot Lee nine times in the head. Davis said the bodies had been dumped where they could not be found. Berry said that they needed to burn the Cadillac. Christopher Loyal testified that he saw Davis and Berry on the night of February 27, 1996, and that he helped carry assault rifles from a white Cadillac into Davis’s room in the Herman Street apartment. Loyal saw a backpack with guns in it and noticed that Davis was wearing a gold chain with a cross on it. According to Loyal, Davis said that they had gone to get some guns and that he “unloaded his clip.” Davis told Loyal that one of the victims had begun crying and begging for his life, and that they shot him. Loyal said that Berry seemed upset about what had happened but Davis just appeared “hyper.” Detectives Mike Roland and Pat Postiglione were assigned to investigate the homicides of Gregory Ewing and D’Angelo Lee after the victims were found on the morning of February 28, 1996. Later that morning, Postiglione, along with two other detectives, went to an apartment at 2716-B Herman Street to investigate a tip they received from “Crimestoppers” regarding an unrelated murder that had occurred near Tennessee State University (“TSU”). While the detectives were questioning Ronald Benedict, the lessee of the apartment, and fourteen-year-old Antonio Cartwright, they noticed a rifle under a bed in an adjacent room. As the detectives were discussing a search of the apartment, Christopher Davis walked in unannounced with Dimitrice “Dee” Martin, Berry, and Brad Benedict, Ronald Benedict’s brother. Davis was talking on a cell phone and one of the other men was carrying an assault rifle. When the detectives announced their presence and drew their weapons, Davis, Berry and Brad Benedict fled from the apartment. Davis was caught one block from the apartment. A .45 caliber automatic handgun that Davis had discarded during the chase and the assault rifle that one of the other men had been carrying were also recovered. Berry and Brad Benedict, however, were not apprehended that day. Davis was arrested, taken back to the apartment on Herman Street, and placed in a patrol car while the apartment was searched. Davis denied that he lived in the apartment. The search of Davis’s bedroom uncovered a nine millimeter handgun, an M-1 assault rifle, three SKS assault rifles, several handguns, ammunition, $1,400 in currency inside a Crown Royal bag, two pair of muddy gloves, muddy tennis shoes, handcuffs, a pager, a cell phone, and a backpack containing cans of spray paint. Detective Postiglione also saw a pair of green tennis shoes with yellow laces that were later identified as belonging to the victim, D’Angelo Lee. Davis was taken to the Criminal Justice Center in the back of a patrol car with Antonio Cartwright. Cartwright testified that while riding in the patrol car, Davis told him to remove the gold cross necklace from Davis’s neck and to place it in Davis’s pocket. Dimitrice Martin testified that she was Davis’s girlfriend. While she waited with Davis at the Criminal Justice Center, he asked her to take a gold cross necklace from his pocket and put it in her purse. Davis then told her that Berry and several others had purchased guns the previous night and had returned to the Herman Street apartment with the victims tied up in their car. Davis told her that he and Berry then drove somewhere, took the victims from the car, and began shooting the victims. Davis also told her that Berry had shot both of the victims and that he, Davis, shot D’Angelo Lee. Davis then told Martin to call Ronald Benedict’s girlfriend and ask her to “get rid of” a pair of green and gold tennis shoes left in the apartment. Finally, Martin testified that she received two letters from Davis following his arrest in which he told her to “take the fifth” and not testify against him or in cases involving other members of the Gangster Disciples. Detective Roland interviewed Davis regarding the homicides of Ewing and Lee. Because another detective had previously questioned Davis about the unrelated murder near the TSU campus, Roland confirmed that Davis had been advised of his rights and was willing to talk. Davis denied that he was involved in or had any knowledge of the Ewing and Lee homicides. Detective Roland stopped the interview after 30 minutes because Davis requested an attorney. According to Roland, however, he was later typing up criminal warrants to charge Davis with the Ewing and Lee homicides when Davis told him he wanted to talk to him. Davis signed a written waiver of his rights and gave a videotaped statement. He said that Gdongalay Berry and Yakou “Kay” Murphy met with Ewing and Lee to buy guns and later returned in a Cadillac with the victims tied up in the car. After Berry brought the guns into the Herman Street apartment, Davis accompanied Berry and Murphy