Sergeant Charles Kubala
Summary of Offense:
Shortly before 7:00 p.m. on February 26, 1996, Ruth Griffith heard gunshots in her backyard. She called her next door neighbor, Landrow Taylor, who came over; the two called 911. As they waited in the living room, Griffith and Taylor heard someone come onto the screened porch on the side of the house and start banging on the door to the house. A wooden board which had been nailed over a broken window pane on the lower right-hand corner of the door broke out. Sumter police officer, Sergeant Charles Kubala arrived at 7:07 p.m.; he was motioned to the side of the house by Taylor. As Taylor and Griffith waited inside the house, they heard someone shout "Halt" or "Hold It" followed immediately by three or four gunshots. A second police officer arrived to find Kubala had been shot in the right ear and neck. Kubala died at the scene.
After four hours of searching the wooded area behind Griffith's home, Stone was found lying beneath two fallen trees, with a .22 caliber pistol under him. A shotgun had been left on the screened porch. Stone confessed to the shooting, but claimed he had drank about twelve beers in the six hours prior to the shooting. He told police that when he heard a man's voice yelling at him from outside the screened porch, he turned and the gun went off, so he ran. The jury convicted Stone of murder, first degree burglary, and possession of a firearm during commission of a violent crime.
Stone was sentenced to death in Sumter County on January 28, 1997 and, again, on February 27, 2005.
Bookmarks