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Thread: Death Penalty Trial Set for Stanley Eric Mossburg in 2019 FL Slayings of Peggy Morey and Kenneth Bever

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    Death Penalty Trial Set for Stanley Eric Mossburg in 2019 FL Slayings of Peggy Morey and Kenneth Bever


    Kenneth Bever and Peggy Morey


    Christopher Short





    'Spree killer’ held man captive as he stabbed two others to death, Polk sheriff says

    Stanley Mossburg, who claimed to have killed eight people, fired at the deputies who came for him, Sheriff Grady Judd says

    By Frank Pastor
    Tampa Bay Times


    Stanley Eric Mossburg held a terrified Winter Haven man captive in the man’s home as he stabbed to death another man and a woman who also lived there, investigators said.

    Then Mossburg threatened to kill his captive if he alerted authorities and drove off Monday with a promise to return for the bodies.

    The man waited for hours before finally dashing to a neighbor’s house and calling 911.

    Mossburg, 35, of Spartanburg, S.C., also known as “Woo Woo,” was arrested Tuesday at a home nearby by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team.

    Investigators learned he also is wanted in a slaying two weeks ago at a laundromat in Tennessee.

    Mossburg told his captive he had killed as many as eight people and had a goal of killing 11, saying “I want to be a serial killer, I like killing people," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters Tuesday.

    Judd said he had no way to verify the claim.

    He called Mossburg a “spree killer.”

    The sheriff gave this account of the slayings.

    A man was doing laundry at a laundromat in Greeneville, Tenn. the night of Oct. 1 when Mossburg entered, pulled a gun, bound him and walked out holding the man at gunpoint. The abduction was captured on video.

    Around 2 a.m., the man’s wife tried to text him but received a “vile, nasty, ugly text," Judd said. She called 911 and police arrived at the laundromat to find the man’s car missing. Later that morning, customers found the man’s body behind the laundromat.

    Mossburg drove the stolen car to Spartanburg, S.C., where he lives, Judd said. Three days later, on Oct. 4, Spartanburg police spotted the stolen car at a scrapyard.

    Meanwhile, Judd said, Mossburg’s sister bought him a Greyhound bus ticket and drove him to Atlanta, where he boarded a bus to Orlando.

    On Wednesday, Mossburg stole a black pickup truck in Seffner. Two days later, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office got word that a man wanted for a murder in Tennessee had pawned property at a pawn shop in Auburndale.

    Around 4 p.m. on Sunday, Mossburg was chased away from a home in Winter Haven. Later, around 10:30 p.m., a man returned to his home in Winter Haven to find Mossburg there.

    A woman who also lives in the home had been tied to a chair.

    Mossburg approached the man and told him, “I have guns and knives, and I’ll kill you if you resist me.”

    Mossburg tied the man to a chair with computer cords, demanded money and valuables, and was given the combination to a safe.

    Hours later, he told his captive that another man who lived at the home had tried to fight back, “so I made him suffer before I killed him.”

    He later returned to the room to report that he also had killed the woman, but did it quickly, "because she was cooperative.”

    “He has slashed and murdered both of these victims,” Judd said . “He slashed and murdered the victim in Tennessee. With knives.”

    The names of the victims were not released.

    Mossburg poured bleach on his Winter Haven victims, mixed a cleaning solution and mopped the floors, Judd said. He stayed overnight at the home.

    At sunrise, Mossburg untied his captive because had been cooperative and allowed him to sit in the living room. At one point, the man asked Mossburg if he could turn down the air conditioning because he was cold.

    “I need to keep it cool," Mossburg replied, "so these victims don’t start to smell.”

    Throughout the morning, Mossburg loaded stolen property into the woman’s car. Around noon, he told the man he was leaving but would return for the bodies, threatening to kill the man if he told the police.

    The man remained on his couch throughout the afternoon, worried that Mossburg was still outside. Around 6 p.m., the man ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911.

    The woman’s car was found half a mile from the murder scene, the hood still warm. The truck stolen in Seffner was found at a house nearby, painted white.

    Deputies and detectives entered the house and came to a locked door. As they tried to kick it down, they were met with seven or eight rounds of gunfire.

    The SWAT team was called. They deployed chemicals inside the house, knocked down the garage door and spotted Mossburg beneath a pool table.

    K-9 dogs were used to apprehend him.

