Facts of the Crime:
On November 4, 1988, Barbara Mack spoke with her father, Floyd Covington, via the radio in his cab. Later that day she was unable to reach him using the same radio. On November 7, 1988, Frankie Covington, the victim’s daughter-in-law, filed a missing person’s report with Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Department. The police began a search for the missing cab driver. Mr. Covington’s cab, a white Buick station wagon, was found in a wooded area. It had been covered with a pile of brush. The bloodstains in the cab revealed that the person sitting in the driver seat had been shot from the direction of the passenger seat. The blood was found to be type O, which was consistent with Mr. Covington’s blood type.
Covington had been shot twice in the chest with a shotgun while in the driver’s seat and then moved to the passenger seat. Mr. Covington’s body was found 12 miles away in another wooded area on November 10, 1988. His wallet was found approximately 20 feet from the body. The medical examiner testified that Mr. Covington had been shot two to seven days prior to the day that the body was found and that either shot alone could have been the cause of death. The plastic wadding and the shells were recovered from the body.
A witness stated that he had seen, while driving on Highway 87, a white station wagon taxicab around 10:30 a.m. the morning of November 4, 1988. The cab was angled off the road in a grassy ditch. Due to the fact that he only observed the cab for a brief time, he could not give any characteristics of the driver, but he did report that he did not see anyone in the passenger seat.
During the night of November 3, 1988, Pace spoke with his cousin, Angela Pace, about money problems that he was having. Angela quoted Pace as saying, “There’s something that I do, I hate to do, but I want to have some money tomorrow.” Pace never specifically stated what he was going to do, but she knew that Pace sometimes did odd jobs for Mr. Covington.
A witness stated that she saw Mr. Covington and Pace in Mr. Covington’s taxi at approximately 9:30 a.m. on November 4, 1988. Another witness stated that she saw Pace around 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. that same day. This witness stated that Pace did not appear wounded or upset, but his clothes were dirty. On November 5, 1988, Pace told his friend Michael Green that he had a gun that they could do some shooting with. Pace retrieved the shotgun gun from the bushes of an unoccupied building. Both shot the gun behind Mr. Green’s mother’s house. When Pace left, he did not take the shotgun with him.
While at the house, Ms. Green had inquired about spots on Pace’s clothing. Pace replied that he had recently been squirrel hunting and it was squirrel blood. Pace told his stepfather that Mr. Covington had driven him home on the morning of November 4, 1988. Because Pace did not have a key, he was forced to enter the house through a window. Once inside he noticed that his brother’s shotgun was missing from the gun rack. Pace claimed someone appeared behind him and choked him, rendering him unconscious. Pace stated that he woke up in the woods. He saw his brother’s shotgun and picked it up. He saw blood inside Mr. Covington’s cab. He then walked to the Green’s residence. After revealing all of this information to his stepfather, Pace voluntarily went to the sheriff’s office.
Pace was sentenced to death in Santa Rosa County on November 16, 1989.
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