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Thread: Seaga Edward Gillard - North Carolina Death Row

  1. #1
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    Seaga Edward Gillard - North Carolina Death Row


    Seaga Gilliard


    Brandon Hill


    April Lynn Holland and Dwayne Garvey


    Man accused of shooting dead pregnant mother and her boyfriend 'Googled penalties for murder and fetal homicide before arrest'

    A North Carolina suspect charged with shooting to death a pregnant woman and her boyfriend at a Raleigh motel last month went online after the murders to look up the penalties for 'double homicide' and 'fetal homicide,' according to police.

    Seaga Gillard, 28, is facing charges of first-degree murder in the December 2 slayings of April Lynn Holland, 22, and Dwayne Garvey, 28.

    The couple were found fatally shot in the pre-dawn hours inside America's Best Valley Inn in the 3900 block of Arrow Drive in Raleigh.

    Holland was four months pregnant with her fourth child, who could not be saved. She and Garvey are survived by two sons, ages one and two, and a three-year-old daughter.

    According to a search warrant released by the police last week, and obtained by News & Observer, when detectives reviewed Gillard’s search history on his smartphone for December 2, they found entries in the Google search engine that included, 'how much can you face for double homicide nc'; 'fetal homicide state laws,' and '2 man wanted in raleigh nc.'

    Gillard was arrested and charged a day after the double homicide, but his alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Brandon Hill, managed to flee to Florida.

    Hill dyed his hair blonde in an apparent effort to elude the authorities but was eventually captured and extradited back to Raleigh on December 29 to face murder charges.

    Gillard and Hill are being held in the Wake County jail without bail. If convicted of the first-degree murder counts, they could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Police in Raleigh said Holland and Garvey’s slayings were captured on surveillance inside the motel on the morning of December 2.

    Officers who responded to the scene found Dwayne Garvey lying face down in a second-floor hallway with multiple gunshot wounds.

    April Holland was found dead from a single gunshot wound inside room 220.

    An investigation has uncovered that Seaga Gillard had communicated with either Holland or Garvey by phone just before the killings.

    Garvey's brother and sister-in-law previously claimed that Holland knew Seaga Gillard from the time she was a teenager, but they would not comment on the exact nature of their relationship.

    'Her past came back to haunt her,' Garvey's brother, Dwight, told the News & Observer last month.

    Garvey, who was black, and Holland, who was white, met in 2011 and fell in love in defiance of both their families, who did not support the interracial relationship, according to Dwight Garvey’s wife, Ravien.

    She added that her brother-in-law was ultimately killed defending the mother of his children and ‘the love of his life.’

    According to Garvey’s family and Holland's sister, the couple had been struggling to make ends meet and had been living in motels, but their loved ones said that despite their financial woes, the pair were doting parents to their three children.

    Seaga Gillard, a native of St Lucia, Virgin Islands, has an extensive past criminal record that included charges of armed robbery, kidnapping, forcible sexual offense and assault by strangulation stemming from an incident last October in which he allegedly raped a woman at gunpoint and then mugged her.

    The victim told police the 28-year-old man tried to strangle her with a phone cord.

    Federal records indicate that Seaga was convicted in 2007 in the Virgin Islands of domestic violence assault.

    In 2011, then-22-year-old Seaga Gillard was arrested along with his younger brother, Kalid, for attempted murder related to a double shooting in Durham, North Carolina, but prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges against Seaga due to lack of evidence,

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz4W319JSgT
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    April 5, 2018

    Men charged in 2016 double homicide at Raleigh hotel could face death penalty

    By Natalie Matthews
    wral.com

    Raleigh, N.C. - The two men charged in a 2016 double homicide at a Raleigh hotel could face the death penalty when their case comes to trial early next year, Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway said Thursday during an update hearing.

    Brandon Xavier Hill and Seaga Edward Gillard are charged with first-degree murder in the December 3, 2016, deaths of April Lynn Holland, 22, and her boyfriend, Dwayne Garvey, 28, at the Americas Best Value Inn Crabtree in the 3900 block of Arrow Drive.

    April Holland was pregnant at the time of her murder.

