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Thread: William Clyde Gibson III - Indiana Death Row

  1. #61
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Indiana Supreme Court hears William Clyde Gibson's death penalty appeal

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Five state Supreme Court justices are now considering the fate of southern Indiana serial killer William Clyde Gibson.

    They heard arguments in Gibson's appeal in Indianapolis Thursday morning.

    Gibson was sentenced to death in 2013 for the 2012 murder of family friend Christine Whitus. She was murdered and sexually assaulted. Her body, which was found in Gibson's garage, was mutilated.

    Gibson did not attend Thursday's hearing. During the hearing, his defense attorney made two arguments. She said Gibson's case does not rise to the level of a death penalty case because it does not involve multiple victims, a child or a police officer. She also argued that jury selection was flawed.

    An assistant attorney general argued that Gibson did get a fair trial, and that the brutal nature of his crime is worthy of death.

    The justices could take 3-6 months or more to decide this case. If they rule for him, he could get a new penalty phase.

    Ironically, it's almost three years to the day since Christine Whitus was murdered.

    http://www.wdrb.com/story/28761840/i...penalty-appeal
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  2. #62
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Indiana Supreme Court upholds death penalty for William Clyde Gibson

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld a judge's ruling that serial killer William Clyde Gibson receive the death penalty, according to an opinion issued by the court.

    Gibson was sentenced to death in 2013 for the April 19, 2012 murder of family friend, 75-year-old Christine Whitis. He killed Whitis, sexually assaulted her and mutilated her corpse.

    "We find the nature of Gibson's offense to be beyond horrendous," the court wrote in its opinion, which was filed Thursday morning. "He brutally murdered an elderly woman, sexually assaulting her in the process, even after she was dead, then dismembering her body. As for his character, Gibson has an extensive criminal history. And although we understand he is afflicted with various mental disorders and grief over his mother's death, no one testified he was unable to appreciate the severity of his crime. Gibson's jury heard this evidence and more, determined the State proved all four aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt, and found those aggravators outweighed the mitigating evidence presented."

    "In light of the horrific manner in which Gibson took Whitis's life and his lack of redeeming character traits, we find this is not the kind of exceptional case that warrants appellate modification of a sentence," the court continued. "Finding Gibson's sentence of death was not inappropriate, we decline to revise it."

    Gibson has also pleaded guilty to the murder of Stephanie Kirk. Kirk's body was found buried in the backyard of Gibson's New Albany home in April 2012. He was sentenced to death in that case as well.

    In April 2014, Gibson received a 65-year sentence for the murder of Karen Hodella. Police say Hodella is the first person Gibson killed: a 44-year-old Florida woman, found stabbed to death near the Ohio River in Clarksville, Ind.

    http://www.wdrb.com/story/30107396/i...m-clyde-gibson

    To read the full ruling, click here: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions...9241501msm.pdf

  3. #63
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    William Clyde Gibson challenges 1 death penalty after being convicted in 3 deaths

    INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An attorney for a southern Indiana man convicted of killing three women argued Thursday that his death sentence in one of the slayings should be thrown out because the judge didn't sufficiently consider the importance of his confession.

    The attorney for William Clyde Gibson III told the Indiana Supreme Court that Clyde's confession to the strangulation death of 35-year-old Stephanie Kirk of Charlestown was key to resolving her disappearance.

    Gibson, 58, pleaded guilty last year to killing Kirk, whose body was found buried in the yard of his New Albany home in 2012. His guilty plea came after he had already been given a death sentence in another of the three killings.

    Defense attorney Laura Paul said a Floyd County judge should have given greater weight to Gibson's confession since police hadn't been able to link him to Kirk's disappearance. She said Gibson should be sentenced to life in prison.

    "If he hadn't confessed, no one would've ever known why Stephanie Kirk disappeared, what had happened to her, who had killed her," Paul said. "The community would've thought that her killer was still at large."

