1 Attachment(s)
Steven Frederick Spears - Georgia Execution - November 16, 2016
http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/images/o...0001242392.jpg
Steven Frederick Spears
March 23, 2007
Dahlonega man gets death
Steven Spears strangled former girlfriend
A Dahlonega man convicted of killing his former girlfriend was sentenced to death Thursday by a panel of jurors.
Steven Frederick Spears, 44, sat motionless next to defense attorneys as the decision was read and said nothing before being escorted out of the courtroom by Lumpkin County deputies. Spears was convicted Wednesday of choking to death 34-year-old Sherri Holland in August 2001 at her Dahlonega home.
Jurors deliberated for more than two hours Thursday before sentencing Spears to a total of three death sentences for convictions of malice murder and two counts of felony murder.
Lumpkin County Superior Court Judge David Barrett also sentenced Spears to life imprisonment for kidnapping with bodily injury and 20 years for burglary. Spears, who once worked with Holland at ConAgra's Gainesville plant, would be assigned to a state prison facility as soon as possible, Barrett said.
Holland's family appeared relieved following the four-day trial and more than five years of waiting for justice.
"I don't know what to think," Alice Loggins, Holland's older sister, said. "I wanted (Spears) to pay, but now it's like you're numb. I'm glad it's over, but now that it's happened I don't know how I feel."
Death sentences carry an automatic date of appeal and Spears' attorneys have 30 days to file motion for a new trial. Barrett tentatively set Spears' date of death by lethal injection for May 11, but the appeals process will delay execution for several months, if not years.
Spears' family, including a sister from Illinois and a brother from South Georgia, immediately left the Lumpkin County courthouse after the sentence was announced.
Allyn Stockton, a Rabun County attorney representing Spears, said it would be difficult to dispute the jury's decision.
"It was authorized by the evidence," he said.
Stockton and Habersham County defense attorney Bill Oliver did not contest the murder charge against Spears during the trial. Oliver spoke with Spears after the jury's decision and said Spears had come to grips with his possible fate.
"He expected (the death penalty)," Oliver said. "He was not surprised."
Spears confessed to authorities following his arrest 10 days after Holland's body was found with her feet, hands and mouth bound by duct tape and a plastic bag over her head. He told investigators he had planned the murder after his relationship of nearly two years with Holland came to an end.
Spears said he snuck into Holland's home, hid in her closet and then chocked her to death in the early morning hours of Aug. 26, 2001.
After the trial, Loggins said she imagined her younger sister who was brutally killed might not have sided with the jury.
"I can see Sherri forgiving Steven for this," Loggins said.
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