in the Cadillac to another location where they got the victims out of the car. Davis told Detective Roland that Berry shot Ewing five times with a .45 caliber handgun and that Murphy shot Lee four times in the back of the head with a nine millimeter handgun. Davis said that they returned to the Herman Street apartment after burning the car. The victims’ family members identified evidence that was recovered from the investigation. Willie Mae Lee, D’Angelo Lee’s mother, testified that the gold cross necklace that was being worn by Davis after the offenses had belonged to her son. Lee testified that her son had been wearing green tennis shoes with yellow laces when he borrowed her car, a white Cadillac, on the evening of February 27, 1996. Brenda Ewing Sanders, Gregory Ewing’s mother, testified that a jacket found in the Herman Street apartment had belonged to her son. The medical examiners who performed the autopsies of the victims were no longer employed by the medical examiner’s office and lived out of state. As a result, Dr. Bruce Levy testified about their findings. Dr. Levy testified that Gregory Ewing had been shot seven times, including three shots to his head. Bullets recovered from Ewing’s shoulder and abdomen appeared to be a different caliber than one recovered from his head. Dr. Levy testified that D’Angelo Lee had been shot three times in the head and once or twice in the hands. One bullet was recovered from the hand wounds. Tommy H. Heflin, the supervisor of firearms identification with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, testified that he received the bullets that had been recovered from the victims’ bodies, a nine millimeter handgun, two .45 caliber handguns, four fired cartridges from a .45 caliber handgun, and eight fired cartridges from a nine millimeter handgun. Heflin concluded that the nine millimeter bullets recovered from the victims had been fired from the nine millimeter handgun that he tested. Although Heflin could not conclude with “absolute certainty” that the nine millimeter cartridges had been fired from the nine millimeter handgun that he tested, he concluded that they had been fired from that handgun or one very similar. Heflin testified that the four .45 caliber cartridges had been fired from the same handgun but not from the two .45 caliber handguns he had been given to examine. He likewise concluded that two .45 caliber bullets recovered from the victims had been fired from the same handgun. Following the prosecution’s case in chief, the defense presented the testimony of the defendant Davis’s grandmother, Susie Boykin. Boykin, who lived five or six blocks from the Herman Street apartment, testified that on February 27, 1996, Gregory Ewing stopped by her house looking for Davis. When Davis later arrived at her house at about 7:00 p.m., she told him that Ewing was looking for him. Davis left but returned a short time later and said he could not find Ewing. According to Boykin, Davis ate dinner with her and stayed until 10:15 p.m. At that point, she asked Davis to stop coming in and out of the house because she needed to get to sleep. Dallas Blackman testified that he saw Davis and Antonio Cartwright at the Court Villa apartments on February 27, 1996, sometime between 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Blackman was with Davis and Cartwright for about 45 minutes. According to Blackman, Davis asked him to rent a motel room for him that evening, but that was not unusual. Donald Moore testified that Yakou Murphy told him that he killed Ewing and Lee after tying them up and making them get on their knees. According to Moore, Murphy said he never liked Ewing and that he had “set up” Davis, Berry, and Moore. Moore conceded that Murphy had testified against him in unrelated cases in which Moore was convicted of first degree murder, second degree murder, and especially aggravated robbery. Moore also acknowledged that he was Davis’s best friend. Yakou Murphy testified that he did not kill Ewing or Lee and that he was not involved in the murders. He also denied that he had told anyone he killed the victims. Murphy testified that Davis and Berry had asked him to go with them to buy guns and that he saw Davis and Berry driving a white Cadillac with two men who appeared to be tied up. Murphy testified that he knew Davis and Berry had handguns and that later that evening, he saw them carrying clothes, shoes, and assault rifles into the apartment. The defendant, Christopher Davis, age 18 at the time of the offenses, testified that he went to the home of his grandmother, Susie Boykin, at about 6:45 to 7:00 p.m. on February 27, 1996, and that he returned around 7:15 to 7:20 p.m. after leaving briefly to look for Ewing. Davis testified that he left his grandmother’s house several times to smoke marijuana with Antonio Cartwright