    Mossburg was taken to Winter Haven Hospital, where he was treated for dog bites before was booked into jail.

    Mossburg faces charges in the Tennessee slaying, two charges of first-degree murder in the Winter Haven killings and attempted murder charges for shooting at the Polk County deputies, Judd said.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...n-polk-county/
    "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

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    Father of Greeneville murder victim suffers heart attack day after son is killed

    By News Channel 11 Staff

    GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) - Family members of a Greeneville man murdered weeks ago said they suffered not one, but two unexpected losses within days of each other.

    Christopher Short, 33, was killed while doing his laundry at a laundry mat on East Andrew Johnson Highway on October 1.

    Authorities revealed Tuesday morning that the suspect in Short’s murder, Stanley Mossburg, 35, is also a suspect in two more murders in Florida.

    News Channel 11’s Pheben Kassahun spoke to Christopher Short’s uncle, Wayne Short, on Tuesday.

    As Wayne tried to hold in his tears, he told Pheben in an interview that, “You know, he wouldn’t swat a fly, he never argued, he never said anything bad about anybody. You could just say he was a big 10-year-old, and he was just nice as can be,” Wayne Short said.

    Wayne also revealed that shortly after hearing the news of Short’s death Christopher’s father, Alan “Mike” Short, suffered a heart attack. According to family members, it was because he couldn’t bear the news of losing his son.

    Wayne said that Alan Short died October 2nd.

    Now, the family is preparing for not one, but two funerals.

    https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/fath...son-is-killed/
    "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

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    ‘Spree killer’ suspect in Greeneville murder appears in Florida courtroom Wednesday

    By news Channel 11 Staff

    (WJHL)- A suspect wanted in three murders across two states appeared before a judge in a Florida courtroom Wednesday.

    Mossburg is accused of killing three people, including a Greeneville man, Christopher Short. He was murdered while doing laundry in Greeneville earlier this month.

    Stanley Mossburg, 35, was arrested after a manhunt ended in Winter Haven, Florida this week.

    Mossburg spoke to reporters while being transported to jail in Florida on Tuesday. Mossburg said he’s “a prophet, not a serial killer” and that he allegedly killed the victims because “God needed them” for a war.

    “Y’all will see God and there’s going to be a angels and demons fight from God,” Mossburg said before getting inside a patrol car.

    Mossburg went on to say “there’s a war” and “everybody will see.”

    In a news conference on Tuesday, Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd said in part, “This guy needs the death penalty if there’s ever a person who needs it…Wonderful, decent people are now victims of this evil, absolutely evil person. What some people would call low-level, non-violent offender.”

    When News Channel 11’s Jackie DeFusco spoke to District Attorney General Dan Armstrong Tuesday about Mossburg’s case in Tennessee Armstrong said in part, “He’s involved in several ongoing investigations in Florida, which would cause him not to be available to us anytime soon.”

    https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/spre...oom-wednesday/
    "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

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    Friends celebrate lives of roommates stabbed during alleged killing spree

    By Ken Suarez
    Fox 13 News

    BARTOW, Fla. - The friends of two people who were stabbed to death came together to remember them at Lakeland Pulse nightclub Wednesday.

    Joseph Mutzer was a close friend of one of the victims, Peggy Morey, who many in Lakeland's LGBTQ community say was a positive part of their lives.

    “It hurts, really hurts bad,” Mutzer told FOX 13. “'Never a bad word against anybody,' is how he described her. I barely ever knew her to get mad. A kind, loving spirit.”

    Mutzer said Morey's roommate, Kenneth Bever moved to the area within the last year and was not as outgoing or as socially active. But Morey was helping him become acclimated when before their lives were cut short.

    Investigators say Stanley Mossburg tied up Morey and Bever, held them hostage at a house in Winter Haven, and then killed them. Their third roommate survived and was recovering in the hospital.

    To the dozens who came to remember them Tuesday night at Lakeland Pulse, the details of their deaths don't matter. Their lives are what count, now.

    Mossburg made his first appearance in court Wednesday. A judge denied him bond and appointed a public defender.

    https://www.fox13news.com/news/frien...-killing-spree
    "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

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    South Carolina man indicted in Polk killings

    By Suzie Schottelkotte
    The Ledger

    BARTOW – A Polk County grand jury handed up a 17-count indictment Thursday against Stanley Eric Mossburg, a South Carolina man who’s accused of breaking into a house and killing two people in Winter Haven earlier this month.