    Ridgeway said motions and final deadlines will be set in August 2018, and a trial is likely to begin in January 2019.

    https://www.wral.com/men-charged-in-...lty-/17466605/

  3. #3
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    Death penalty cases are rare across NC. But Wake County is pursuing one starting Monday

    By Josh Shaffer and Tomasi McDonald
    News & Observer

    RALEIGH - Wake County prosecutors on Monday will bring a rare death penalty case against Seaga Gillard, a 30-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a pregnant woman inside a Raleigh hotel room.

    The case, which dates to the 2016 double slaying at America’s Best Value Inn, will give jurors the option of capital punishment — a choice they have declined in nine straight Raleigh murder trials.

    North Carolina has not executed an inmate since 2006, and no death sentence has been imposed statewide for more than two years.

    Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Thursday that her office seeks the death penalty in fewer than 5 percent of all homicide cases, reserving it for “the most egregious.”

    But the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, a nonprofit law firm that represents defendants on death row, called Wake County “an outlier” for pursuing capital punishment that its juries repeatedly reject.

    Wake is the only county out of 100 statewide that sought death sentences in each of the past three years, according to the center’s research. Since 2016, Wake held a quarter of the 12 capital trials across North Carolina.

    “Lorrin Freeman is really an outlier,” said Elizabeth Hambourger, attorney with the center. “No other large county is seeking it as she is."

    Hotel room death

    In December 2016, Raleigh police charged Gillard, then 28, and Brandon Xavier Hill, then 30, with first-degree murder. Investigators said they shot April Lynn Holland and her boyfriend, Dwayne Garvey, to death in a room at the hotel, charging the two men after they were recorded by surveillance cameras.

    Police accused Gillard of shooting Holland, who was four months pregnant, and Hill of shooting Garvey. The couple had three young children.

    Police did not specify a motive for the shooting, but Garvey's older brother told the N&O in 2016 that the slain man died defending the mother of his children from a man who “she knew from her past, when she was much younger.”

    Gillard had a criminal history that predates the hotel shooting, charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree forcible sexual offense and assault by strangulation in connection with the 2016 rape of a woman at a Morrisville hotel.

    After the hotel shooting, investigators said in a search warrant, he used his smart phone to Google the penalties for double and fetal homicide. Investigators reviewing the search history of Gillard’s smart phone for Dec. 2, 2016 found entries in the search engine including “how much can you face for double homicide.”

    Last year, Freeman told the N&O the case was declared capital “a long time ago.”

    “The overwhelming majority of cases are not tried capitally,” she emphasized Thursday. “That is consistent with our belief and position that capital punishment is appropriate to be considered only in the most egregious of cases.”

    Asked about the possibility jurors will choose death in Gillard’s case, Hambourger said “it’s impossible to predict. That’s one of the problems with the death penalty. It’s a crap shoot.”

    Jury selection begins Monday and is expected to last several weeks.

    https://www.newsobserver.com/news/lo...223884010.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Congratulations , make justice at home. God bless America.
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  5. #5
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    Death penalty trial begins for double murder suspect in Wake County

    The death penalty trial of Seaga Gillard gets under way in Wake County today after more than a month of jury selection.

    Gillard is charged along with Xavier Hill with first-degree murder for the double homicide of a the parents of three children.

    April Lynn Holland and Dwayne Garvey were gunned down in a room at the Best Value Inn in Raleigh's Crabtree Valley in December of 2016.

    The motive may come into focus during the trial but it appears one of the defendants may have known Holland.

    Death penalty trials are rare across the state. The Center for Death Penalty Litigation has criticized Wake County continuing to seek the death penalty even though juries in the county repeatedly reject it.

    Wake County hasn't imposed a death penalty since July of 2007 when Byron Waring was sent to death row for the 2005 stabbing death of Lauren Redman.

    Since then nine straight juries in Wake County death penalty cases have opted for life without parole.

    The last one was a year ago when Donovan Richardson was given two sentences of life without parole for a double murder.

    There have only been 12 capital murder trials statewide since 2016 and three were in Wake County.

    So the trial currently under way may further test the viability of the death penalty in Wake County and even in the state.