and to sell cocaine. Davis said that after leaving his grandmother’s home around 10:15 p.m., he returned to his apartment on Herman Street where Yakou Murphy asked him to help carry guns and other items into Davis’s bedroom. Davis testified that Murphy told him that he and Berry had robbed someone, and that Berry later said that he and Murphy shot Ewing and Lee. Davis stated that he purchased a necklace from Berry for $200. Davis testified that his statement to police was a “big lie,” that he had not been feeling well in the days before his arrest, and that he had recently received a blood transfusion at Vanderbilt Hospital for an apparent spider bite. Dr. Steven Wolff testified that Davis had been admitted at Vanderbilt on February 18, 1996, and had been given a blood transfusion to treat anemia. Wolff testified that Davis had a lesion on his arm that was consistent with a spider bite and that such a bite could result in anemia. Wolff testified that Davis did not appear to be in distress and that Davis had a normal red blood cell count when he was discharged. After hearing the evidence and deliberating, the jury convicted Davis of two counts of premeditated first degree murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, and two counts of especially aggravated robbery. After the trial court merged the felony murder convictions with the premeditated first degree murder convictions, a sentencing proceeding was conducted to determine punishment.

Jimmie Ray Slaughter, 57, was condemned to death for the 1991 deaths of his former girlfriend, 29-year-old Melody Wuertz, and their daughter, Jessica Rae Wuertz. Melody had overcome many obstacles in her life, including epilepsy that began in junior high school. She moved to Oklahoma City because of a new job, and met Jimmy Ray Slaughter there. Slaughter was more than 10 years  older than Melody and had been married three times. In fact, he was married at the time he began his affair with Melody, although he told her he was divorced. Investigators learned that Slaughter had a long history of manipulating insecure and lonely young women. Slaughter, a nurse at the VA Hospital, was a suspect from the very beginning. He and Melody had had a sexual relationship, the result of which Melody became pregnant. Slaughter signed an affidavit acknowledging paternity on July 17, 1990, ten days after Jessica was born. Despite this acknowledgment, Slaughter's support of the child was meager, a fact Melody mentioned more than once. Melody's insistence on getting Slaughter to provide monetary support for her child irritated him. Before leaving for active duty, Slaughter remarked to a co-worker that "he was actually glad to be leaving ... and that he was especially glad to get away from Melody because she was getting pushy, and if she kept pushing him, he'd have to kill her."  Slaughter further asserted that he could kill Wuertz without getting caught; "they would know who did it but they would never be able to prove it." To another co-worker, he said Melody was causing him problems at work, and one day he would have to kill both Melody and Jessica. Slaughter was concerned a paternity action by Melody could jeopardize his status as a reserve officer in the Army; additionally, Slaughter was married, and his wife did not know about the affairs with Melody and other women. In the fall of 1990, Slaughter volunteered for active duty during the Desert Storm military operation, and was stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas. He remained on active duty there until mid-July, 1991. In late October 1990, Wuertz discovered Slaughter was married. In fact, she called Slaughter's wife to tell her about Slaughter's infidelity. Slaughter was furious with Wuertz for this, but managed to explain to his wife that this must have been a prank call, probably made by one of his former wives. Slaughter later told a co-worker in Kansas that "his wife did not know about" Jessica and "he would do anything to keep her from finding out." During this period, what scant payments Slaughter had made to Melody stopped. Although Wuertz had previously considered filing a paternity suit against Slaughter, she had not yet done so because she feared that this would drive him away and they would never marry, as she had hoped. Aware now that Slaughter was already married to someone else, Wuertz sought the Oklahoma Department of Human Services' (DHS) help in collecting child support from him. Slaughter, however, had previously told Wuertz that if she ever pursued such a child-support proceeding, he would kill both Wuertz and the baby. Numerous witnesses testified to Slaughter's rage stemming from Wuertz's commencing those proceedings. On at least one occasion, Slaughter told his then girlfriend in Kansas that he wished Wuertz were dead. Before her death, Melody