    Authorities said the killings culminated a two-week crime rampage that began in Tennessee, with one man dead there.

    In Winter Haven, Polk County sheriff’s deputies said the resident of a home along 16th Street came home about 10:30 p.m. Oct. 13 to find Mossburg, 35, inside the house. He found the woman who lived in the home with him bound to chair, according to arrest reports.

    He forced the man into the office area of the home and bound him with computer cables, telling him he had killed the third resident in the house because he had tried to fight back.

    The two residents gave Mossburg the combination to a home safe, Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference following Mossburg’s arrest, but the assailant demanded more, saying he didn’t believe that was all they had.

    Mossburg held the two residents captive throughout the night, and later told the man that he had killed the woman. He said he “did it quick,” Judd said.

    He then turned the air-conditioning down so the dead bodies wouldn’t smell, according to the arrest affidavit, and began mopping the floors and cleaning the house. He remained in the house throughout that Monday morning, then loaded some stolen property into the woman’s car. As he was leaving, the assailant told the man bound with computer cords that he would return and kill him if the man called law enforcement, Judd said. He also told him he didn’t kill him because God told him not to.

    Six hours after Mossburg left, the man broke free of the computer cords and called law enforcement from a neighbor’s house.

    A manhunt ensued, leading officers to a Ford F250 that had shown up about two blocks from the murder scene, according to reports. The truck, which had been stolen days earlier from Seffner, had been painted white. Witnesses told deputies they had seen Mossburg running through their back yards, leading deputies to zero in on the home where they thought the assailant was hiding.

    Deputies used chemical agents and K-9s to force Mossburg from the house, but not before he fired on deputies several times. He was taken into custody and treated for dog bites before he was booked into the Polk County Jail, where he’s being held without bail.

    In addition to the two first-degree murder counts, the indictment charges Mossburg with three counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, two counts of armed kidnapping, two counts of robbery with a firearm, battery on a police dog, burglary, grand theft auto, resisting an officer and tampering with evidence.

    https://www.theledger.com/news/20191...-polk-killings
    "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

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    Edited:

    Prosecutors to seek death penalty in 2 Polk County murder cases


    The Ledger

    Polk County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Antonio Jaimar Davis and Stanley Eric Mossburg, both indicted recently in two unrelated murder cases.

    https://www.theledger.com/news/20191...k-murder-cases
    "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

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    Additional Evidence Introduced In Mossburg Case

    By Ken Little
    The Greeneville Sun

    Prosecutors will present a mountain of evidence at the upcoming trial of Stanley Eric Mossburg, charged in the October 2019 murders of two Polk County, Florida, residents after allegedly killing a man in Greeneville.

    Mossburg, 38, is charged with first-degree murder and numerous other felony offenses in connection with the killings of two Winter Haven residents in their Polk County home. State of Florida prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Mossburg.

    Mossburg is also charged in Tennessee with the murder of Christopher Scott Short in Greeneville, which occurred days before the Florida homicides.

    Mossburg, who remains held without bond in the Polk County Jail, was present Monday in a Polk County courtroom with his lawyer at a case status hearing.

    Jury selection begins Oct. 4 for the 10th Judicial Circuit court trial of Mossburg, charged in connection with the deaths of Marguerite Ethel Morey and Kenneth Rex Bever in the Winter Haven house they shared with survivor Thomas D. Kohl.

    Court documents state that Mossburg allegedly used a knife to kill Morey and Bever. Mossburg, armed with a knife and handgun, allegedly held Kohl hostage in the house after Kohl returned home from work.

    Prosecutors continue to introduce evidence to be presented at trial. Recently introduced discovery shared with Mossburg’s defense lawyer includes jail emails from Mossburg, autopsy reports, and medical examiner reports and photographs of the victims.

    Testimony by Kohl, law enforcement officers and other witnesses will also be heard at trial.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays in criminal cases in Tennessee, Florida and across the country. Criminal jury trials in Polk County resumed in October 2020, with the first murder trial held in December. More than 40 first-degree murder cases, including the one involving Mossburg, are pending in Polk County.

    Mossburg is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, two counts of armed kidnapping, robbery with a firearm and other felonies.