    Gibson's arrest in the death of 75-year-old Christine Whitis, who was his late mother's best friend, led to the discovery of Kirk's remains eight days later in the city just north of Louisville, Kentucky. Authorities later charged him with killing Karen Hodella, 44, of Port Orange, Florida, whose body was found in 2002 near the Ohio River in Clarksville.

    An attorney for the state argued that Gibson's death sentence for Kirk's death is proper and disputed the importance of his confession.

    "He was seen with the woman, she was missing and she was buried in his backyard," Deputy Attorney General Andrew Kobe said. "The claim that they would have never been able to connect her murder to him without his confession is going a bit far."

    The Supreme Court could take weeks or months to release a ruling on Gibson's appeal.

    The justices in September upheld Gibson's death sentence for killing Whitis, but his attorneys plan further appeals of that sentence.

    Gibson has also been sentenced to 65 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder charges in Hodella's death.

    http://www.newsandtribune.com/news/w...e670ae3bc.html

  4. #64
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Indiana Supreme Court upholds second death sentence for William Clyde Gibson

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Floyd County serial killer on death row was handed a legal defeat Tuesday afternoon.

    Earlier this afternoon the Indiana Supreme Court upheld a lower court's death sentence against William Clyde Gibson.

    Gibson has been convicted of killing three women: Karen Hodella, Stephanie Kirk and family friend Christine Whitis. He was sentenced to death for killing Whitis and Kirk, and 65 years for Hodella's murder. He confessed to killing Kirk.

    The Indiana Supreme Court has already upheld the death penalty in the case of Whitis' murder. Today, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the trial court's sentence for the murder of Kirk, "is not inappropriate."

    "The record illustrates the gruesome and grotesque nature of Gibson's offense," the ruling states. "He murdered a defenseless woman in a brutal attack."

    The ruling goes on to describe the brutal nature of the crime, then notes that -- despite a "few redeeming qualities" in his Gibson's character -- the court cannot overlook Gibson's ambivalence towards the murder.

    "Gibson wears his most heinous crimes as a badge of honor," the ruling states. "While on death row, before being tried for Kirk's murder, Gibson surreptitiously had 'Death Row X 3' tattooed in six-by-eight-inch letters on the back of his shaved head...Committing such a horrifying crime -- and then, while awaiting trial, getting a tattoo to glorify it -- does not speak well about Gibson's character

    http://www.wdrb.com/story/31703657/i...m-clyde-gibson
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  5. #65
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Gibson's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Indiana
    Case Nos.: (22S00-1206-DP-359)
    Decision Date: September 24, 2015
    Rehearing Denied: December 7, 2015
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  6. #66
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Gibson's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Indiana
    Case Nos.: (22S00-1206-DP-00360)
    Decision Date: April 12, 2016
    Rehearing Denied: June 29, 2016

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....es/16-7105.htm

  7. #67
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    'THERE WERE OTHERS' Chilling moment serial killer tells Sir Trevor McDonald he killed dozens more

    William Clyde Gibson, from South Indiana, is on death row for murdering three women in cold blood - but says he killed up to 30

    By James Cox
    The Sun

    A SERIAL killer told Sir Trevor McDonald he slaughtered dozens more people without cops finding out.

    William Clyde Gibson, from South Indiana, is on death row for murdering three women in cold blood.

    In the latest series of ITV's Crime and Punishment, presenter Trevor McDonald confronts Gibson about the killings in prison.

    When the broadcasting legend askes him about the extent of his crimes, Gibson says: "They [police] might have a tenth of it, I'll put it that way."

    Sir Trev pushes the killer on the exact number of victims, saying: "'What, around 29 or 30?"

    The proud killer says: "yep".

    When asked why he killed his first victim, Karen Hodella, he said simply: "I just felt like it."

    "I didn't have to have a reason."

    Gibson killed Karen Hodella, 44, who he had never met in 2002. Her body was found near the Ohio River in Clarksville.