expressed to several people her fear that Slaughter would take retaliatory action against her because she had initiated child support proceedings against him. While still in Kansas, Slaughter was able to keep tabs on Wuertz's progress with the paternity proceedings through another of his paramours, Cecilia Johnson. Johnson was also a nurse at the Oklahoma City VA hospital, and Wuertz's apparent friend. Although having signed an affidavit soon after Jessica's birth admitting he was the child's father, Slaughter, in response to the paternity proceedings, denied paternity and submitted to blood tests. Those test results established that there was a 99.39% likelihood Slaughter was Jessica's father. Wuertz received those test results on June 19, 1990. Although DHS mailed those results to Slaughter at Fort Riley, via certified mail, and attempted to have the results served on Slaughter through the fort's Provost Marshal's office, Slaughter never officially received those test results. Nevertheless, Wuertz did share the test results with her co-workers. Slaughter testified that Cecilia Johnson, having heard the test results from Wuertz, probably did inform him of those results. Slaughter called Wuertz during the early morning hours of Sunday, June 30, 1991, telling her there was no way that the baby was his, nor was there any way he was going to pay Wuertz anything. Minutes later, Johnson called Slaughter and they talked for over three and one-half hours. Wuertz was afraid to go home that night because she feared Slaughter would be there. The State theorized that Slaughter wanted to kill Wuertz and Jessica while he was still stationed in Kansas, so he could use that as an alibi. If so, he would soon run out of time to do so. Slaughter would be discharged from active duty within a week, and Wuertz and Jessica were to fly to her parents' home on July 3 for a two-week visit. Melody was found on the floor in her bedroom. She had been shot once in the cervical spine and once in the head. In addition, she had been stabbed in the chest and in her genitalia; and there were carvings on her abdomen and breasts which authorities interpreted as symbols of some kind. A comb filled with African-American hairs, some underwear containing African-American head hairs, some unused condoms and some gloves were found near Melody's body. No seminal fluid was found in or on Melody. In the bathroom, Melody's curling iron was still plugged in. Baby Jessica was found in the hallway; just days shy of her first birthday, she had been shot twice in the head. The medical examiners who examined the bodies estimated time of death to be approximately between 9:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. on July 2. The prosecution's theory was that Melody was surprised while in the bathroom as she was preparing for work (the evening shift at the Oklahoma City Veterans Administration Hospital); was then paralyzed (but not rendered unconscious) by the shot to the cervical spine; was forced to lie paralyzed and conscious as her child was killed; then was dragged to the bedroom, where she was killed by the shot to her head. The killer then planted the evidence in an attempt to throw investigators off the trail. "Slaughter knew what he was doing when he shot and paralyzed her," said Melody Wuertz' father, Lyle Wuertz. "I don't imagine she could speak, but in her mind she was screaming 'no, please no' when he killed her baby. It's time he was removed from this earth. He's not a man. He's an evil it and he must be destroyed. What this man has dumped into our lives is nothing short of a toxic bomb of evil." Slaughter claimed he was innocent of the crime, that he was shopping with his family in Topeka, Kan., when the mother and daughter were killed. But Assistant Attorney General Seth Branham told parole board members "nothing could be further from the truth. Facts inculpate Slaughter. These facts prove he's guilty." Wuertz's neighbors testified at trial that they had not seen any vehicles other than Wuertz's car at her home that morning. At 12:37 p.m., however, several young teenage boys walking down a street near the victims' home noticed a man fairly matching Slaughter's description, in a car parked away from the other houses, next to an open field. The boy walking closest to that car positively identified Slaughter as the man he saw, both in a photo lineup conducted soon after the murders and at Slaughter's trial, three years later. Further, a second boy also positively identified Slaughter at trial as the man he saw in the car. Additionally, these two boys described the car they had seen as a bluish-gray, four-door vehicle which also generally matched Slaughter's car's description. And, although the second boy specifically identified the car he had seen as a Nissan, and Slaughter's car was, instead, a