    Death penalty trials are longer and cost more than non-capital cases.

    https://abc11.com/live-death-penalty...ke-co/5132544/
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  6. #6
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    Follow link below for live trial coverage

    https://abc11.com/live-death-penalty...ke-co/5132544/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  7. #7
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    Murdered, pregnant prostitute ‘matters,’ prosecutor says as death penalty trial begins

    By Josh Shaffer
    News & Observer

    RALEIGH - The case of a prostitute shot dead in the door of her Raleigh hotel room opened Monday with prosecutors insisting that she matters as a victim despite her criminal profession.

    April Lynn Holland was roughly 12 weeks pregnant when she was shot in the chest and head at America’s Best Value Inn, where her boyfriend and father of their children Dwayne Garvey was also slain in December 2016.

    The state is seeking the death penalty against Seaga Gillard, 31, whom prosecutors accused of seeking out Holland as a customer paying $140 and then shooting her after an accomplice shot Garvey in the hallway.

    “Do they matter?” asked Wake County Assistant District Attorney David Saacks. “Do Dwayne and April matter? Will they be offered the same consideration, will they be offered the same justice that any one of us would expect? ... We are confident that they will, and that they do.”

    The case highlights the underworld of prostitution but also the increasing rarity of the death penalty in North Carolina. The state has not executed an inmate since 2006, and more than two years have passed since a jury last imposed death as punishment.

    A recent poll conducted by Public Policy Polling showed 51 percent said North Carolina should or probably should replace the death penalty with life in prison without possibility of parole. Of those polled, 70 percent said they believe it is either very or somewhat likely that innocent people have likely been executed.

    But out of 100 counties statewide, Wake is the only one to seek death sentences in each of the past three years, according to the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Since 2016, Wake held a quarter of the 12 capital trials across North Carolina.

    Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said last month that her office seeks the death penalty in fewer than 5 percent of all homicide cases, reserving it for “the most egregious.”

    Much of Gillard’s trial will hinge on video footage. In his opening statements to the jury Monday, Saacks described the Wake Forest man arriving at the hotel near Crabtree Valley Mall with Brandon Hill, also known as “B.”

    Holland was to have a customer in the room just before 5 a.m., and when two men arrived, Garvey texted her and said, “I saw two dudes,” and later, “You OK?”

    The couple had several children together, but Saacks said they were not living with them and not at the hotel the night of the shooting. Holland texted Garvey, “It’s OK,” and to wait by the hotel vending machines.

    Video footage then shows Garvey running outside the hall and banging on room 220, Holland’s room, in an agitated state, Saacks said. Hill then arrives, also agitated and carrying a gun to confront Garvey, who backed away with his hands up.

    Seven shots were fired, Saacks said, and Garvey stumbled away toward the lobby, where he collapsed and died. Footage then shows Gillard emerging from the room with Holland, putting up his hand and then running out to the parking lot with Hill.

    “You’re not going to wonder what happened,” he said. “That’s for you and all the world to see.”

    Raleigh police officers testified they found Holland in her room, naked except for her socks. They discovered seven $20 bills and an unwrapped condom inside the room with her.

    Police circulated pictures from the surveillance footage and quickly got a call identifying Gillard at home in Wake Forest. They found messages on both his and Holland’s phones discussing terms for their “business encounter,” Saacks said. He had also done a Google search for the penalty for double homicide and fetal homicide.

    Hill later eluded police at the hotel where he worked, then rode as the passenger in a car chase into Durham with speeds topping 100 mph, Saacks said. Hill jumped and ran from the car after it ran over “spike sticks” to puncture the tires. He was soon arrested in Florida and charged with murder.

    Raleigh attorney Edd Roberts, one of two lawyers representing Gillard, cautioned jurors against drawing quick conclusions from the hotel video. He described events at the hotel as “chaos” that started in the hallway and “evoked more chaos” inside Holland’s room.

    “It’s not a planned, premeditated killing,” he said.

    Testimony continues Tuesday.

    https://www.newsobserver.com/news/lo...226000805.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #8
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    when detectives reviewed Gillard’s search history on his smartphone for December 2, they found entries in the Google search engine that included, 'how much can you face for double homicide nc';
    This disgusting pig must have discovered that the death penalty is pretty much non existant in North Carolina. To all those who are against mandatory death sentences, congratulations. I'm not one to tout deterrance, but it sounds like it might have actually worked in this case.

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    He looked it up after the crime.

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    Ok i must have gotten confused, all I saw was it was on the same day.

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