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Thread: Steven Matthew Wilbanks - Mississippi

  1. #1
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Steven Matthew Wilbanks - Mississippi


    Zach was preparing to tell his parents he had been accepted to medical school when he was killed.




    Gulfport parents prepare for trial of son's accused killer

    OXFORD, MS (WLOX) - This week in Oxford, the last of three defendants will stand trial for the murder of an Ole Miss student from Gulfport. Zach McClendon was a first-year graduate student at Ole Miss, studying for an MBA when he was shot and killed in December 2013.

    Two of the men charged, Joseph Lyons and Derrick Boone, have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Steven Wilbanks is now set to stand trial and the state is seeking the death penalty.

    Prosecutors say Wilbanks was the one who shot McClendon in the back of the head with a shotgun. All three were accused of stealing a vehicle, clothing, electronics, and textbooks at the time of the killing, making this a capital offense.

    Zach McClendon's parents, Percy and Paula, will be in Oxford for the trial. Jury selection was underway Monday.

    The McClendons have been at every trial and sentencing, reliving the heartbreaking details of their son's death. One of the suspects, Derrick Boone, even turned to them at his trial in 2016 and pleaded for their forgiveness.

    "He said if we could find it anywhere in our heart in the future to forgive him for what he'd done, he hopes that we could because he was terribly sorry," Percy McClendon told WLOX News Now shortly after the trial.

    When asked if he felt the apology was sincere, the grieving parent said, "Yes, it was and I told him right then, 'You're forgiven.'"

    The family's wait for justice has been a long one, but could finally come this week with the trial of the last defendant. WLOX News Now will be following the case all this week, giving updates on air and online.

    http://www.wlox.com/story/37487603/g...f-sons-accused

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    SENTENCING PHASE TO CONTINUE IN WILBANKS TRIAL

    Steven Wilbanks has been convicted of capital murder for the 2013 killing of Ole Miss graduate student Zacharias McClendon

    By Shante Sumpter
    WTVA

    TUPELO, Miss. - Steven Wilbanks has been convicted of capital murder for the 2013 killing of Ole Miss graduate student Zacharias McClendon.

    The verdict came Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday the sentencing phase of the trial started.

    Judge Andrew Howarth says the trial will continue at 8:30 Thursday morning at the Lafayette County Circuit Court.

    McClendon was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home on County Road 140 after his mother notified deputies she was not able to get in touch with him.

    Joseph Lyons, 24, of Houston, Texas and Derrick Boone, 27, of Laurel have already pleaded guilty to capital murder in his death.

    Wilbanks testified at Boone's trial the three planned the robbery while high on drugs and said Boone intended to shoot McClendon.

    Wilbanks will either be sentenced to life in prison, or the death penalty.

    http://www.wtva.com/content/news/Sen...3.html?ref=443
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  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Man receives death sentence in Ole Miss student’s murder

    OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — The man who fatally shot an Ole Miss graduate student in 2013 has been convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.

    The Oxford Eagle reported Steven “Matt” Wilbanks was found guilty by a 12-person jury Tuesday for the slaying of Zacharias Hercules McClendon.

    After four hours of deliberations the jury sentenced him to death on Thursday, the newspaper reported in an update.

    The state said Wilbanks, along with Joseph Lyons and Derrick Boone, entered McClendon’s apartment on December 18, 2013, and shot him in the back of the head with a 16-gauge shotgun while McClendon was washing dishes.

    In an audio clip played on Monday, Wilibanks admitted to shooting McClendon with the gun he bought at a Hattiesburg gun show for $8 so he could steal from McClendon.

    After the shooting, the three men reportedly stole the victim’s 2004 Nissan, clothing, electronics, credit cards and textbooks.

    Lyons and Boone have already pleaded guilty under a deal that gave them life sentences.

    According to reports, the jury could have sentenced Wilbanks to death or life in prison.

    http://wreg.com/2018/02/15/man-convi...tudents-death/
    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!

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    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Wilbanks entered Mississippi's death row 2/16/18.

    https://www.ms.gov/mdoc/inmate/Search/GetDetails/214806

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Judge gives death row inmate new trial; inmate asks him not to, citing concern for victim’s family, his own

    By Oxford Eagle Staff

    Due to a potentially tainted juror, a former Ole Miss student who was convicted of a 2013 murder has been granted a new trial.

    Steven Wilbanks was convicted in the murder of Zacharias Hercules McClendon, who was shot to death in 2013. Wilbanks was given the death penalty and had been sitting on death row. Circuit Court Judge Andrew Howorth granted the motion for a new trial on March 27 of this year.

    On the night of Dec. 17, 2013 McClendon was shot in the back of his head while doing dishes. Joseph Lyons and Derrick Boone accompanied Wilbanks, who entered McClendon’s apartment on County Road 140. During the trial in 2018, Wilbanks testified that his plan was to kill McClendon to steal his money, credit cards and other items. After a four-hour deliberation, a jury found Wilbanks guilty of capital murder in February 2018.

    McClendon was a graduate student at Ole Miss and was pursuing a Master’s of Business Administration.
    Lyons and Boone pleaded guilty in order to have the death penalty removed from their potential sentencing. The two were subsequently sentenced to life without parole.

    The motion, which was filed by Wilbanks’ attorney, referenced two problems in the protocol that took place during the trial. The first problem stated there was an error in the jury instruction process. The court’s Instruction No. C-1-S, in subpart C, incorrectly referred to subpart of the instruction B on two occasions instead of just one, the motion stated. In the first instance the instructions should have referred the jury to subpart A.

    “As a result of one misplaced letter, the jury in its verdict, made findings related to aggravating circumstances twice, and never made the required findings of all facts that they believed existed beyond a reasonable doubt at the time of the commission of the capital murder,” the motion read. “The instruction was flawed. The jury properly followed the instruction. Consequently, the verdict was flawed.”

    The second problem had to do with the jury selection process. One of the prospective jurors was an Oxford Police officer and admitted as much when the panel was asked by the court whether any of them had any prior knowledge about the case. The OPD officer indicated he did and his information had come by virtue of working on the police force and he could not be fair or impartial.

    The court attempted to undo any potential tainting of the jury pool, but did deny a motion for a mistrial. The motion continues to claim that a discussion with another juror at the bench implied that others may have been affected by the statement made by the OPD officer.

    “What may be a harmless error in a case with less at stake becomes reversible error when the penalty is death,” Howorth wrote in the order, referencing the 2007 trial of Lynch v. State.

    The day after Howorth ordered a new trial, Wilbanks sent him a hand-written letter requesting he return to death row in Parchman Penitentiary and suggesting he did not want to seek a new trial. In the letter, Wilbanks said he asked his attorney to allow him to speak up and that Howorth allowed Wilbanks and his attorney to speak in a conference room. Once the two spoke, Wilbanks claims in his letter that his attorney informed him Howorth would not be coming back out and the hearing was over. Wilbanks never got to speak to Howorth.

    “I never wanted to contest the verdict at the JNOV hearing. In fact, I requested my attorney waive the hearing altogether, but he refused,” Wilbanks’ letter read. “Again, I do not desire to contest the verdict at this time, as I do not wish to put the McClendon family, my family or the state of Mississippi through another painful, debilitating trial. I would rather go back to Death Row.”

    Wilbanks’ new trial is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 24-28, 2020.

    https://www.magnoliastatelive.com/20...amily-his-own/
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