Dodge, both boys did pick Slaughter's car out of a photo lineup soon after the murders. Donald Stoltz, who had spent time with Slaughter in jail, corroborated the boys' identification, testifying Slaughter had told him that the kids who saw him, the day the murders occurred, mistakenly identified his car as a Japanese-made vehicle. According to Stoltz, Slaughter said he did not know why he had left his car window down; and that, if he had kept his tinted window raised, no one would have ever seen him. The State's experts testified that the killer most likely entered Wuertz's home, using a key, and killed the victims in a "blitz-style attack." There was no sign of forced entry, yet Wuertz was very security conscious and always kept her house locked, even when she was inside. The confrontation between Wuertz and the killer appeared to have occurred solely in the hallway, rather than near the front door. Although Slaughter denied having a key to Wuertz's house, investigators found those keys in Slaughter's car the day after the murders. Both victims had been shot twice with Eley brand .22 caliber long-rifle, subsonic, hollow-point bullets that had not been copper washed. This imported ammunition was quite rare, representing only one tenth of one percent of the total .22 caliber ammunition sold in the United States during 1990 and 1991. It could generally not be purchased in American gun shops, but instead had to be special ordered. Police found this same rare ammunition in Slaughter's gun safe in his Oklahoma home. Metallurgical tests indicated that the Eley ammunition in Slaughter's safe was elementally identical to the bullets that had killed the victims. According to the State's expert, this indicated that Slaughter's ammunition had been manufactured from the same piece of lead that produced the bullets that had killed the victims. Based on this information, the State argued the bullets that killed the victims had to come from the very same box of Eley ammunition found in Slaughter's gun safe. Police could not use the bullets that had killed the victims to identify the murder weapon because those bullets were so badly damaged. According to the State's ballistics expert, this is a common phenomenon with .22 caliber ammunition. Slaughter, who collected guns, did own several .22 caliber weapons. In addition to shooting each victim twice, the killer stabbed Wuertz once in the heart; deeply slashed both her breasts multiple times; scratched and cut her abdomen, including apparently inscribing a variation on the letter R; and inflicted a deep, nine-inch cut running from her vagina through her anal canal and lower back. The medical examiner testified that the killer had used a single-edged knife, at least six inches long and one-inch wide. Slaughter had a large collection of knives. Although the killer planted evidence and arranged the crime scene to look like a sexual assault, police could find no physical evidence that a sexual assault had occurred. Nor did robbery appear to be a motive for the killings, as police found cash in plain sight near the bodies, and Wuertz's purse, with $140, had been left untouched. An FBI behavioral scientist testified that the manner in which the killer had carried out these murders suggested, instead, a domestic violence crime, carried out in a very controlled manner. Evidence that the killer left at the crime scene included a comb, on which Negroid hairs had been bunched, and a pair of men's underwear. The comb was a type that was not generally available but sold for institutional use in such places as the Oklahoma City VA hospital and Fort Riley. Another Negroid hair was found on Wuertz's body. Cecilia Johnson admitted having collected these hairs, as well as the underwear, from a transient black man who had been a patient at the VA hospital the month before the murders. Johnson told a co-worker that she had collected these items at Slaughter's request and mailed them to him in Kansas. According to Johnson's co-worker, Slaughter "felt that he could confuse them at the scene" with these items. There was evidence corroborating that Johnson had, in fact, mailed Slaughter a small package in early June 1991. After the murders, Slaughter, who disliked African-Americans, suggested to police and his co-workers that perhaps a black man or a black transient had killed the victims. At different times, Slaughter also suggested to police both that there had been a black man seen jumping fences in Wuertz's neighborhood and that Wuertz preferred to date African-American men. There was, however, no evidence to support either contention. Cecilia Johnson later suggested to a black co-worker, J.C. Sanders, that the planted evidence was actually meant to implicate Sanders in the murders. On Wuertz's body, police also found a heavily-treated head hair, microscopically