    Additional charges include three counts of possession of stolen property, three counts of felony petit theft, two counts of use or possession of personal identification of a decreased person, criminal use of personal identification and illegal use of a credit card more than two times.

    The body of Short, 33, of Greeneville, was found on the morning of Oct. 2, 2019, outside the Celebrity Coin Laundry in a plaza on East Andrew Johnson Highway. The laundromat has since closed.

    Short was killed by a man armed with a knife who confronted him inside the laundromat. Authorities allege the attacker is Mossburg. The business has since closed.

    Mossburg, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is charged in Tennessee with first-degree murder and other felonies in connection with Short’s death.

    Greene County prosecutors have said that they can’t extradite Mossburg until Florida court proceedings are complete.

    Authorities have not said why Mossburg was in Greene County in early October 2019. He had been staying in a camp in a wooded area in Greeneville near the laundromat before Short’s death. Mossburg allegedly took Short’s car, drove to the Spartanburg area and sold the car. He later took a bus to Orlando, Florida, before traveling to Polk County.

    After allegedly killing Morey and Bever in Winter Haven, Mossburg left the the victims’ house early on Oct. 14, 2019, in Morey’s sport utility vehicle. He later returned to within several blocks of the crimes and barricaded himself in a nearby house.

    Mossburg allegedly fired gunshots at Polk County sheriff’s deputies trying to take him into custody during the night of Oct. 14. He struggled with and injured a police K-9 dog early on the morning of Oct. 15, 2019, in the garage of the house before being apprehended.

    Mossburg allegedly used credit cards and other possessions of Morey and Beaver after their deaths, leading to additional charges being filed against him in 2020. Evidence at trial will include surveillance videos at the three bank ATMs where Mossburg drove to withdraw money using the victims’ debit cards.

    Mossburg, known by the nickname “Woo Woo,” is charged with at least 27 offenses in connection with the Polk County case.

    In a document filed in 2019 in the 10th Judicial Circuit, a prosecutor wrote that Mossburg’s alleged actions in the murders of Morey and Beaver were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

    Florida State Attorney Brian Haas wrote in a notice of intent that the state intends to prove eight aggravating factors at trial justifying capital punishment for Mossburg.

    One states his actions were committed “in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification."

    https://www.greenevillesun.com/news/...617febd6e.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

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    Edited:

    Stanley Mossburg Florida Trial Continued to 2023

    A death penalty trial for a man charged with two murders in Florida after allegedly killing a man in Greeneville has been continued until 2023.

    https://www.greenevillesun.com/news/...585d7d8bb.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

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    Mossburg Trial Delayed After New Counsel Assigned

    By Ken Little
    The Greeneville Sun

    A trial that could result in the death penalty for a man charged with two murders in Florida after he allegedly killed a man in Greeneville in 2019 has been continued until an undetermined date in 2023.

    Jury selection in the case of 39-year-old Stanley Eric Mossburg was set to begin Jan. 9 in Polk County, Florida, for the October 2019 deaths of a Winter Haven man and woman in their home.

    Mossburg is charged separately in Tennessee with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Christopher Scott Short in Greeneville days before the Florida killings.

    In October, the Polk County public defender appointed to represent Mossburg asked to be withdrawn from the case due to a conflict of interest. The request was granted by the court, and another attorney was appointed to represent Mossburg. A co-counsel was appointed in November.

    A status conference on the case is set for March 10, 2023.

    State of Florida prosecutors filed notice of intent in November 2019 to seek the death penalty for Mossburg.

    Mossburg’s court-appointed lawyer wrote in court documents that he needs time to review evidence to be presented by prosecutors at trial.

    An earlier bid by Mossburg to resolve the case through his previous attorney with a plea agreement that would require him to serve 10 consecutive life sentences was denied by Florida prosecutors.

    Greene County prosecutors have said that they can’t extradite Mossburg back to Tennessee in connection with Scott’s death until Florida court proceedings are complete.

    Mossburg is charged in connection with the deaths of Marguerite Ethel Morey and Kenneth Rex Bever in the Winter Haven house they shared with survivor Thomas D. Kohl.

    Mossburg is charged in Florida with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, two counts of armed kidnapping, robbery with a firearm and other felonies filed during the course of the investigation.

    Additional charges include three counts of possession of stolen property, three counts of felony petit theft, two counts of use or possession of personal identification of a decreased person, criminal use of personal identification and illegal use of a credit card more than two times.

