Facts of the Crime:
The two victims, Al Doranz and Caesar Di Russo, were killed on January 16, 1981. Pope was convicted of their murder in addition to the murder of Kristine Walters.
Thomas Pope and Susan Eckard, Pope’s girlfriend, admitted being with Al Doranz and Kristine Walters, Doranz’s girlfriend, at Ms. Walters’ apartment on the night of January 16, 1981. Eckard testified that she and Pope had left the apartment to visit Clarence ‘Buddy’ Lagle and to pick up some hamburgers. Lagle later testified at the trial that he had made a silencer for an AR-7 rifle for Pope. Eckard and Pope then returned to Walters’ apartment. Pope and Doranz talked Walters into going with Eckard to the apartment where Pope was staying at the time. Pope did not go with the two women. Eckard testified that Pope had arranged a drug deal with Doranz and Di Russo.
Sometime later that night, Pope showed up at his own apartment. He told Walters that something had happened and Doranz had been injured, and that she should stay at his apartment for a while. Eckard testified that, at this time, she knew that Di Russo and Doranz were dead.
On Saturday, January 17, 1981, Walters checked into a hotel. From this time, up until her death, Pope supplied Walters with drugs. Pope told Eckard that he would have to kill Walters, and that he felt bad because he had started to like Walters.
On Sunday, January 18, 1981, Pope told Walters that he would take her to see Doranz. Pope drove her to a canal. According to the medical examiner’s testimony, Walters was shot six times with exploding ammunition. She was shot from the rear and shot twice with the gun pressed up to her abdomen. At some point, Walters had made an attempt to get away. The gunshot wounds would have been extremely painful, but would not have caused a loss of consciousness. Pope then hit Walters over the head with the gun barrel. This blow caused the barrel to break. Pope then dragged Walters to the nearby canal and threw her in. She was still alive, but subsequently drowned.
Parts of the rifle were found near the canal. Eckard testified that Pope described the murder to her when he returned. He told her about the rifle breaking, and the next day the two went back to the scene to pick up all of the pieces.
The bodies of Al Doranz and Caesar Di Russo were found in Walters’ apartment on January 19, 1981. Doranz had been shot three times and Di Russo had been shot five times. A 22-caliber shell casing was found under Di Russo’s body. Walters’ body was found on January 21, 1981, floating in the canal. Sometime in early January 1981, Al Doranz had purchased an AR-7 rifle for Thomas Pope.
Pope was sentenced to death in Broward County on April 7, 1982.
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