consistent with one of Slaughter's black co-workers at Ft. Riley. This co-worker, however, had never been to Oklahoma. Finally, two inmates, Dennis Hull and Lloyd Hunter, both testified that, while they were in jail with Slaughter, he confessed to them that he had killed the victims. At trial, Slaughter propounded an alibi defense through his former wife, Nicki Bonner. Bonner, who was married to Slaughter at the time the murders occurred, testified that Slaughter had been in Kansas all day July 2, spending time with her and their two daughters, who were visiting him for the Fourth-of-July holiday. According to Bonner, on that day, Slaughter slept until 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. The family then ate lunch at the Country Kitchen restaurant, arriving between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. The waitress there did recognize Bonner and her two daughters, and further testified that there was a man with them that day who looked similar to Slaughter. The waitress, however, never got a good enough look at the man's face to identify him. According to jailhouse informant Stoltz, Slaughter told him that maybe the waitress could not identify him because he was not at the restaurant that day. Rather, "it could have been a friend" eating with his family. According to Bonner, the family drove around a nearby lake after lunch and then travelled an hour to Topeka to shop. A Walmart store clerk in Topeka remembered Slaughter buying his daughter a watch one afternoon, but could not pinpoint the exact date this had occurred. The sales clerk did remember that Slaughter had paid with a fifty dollar bill. Although Slaughter did not have the receipt for this purchase, the store's register tapes indicated that there was a sale of that particular type of watch at 3:26 p.m. on July 2, and that the customer had paid with a fifty-dollar bill. The defense argued that this must have been Slaughter's purchase. The family also bought several other items at Walmart. The separate receipt for those items indicated that this second purchase occurred at 4:16 p.m. on July 2. The cashier who conducted this sale recognized Bonner and her older daughter, and she remembered there was a younger girl, too. The clerk, however, did not remember seeing a man with them that afternoon. Several other Kansas merchants, located in a mall near the Walmart, did remember seeing Slaughter later that afternoon, beginning just after 5:00 p.m. This, however, does not lend any further support to Slaughter's alibi. According to the parties' stipulation as to the mileage between the victims' home and this mall, if Slaughter had left Edmond soon after 12:30 p.m., he would have been able to drive from Edmond to the mall by 5:00 p.m. At trial, Slaughter's attorneys supplemented his alibi defense by also arguing that it might have been Cecilia Johnson, acting on her own, who killed Wuertz and her baby. The trial court, nevertheless, instructed jurors that they could convict Slaughter of first-degree murder if they found that he had actually killed the victims or, alternatively, if they found, instead, that he had aided and abetted Cecilia Johnson in doing so. Johnson, who had learned that Slaughter was trying to turn suspicions towards her, had committed suicide before Slaughter went to trial. "He was the predator, she was the prey," Melody's mother Susie Wuertz said of Johsnon. "He manipulated her just like he had so many others in his life." Prosecutors contend that at the time of the murders, Slaughter commonly went by his middle name, Ray, and that Jessica had been named after him. The R carved into Melody Wuertz's abdomen looked much like an R on a knife sheath of Slaughter's, Branham said. Prosecutors say Slaughter had left the Fort Riley military post early in the morning of July 2, 1991, driven to Edmond and killed the Wuertz family before returning to Kansas in time to meet his wife and two daughters at a Topeka store. In fact, Branham said, although some of the store clerks at Topeka stores remembered seeing Nicki Slaughter and the two girls, they did not remember Jimmie Slaughter. Investigative reports indicate that although Slaughter had given Melody Wuertz money at various times, he did not want to be forced by the state to pay her child support. In addition, Melody Wuertz had told friends she was afraid of Slaughter and that he still had a key to her house but she could not afford to have the locks changed. Branham said Slaughter was furious after he was served child support papers and told several people that he would kill Melody Wuertz and the baby. As early as April 1991, Branham said, Slaughter talked about trying to place items at a crime scene to throw off investigators. A woman who worked with Slaughter at the Veterans Administration Health Center in Oklahoma City - another former girlfriend - told investigators she had mailed Slaughter a package containing soiled underwear and hairs from a black hospital patient. The underwear and hairs were found in Wuertz's home when her body was discovered. Defense attorneys conceded that Slaughter had received the items. The execution was a huge relief to Melody's family, who traveled from Indiana to witness the execution. "This is the end of a nightmare," Melody's brother Wesley Wuertz said after the execution. "There's no more waiting for the next appeal, no more wondering if a technicality will get him off. What he got tonight was justice."