    His second victim was his mother's friend, 75-year-old Christine Whitis.

    Her body was discovered in Gibson’s New Albany garage days before another of Gibson's victims was found buried in his garden.

    He told McDonald: "She caught me cutting up another woman. She said was going to call the police. I strangled her."

    He admitted killing Stephanie Kirk, 35, on March 25, 2012 - and had mutilated and sexually molested his last two victims.

    When McDonald questioned his humanity, Gibson says: "I don't believe I've got any humanity. It just doesn't seem to affect me.

    "I could kill a person and then just go out for dinner.

    He was sentenced to death in June 2014.

    Gibson even told Trevor he got an "adrenaline rush" out of murder.

    He added: "I got a kick out of cutting them up. Seem like after the first one it just got good to me.

    "At first I was kind of nervous about it, but then after the first one… It wasn’t just women, there were men too.

    "They just didn’t find them, I didn’t say anything about them."

    Laughing, he adds: "I don't care."

    Gibson was sentenced to death in June 2014.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbi...d-dozens-more/

  8. #68
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    William Clyde Gibson appeals to Indiana Supreme Court on sentencing

    He’s facing two death penalties and 65 years for three murder convictions

    By Aprile Rickert
    WAVE 3

    INDIANAPOLIS (NEWS AND TRIBUNE) - The Indiana Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday on behalf of a New Albany man convicted of the murders of three women in Southern Indiana between 2002 and 2012 and who is on death row in two of the cases.

    Appellate counsel for William Clyde Gibson III argued that his trial attorneys failed to properly investigate a prior brain injury and present it to the jury during sentencing, and that the attorney who was lead counsel in two of his cases and co-counsel in the third had a conflict of interest.

    Gibson was convicted by a jury of the April 2012 murder and mutilation of his late mother's best friend, 75-year-old Christine Whitis, and pleaded guilty to the March 2012 murder of 35-year-old Stephanie Kirk and the 2002 murder of Karen Hodella. In the first two cases, he received a death sentence and in the third, he was sentenced to 65 years in prison.

    Gibson previously appealed the two death sentences, which were upheld. He later sought for his cases to be re-examined in a Floyd County court through post-conviction relief; those requests were denied.

    Lindsay Van Gorkum represented Gibson during Thursday's hearing, requesting that the court transfer the jurisdiction of the Hodella case and reverse post-conviction findings in all three cases.

    She argued that Gibson's trial attorneys had been negligent in fully investigating the effects a 1991 accident may have had on Gibson's mental state and his subsequent actions.

    She said Gibson had spoken during the investigation about the wreck and possible mental issues caused by it. An MRI was performed on Gibson in 2013, about three quarters of the way through the trial for the murder of Whitis. Van Gorkum said Gibson's attorneys failed when they didn't pursue this path and failed to give the information about the MRI to the medical expert who testified post-conviction.

    She said evidence of his potential brain injury was "important; it's critical for a jury to hear."

    Gibson's attorneys had argued during trial that his mental distress over the death of his mother in the months before had impacted his actions, leading to the deaths of Kirk and Whitis.

    Van Gorkum also made the case that lead attorney John Biggs, who at the time was the chief public defender in Floyd County, had a conflict of interest.

    Van Gorkum said Biggs' heavy case load and pressure to minimize expenses kept him from giving Gibson the time or resources needed to properly defend his cases.

    She said the time constraint kept attorneys from attending regular interviews between police and Gibson, discussions in which he later made confessions. Van Gorkum asserted this would have taken Biggs' time, "while he also had obligations as a full-time office administrator who was maintaining a full-time case load at that time."

    Tyler Banks, representing the state in the case, said in his argument that Gibson's convictions and sentences should be upheld.

    "In three separate cases, Gibson was properly convicted for trapping, murdering and, in one case, mutilating three helpless women," he said. "... Gibson has set the standard for the worst of the worst and any reasonable judge or jury would have found that the death penalty was the only appropriate punishment."