    GREENEVILLE, FLORIDA CRIMES

    The body of Short, 33, of Greeneville, was found on the morning of Oct. 2, 2019, outside the Celebrity Coin Laundry in a strip mall plaza on East Andrew Johnson Highway. The laundromat has since closed.

    Short was killed by a man armed with a knife who confronted him inside the laundromat. Authorities allege the attacker is Mossburg.

    Mossburg, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is charged in Tennessee with first-degree murder and other felonies in connection with Short’s death.

    Mossburg had been staying in a camp in a wooded area in Greeneville near the laundromat before Short’s death. Mossburg allegedly took Short’s car, drove to the Spartanburg area and sold the car. He later took a bus to Orlando, Florida, before traveling to Polk County.

    Court documents state that Mossburg allegedly used a knife to kill Morey and Bever. Mossburg, armed with a knife and handgun, allegedly held Kohl hostage in the house after Kohl returned home from work.

    After allegedly killing Morey and Bever in Winter Haven, Mossburg left the the victims’ house early on Oct. 14, 2019, in Morey’s sport utility vehicle. He later returned to within several blocks of the crimes and barricaded himself in a nearby house.

    Mossburg allegedly fired gunshots at Polk County sheriff’s deputies trying to take him into custody during the night of Oct. 14. He struggled with and injured a K-9 dog early on the morning of Oct. 15, 2019, in the garage of the house before being apprehended.

    Mossburg allegedly used credit cards and other possessions of Morey and Beaver after their deaths, leading to additional charges being filed against him in 2020. Evidence at trial will include surveillance videos at the three bank ATMs where Mossburg drove to withdraw money using the victims’ debit cards.

    ‘HEINOUS’ ACTIONS ALLEGED

    Mossburg, known by the street name “Woo Woo,” is charged with at least 27 offenses in connection with the Polk County case.

    In a document filed in 2019 in the 10th Judicial Circuit, a prosecutor wrote that Mossburg’s alleged actions in the murders of Morey and Beaver were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

    Florida State Attorney Brian Haas wrote in a notice of intent that the state intends to prove eight aggravating factors at trial justifying capital punishment for Mossburg.

    One states that Mossburg’s actions were committed “in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.”

    Evidence expected to be presented by the prosecution includes jail emails, autopsy reports, medical examiner reports and photographs of the victims.

    Testimony by Kohl, law enforcement officers and other witnesses will also be heard at trial, according to court documents.

    Mossburg remains held without bond in the Polk County Jail pending resolution of the Florida case.

    https://www.greenevillesun.com/news/...128641484.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

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    Apply New Death Penalty Law

    By Ken Little
    The Greenville Sun

    The trial of Stanley Eric Mossburg, who allegedly killed a man in Greeneville four years ago and then allegedly committed two murders in Florida, has been continued until 2024.

    Mossburg, 39, had been scheduled for trial in November in Polk County, Florida. The trial date was continued to June 2024 during a September status hearing. State of Florida prosecutors filed notice of intent in 2019 to seek the death penalty for Mossburg. In August, prosecutors filed a motion to apply new statutory death penalty procedures signed into law in April by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to Mossburg’s case.

    The law, which amends procedures for imposition of the death penalty in Florida, states that if “at least eight jurors determine that the defendant should be sentenced to death, the jury’s recommendation to the court must be a sentence of death.”

    If fewer than eight jurors determine that a defendant should be sentenced to death, “the jury’s recommendation to the court must be a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”

    A motion hearing is pending.

    Mossburg is charged separately in Tennessee with first-degree murder, especially aggravated robbery and especially aggravated kidnapping in connection with the October 2019 death of Christopher Scott Short in Greeneville days before the Florida killings.

    Greene County prosecutors have said that they can’t extradite Mossburg back to Tennessee in connection’s with Scott’s death until Florida court proceedings are complete.

    Mossburg is charged in connection with the deaths of Marguerite Ethel Morey and Kenneth Rex Bever in the Winter Haven, Florida, house they shared with survivor Thomas D. Kohl.

    Mossburg was assigned a court-appointed lawyer in late 2022. An earlier bid by Mossburg to resolve the case through his previous lawyer with a plea agreement that would require him to serve 10 consecutive life sentences was denied by Florida prosecutors.