Pablo Melendez was sentenced to death for the robbery and murder of Michael Sanders. At the guilt/innocence stage of trial, the State presented fifteen witnesses, including testimony from the surviving victim, to establish the circumstances surrounding the robbery/murder of which Melendez was convicted. On the evening of September 1, 1994, Melendez, who was eighteen years old, visited and drank beer with a group of friends in the driveway of a Fort Worth residence. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Melendez stated, in a voice loud enough for most to hear, his intention to rob “some mother fucker,” and he walked away alone. At that same time, in the nearby parking lot of a self-service car wash, the two victims in this case had parked their pick-up truck parallel to a walk-up pay phone. They had been there a number of minutes when one of them, Tommie Joe Seagraves, noticed Melendez walking up behind the truck. As Seagraves looked on, he warned the truck’s driver, Michael Sanders, of Melendez’s approach. Melendez positioned himself about fifteen feet from the driver’s side door. Without any warning or even a word being spoken, Melendez turned and fired one shot into the cab of the vehicle, and it struck Seagraves in the neck. Melendez then announced his first demand that Sanders hand over all the money in the truck. As Sanders pleaded with Melendez not to shoot him, he was ordered from the vehicle, and then forced to walk toward Melendez and hand over the money. Relieved of his money, Sanders turned and started back toward the truck where Seagraves still sat wounded and unable to move. Before he reached the vehicle, Melendez fired again and struck Sanders in the back. In rapid succession, Melendez fired three more shots and all struck Sanders in either the back or the arm. Sanders finally toppled forward through the open driver’s side door and came to rest in the floorboard of the truck with his head resting against Seagraves’ leg. As Sanders lay dying, Melendez approached, reached through the cab with the gun in his hand, placed the muzzle next to Seagraves’ forehead, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The gun was empty, so Melendez simply turned and walked back in the direction he had come. In the end, Seagraves received two bullet wounds; the initial wound when Melendez first approached and a second wound received from a bullet that had passed through Michael Sanders and struck Seagraves’ arm. Sanders was shot four times and died within minutes. Shortly after Melendez’s trial, Sanders’s mother, Gracie Jett, provided Melendez’s attorneys with information that a man named Jeffrey Jackson had come upon the murder scene, saw a truck with a woman passenger parked nearby, and saw two Hispanic males going through the pockets of one of the victims. According to Melendez, Jett relayed this information to Diane Tefft, the Fort Worth police detective that was handling the case. Tefft purportedly told Jett not to get involved in the investigation and Tefft failed to follow up on the information Jett provided. Upon learning of this information, Melendez’s attorneys interviewed Jackson. Jackson confirmed Jett’s rendition, although Jackson’s version of the events changed somewhat with subsequent interviews. Jackson apparently expressed his willingness to appear in court and testify about what he witnessed, but failed to appear when served with a subpoena for Melendez’s motion for new trial. Melendez claimed his due process rights were violated because the State of Texas failed to disclose material exculpatory evidence; specifically, that the State failed to tell him that Jackson came upon the crime scene and observed someone going through the pockets of one the victims. Although Melendez does not argue that the particular evidence would have made a difference in his case, he maintains the evidence is material and admissible. Melendez complains that by failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing, the state courts denied him the opportunity to develop his Brady claim and foreclosed his ability to show he is entitled to habeas relief. To establish a Brady violation, a petitioner must demonstrate that (1) the prosecution