    He addressed the post-conviction argument that "a single, mild, traumatic brain injury set off a course of events that culminated in the brutal mutilations and murder of three women," he said. "This constructed narrative has multiple issues and does not prove counsel was ineffective ..."

    Banks also questioned how a jury could even be shown evidence of how Gibson's behavior had changed after 1991 without causing prejudice by including the other pending murder cases and other previous convictions.

    "This post-conviction narrative relies on three things: a single traumatic brain injury, bipolar disorder and a history of alcoholism," he said. "Of those three things, the sentencing fact-finders were informed and provided evidence of two of them.

    "This narrative doesn't explain why many, many people with this diagnosis or with these conditions do not commit horrific murders like Mr. Gibson did."

    He added that the conflict of interest statement made by Van Gorkum didn't hold up.

    "The counsel's job is to manage limited money," he said. "This is the dilemma of all counsel; that can't be a conflict of interest.

    The court took the arguments under advisement.

    http://www.wave3.com/2019/01/11/will...rt-sentencing/
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  9. #69
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Supreme Court reaffirms death sentence in ‘brutal’ 2012, 2003 murders

    The Indiana Lawyer

    The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed on a Floyd County man convicted of two counts of murder in the 2012 strangulations of two women, as well as his 65-year sentence for a 2003 murder he confessed to after his arrest seven years ago.

    William Clyde Gibson III was found guilty of the separate murders of Stephanie Kirk and Christine Whitis. He invited Kirk to his house in March 2012, where he “brutally strangled her to death and sexually assaulted her corpse,” Justice Mark Massa wrote. Gibson buried Kirk’s body in a shallow grave in his backyard, and a month later, he invited Whitis to his home, where he murdered her and likewise abused her corpse.

    The next day, Gibson’s sisters discovered Whitis’ body, called New Albany police, and Gibson was arrested after a brief car chase. Afterward, he confessed to the 2003 murder of Karen Hodella. He was sentenced to death for the murders of Kirk and Whitis and 65 years in prison for pleading guilty to killing Hodella.

    The Indiana Supreme Court upheld Gibson’s conviction and death sentences on direct appeal in 2016, and likewise rejected his appeal of denial of post-conviction relief Thursday in William Clyde Gibson, III v. State of Indiana, 22S00-1601-PD-00009, 22S00-1608-PD-00411.

    Justices determined Gibson had not received ineffective assistance of counsel during his trials and found no basis for relief under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).

    “Finding Gibson’s arguments unpersuasive and largely unsupported by the record, we now affirm the post-conviction court’s denial of relief,” Justice Mark Massa wrote in a 40-page opinion joined by all justices except Geoffrey Slaughter, who did not participate.

    Justices also rejected these arguments from Gibson: there was unreasonable delay in assembling his legal representation; that the defense team was deficient in questioning potential jurors; that his defenders failed to sufficiently pursue a plea agreement that would spare the death penalty; that mitigating factors were not sufficiently presented; and that counsel failed to object to allegedly coerced statements and allegedly false or prejudicial testimony.

    The court likewise rejected Gibson’s claim of conflict of interest because the public defender appointed to represent him in a resource-intensive case also had an interest in the efficient administration of public funds. “Applying the standard Strickland analysis to Gibson’s claim, we find neither deficient performance nor prejudice,” Massa wrote for the court, noting the office submitted claims for reimbursement totaling more than $686,000.

    “Based on the actual expenditures in representing Gibson and the employment of co-counsel, an investigator, a mitigation specialist, experts, and other consultants, we have little doubt that Gibson received quality representation, not ineffective assistance of counsel prejudicial to his defense,” the court concluded.

    https://www.theindianalawyer.com/art...2-2003-murders
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  10. #70
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    Distributed for conference October 9, 2020.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-8903.html
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