    Mossburg is charged in Florida with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, two counts of armed kidnapping, robbery with a firearm and other felonies filed during the course of the investigation.

    Additional charges include three counts of possession of stolen property, three counts of felony petit theft, two counts of use or possession of personal identification of a decreased person, criminal use of personal identification and illegal use of a credit card more than two times.

    GREENEVILLE, FLORIDA CRIMES

    The body of Short, 33, of Greeneville, was found on the morning of Oct. 2, 2019, outside the Celebrity Coin Laundry in a strip mall plaza on East Andrew Johnson Highway. The laundromat has since closed.

    Short was killed by a man armed with a knife who confronted him inside the laundromat. Authorities allege the attacker is Mossburg.

    Mossburg, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is charged in Tennessee with first-degree murder and other felonies in connection with Short’s death.

    Mossburg had been staying in a camp in a wooded area in Greeneville near the laundromat before Short’s death. Mossburg allegedly took Short’s car, drove to the Spartanburg area and sold the car. He later took a bus to Orlando, Florida, before traveling to Polk County.

    Court documents state that Mossburg allegedly used a knife to kill Morey and Bever. Mossburg, armed with a knife and handgun, allegedly held Kohl hostage in the house after Kohl returned home from work.

    After allegedly killing Morey and Bever in Winter Haven, Mossburg left the the victims’ house early on Oct. 14, 2019, in Morey’s sport utility vehicle. He later returned to within several blocks of the crimes and barricaded himself in a nearby house.

    Mossburg allegedly fired gunshots at Polk County sheriff’s deputies trying to take him into custody during the night of Oct. 14. He struggled with and injured a K-9 dog early on the morning of Oct. 15, 2019, in the garage of the house before being apprehended.

    Mossburg allegedly used credit cards and other possessions of Morey and Beaver after their deaths, leading to additional charges being filed against him in 2020. Evidence at trial will include surveillance videos at the three bank ATMs where Mossburg drove to withdraw money using the victims’ debit cards.

    ‘HEINOUS’ ACTIONS ALLEGED

    Mossburg, known by the street name “Woo Woo,” is charged with at least 27 crimes in connection with the Polk County case.

    In a document filed in 2019 in the 10th Judicial Circuit, a prosecutor wrote that Mossburg’s alleged actions in the murders of Morey and Beaver were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

    Florida State Attorney Brian Haas wrote in a notice of intent that the state intends to prove eight aggravating factors at trial justifying capital punishment for Mossburg. The new death penalty law the state seeks to apply to his case requires jurors to “to consider each aggravating factor found by the jury and all mitigating circumstances.”

    Mossburg did not know Short or the Florida murder victims.

    One aggravated factor filed by Florida prosecutors states that Mossburg’s actions were committed “in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.”

    Evidence expected to be presented by the prosecution includes jail emails, autopsy reports, medical examiner reports and photographs of the victims.

    Testimony by Kohl, law enforcement officers and other witnesses will also be heard at trial, according to court filings.

    Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said after Mossburg was apprehended that he told Kohl that the man and woman killed in Winter Haven were his seventh and eighth victims. Only three victims, including Short, are known, Judd added.

    “(He) told our live victim, ‘I want to be a serial killer. I like killing people,’” Judd said at an Oct. 15, 2019, news conference.

    “Stanley Mossburg told our victim he wanted to be a serial killer. He said he likes killing people. We know he’s killed at least three people. He tried to kill our deputies last night. This guy needs the death penalty if there’s ever anyone who needed the death penalty,” Judd said.

    As Mossburg was walked to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office patrol car for the ride to jail after his arrest, he made several statements to reporters.

    Mossburg shook his head negatively when asked whether he allegedly made the statement about killing “seven or eight people.”

    “I’m a prophet, not a serial killer,” Mossburg said.

    Mossburg expressed no regret for the alleged murder in Greeneville and of the two victims in Winter Haven.

    Not when you’re doing it for God,” he said. “I’m going to heaven. I’m already a prophet.”

    A court document filed in September in Polk County Circuit Court estimates the length of Mossburg’s trial to be five weeks, from June 10 to July 12, 2024.

    A status conference in the case is scheduled in December.

    Mossburg remains held without bond in the Polk County Jail pending resolution of the Florida case.

    https://www.greenevillesun.com/news/...0aeea90c6.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

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