suppressed evidence, (2) the evidence was favorable to the petitioner, (3) the evidence was material either to guilt or punishment, and (4) nondiscovery of the allegedly favorable evidence was not the result of a lack of due diligence. Although Jett testified during the hearing on Melendez’s motion for new trial that she told Tefft about Jackson’s observation, the trial judge determined that Jett was not a credible witness. The state court also determined that the evidence was not material. The district agreed and determined that even if the state trial judge were wrong about whether the State withheld evidence, the evidence is not material. Jett testified to the most favorable version of the disputed evidence. During the hearing on Melendez’s motion for new trial, Jett explained that she spoke with several people who were located near the scene of her son’s death in an effort to solve her son’s murder. Jett stated Jackson owned a barbeque restaurant a block from the car wash where her son was killed and that she spoke with Jackson over the telephone after her son’s death. Jett explained that Jackson told her that he had heard several gunshots around 11:30 on the evening of her son’s death and heard someone scream, “the MFs are shooting at me.” According to Jett, Jackson and his girlfriend then drove to the carwash, saw a white truck parked by the telephone, saw a black truck park along the street with a woman inside the truck, and observed two Hispanic males in the parking lot going through the pockets of a man in the white truck. Jett further testified that Jackson stated that he asked the men if they needed any help and that the men told him everything was under control. Jett explained that Jackson then left the scene and agreed to relay his observations to the police. Jett also testified that she advised Tefft about what Jackson had observed and that Tefft told her not to get involved in the investigation. Jett also stated that she gave the information to the lead prosecutor in the case and that the prosecutor had told her that Melendez had not killed her son. Jett explained that she did not tell Melendez’s attorney about this information because she did not become convinced that Melendez was not the killer until after the trial. Notably, this information, if true, is consistent with the evidence presented during trial and during the hearing on the motion for new trial. Both of the prosecutors for Melendez’s trial stated in affidavits that there was evidence of another truck at the scene of the murder shortly after the shooting and that the defense was aware of that information. To support these assertions, the State submitted Seagraves’s written statement in which Seagraves states that a Mexican man and a younger boy stopped behind the truck after the shooting and asked him what was wrong. This statement was admitted at trial. The State also submitted a written statement by Susie Carillo who stated that after hearing shots, she saw a man run up the street. Carillo explained that she went outside and heard a man crying “please help me.” According to Carillo, she called 911, walked down to the car wash, observed a group of men in a pickup truck stopped at the scene, and saw one of the men trying to help the men in the truck. Although her trial testimony was somewhat disorganized, the written statement summarizes Carillo’s trial testimony. Thus, Jett’s version of what Jackson observed is consistent with Seagraves’s statement about what happened after the shooting and Carillo’s version of the events. Moreover, substantially the same information was presented to the jury. During trial, a paramedic and a police officer who responded to the car wash testified that Sanders’s pockets were turned inside out. The paramedic also testified that several people at the car wash waved the ambulance down as it arrived. In addition, a police detective who responded to the murder scene testified he spoke to a Hispanic male at the scene of the murder. Additionally, a photo exhibit reflected that Sanders’s pants pockets were pulled out. Thus, the jury knew that someone arrived at the car wash after the shooting and that Sanders’s pockets were altered. Even with this information, the jury found Melendez guilty. The information Jackson provided may have helped to explain why the pockets were turned out, but it would not have cast doubt on Melendez’s guilt. As the record makes clear, Jackson’s hearing gunshots and someone yelling and then witnessing a dark pickup truck and two Hispanic men at the scene, one looking through the pockets of the murder victim, is not contrary to Melendez’s conviction. Instead, since everything Jackson witnessed at the scene was after the shooting, it is consistent with testimony given by other witnesses at trial and statements made by other persons at the scene.