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Thread: Demetrie Mayfield - California

  1. #1
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    Demetrie Mayfield - California

    Facts of the Crime:

    On the night of February 2, 1983, Mayfield went to the Pope residence armed with a sawed-off shotgun and two shells. He entered the house by removing the bedroom window with a screwdriver and, once in the house, he loaded and cocked the shotgun. Mayfield went into the living room where Ora Pope and her friend, Edward Moreno, were seated on a couch, drinking and listening to music. Mayfield aimed the shotgun at Ora and confronted her about the car theft charges she had made against him. During the conversation, Ora got up, either to light a cigarette or to come at Mayfield, and Mayfield, startled by her sudden movement, pulled the shotgun's "hair" trigger killing Ora. He then reloaded the gun and killed Moreno.

    Mayfield dragged the bodies, with Ora still showing signs of life, to an outside storage shed. He hosed the blood off the pavement, retrieved the two spent shells, locked the house, and replaced the bedroom window. Mayfield went to the house of his friend, Patricia Harper, and hid the shotgun. Harper testified that "[h]e said he did it. It slipped. He didn't mean to. And then he had to. . . . He had to do the second one." Before leaving Harper's house, Mayfield told her that he was "going to go wait for Byron, too," and going to "get Byron, too."

    To prevent the discovery of his crimes, Mayfield waited outside the Pope residence for Byron carrying a knife. When Byron arrived at the house, Mayfield confronted him and the two fought. After discussing the car theft charges for an extended period, Mayfield succeeded in forcing Byron to leave without entering the house. Mayfield then returned home where the police found him the next morning.

    Mayfield was sentenced to death on September 30, 1983 in San Bernardino County.

  2. #2
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    April 11, 2003

    SAN BERNARDINO - After 18 years on death row, convicted double murderer Demetrie Mayfield of San Bernardino on Thursday was spared execution when the District Attorney's Office decided not to retry him for the death penalty.

    "He will be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole,' said Deputy District Attorney David Whitney. "We are not pursuing the death penalty against him.'

    Attorney S. Donald Ames, who died in 2000, represented Mayfield at his trial in 1983. After convicting him, the jury spent four hours deliberating before instructing a judge to sentence him to death.

    Mayfield, who is black, appealed the conviction and sentence, alleging Ames was a racist and that he put up a shoddy defense.

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