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Thread: Ray Jefferson Cromartie - Georgia Execution - November 13, 2019

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    Ray Jefferson Cromartie - Georgia Execution - November 13, 2019




    Summary of Offense:

    The evidence adduced at trial shows that Cromartie borrowed a .25 caliber pistol from his cousin Gary Young on April 7, 1994. At about 10:15 p.m. on April 7, Cromartie entered the Madison Street Deli in Thomasville and shot the clerk, Dan Wilson, in the face. Cromartie left after unsuccessfully trying to open the cash register. The tape from the store video camera, while too indistinct to conclusively identify Cromartie, captured a man fitting Cromartie's general description enter the store and walk behind the counter toward the area where the clerk was washing pans. There is the sound of a shot and the man leaves after trying to open the cash register. Wilson survived despite a severed carotid artery. The following day, Cromartie asked Gary Young and Carnell Cooksey if they saw the news. He told Young that he shot the clerk at the Madison Street Deli while he was in the back washing dishes. Cromartie also asked Cooksey if he was “down with the 187,” which Cooksey testified meant robbery. Cromartie stated that there was a Junior Food Store with “one clerk in the store and they didn't have no camera.”

    In the early morning hours of April 10, 1994, Cromartie and Corey Clark asked Thaddeus Lucas if he would drive them to the store so they could steal beer. As they were driving, Cromartie directed Lucas to bypass the closest open store and drive to the Junior Food Store. He told Lucas to park on a nearby street and wait. When Cromartie and Clark entered the store, Cromartie shot clerk Richard Slysz twice in the head. The first shot which entered below Slysz's right eye would not have caused Slysz to immediately lose consciousness before he was hit by Cromartie's second shot directed at Slysz's left temple. Although Slysz died shortly thereafter, neither wound caused an immediate death. Cromartie and Clark then tried to open the cash register but were unsuccessful.   Cromartie instead grabbed two 12-packs of Budweiser beer and the men fled. A convenience store clerk across the street heard the shots and observed two men fitting the general description of Cromartie and Clark run from the store;  Cromartie was carrying the beer. While the men were fleeing one of the 12-packs broke open and spilled beer cans onto the ground. A passing motorist saw the two men run from the store and appear to drop something.

    Cooksey testified that when Cromartie and his accomplices returned to the Cherokee Apartments they had a muddy case of Budweiser beer and Cromartie boasted about shooting the clerk twice. Plaster casts of shoe prints in the muddy field next to the spilled cans of beer were similar to the shoes Cromartie was wearing when he was arrested three days later. Cromartie's left thumb print was found on a torn piece of Budweiser 12-pack carton near the shoe prints. The police recovered the .25 caliber pistol that Cromartie had borrowed from Gary Young, and a firearms expert determined that this gun fired the bullets that wounded Wilson and killed Slysz. Cromartie's accomplices, Lucas and Clark, testified for the State at Cromartie's trial.

    Cromartie was sentenced to death on October 1, 1997.

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    On March 8, 1999, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Cromartie's death sentence on direct appeal.

    http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-suprem...t/1234479.html

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    March 5, 2008

    Cromartie still on death row for 1997 slaying

    By Patti Dozier
    The Times-Enterprise

    THOMASVILLE — A Georgia Death Row inmate convicted of murder more than a decade ago continues the process to prolong his life.

    Two local lawmen and an assistant district attorney recently testified at a habeas corpus hearing at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison at Jackson, site of Georgia’s Death Row.

    The inmate, Ray Jefferson Cromartie, was convicted in October 1997 of murdering a convenience store clerk.

    The purpose of a habeas corpus hearing to determine whether a person is being held lawfully, said David Hutchings, Thomas County clerk of court.

    “They can be held before the person is convicted or after the person is convicted,” Hutchings explained.

    Cromartie was convicted in October 1997 in Thomas County Superior Court of the April 19, 1994, shooting death of a clerk at a West Jackson Street convenience store.

    He also was convicted of aggravated battery in the shooting three days earlier of a clerk at a North Madison Street convenience store.

    Cromartie, 41, also was convicted of armed robbery and three counts of possession of a firearm in the two shootings.

    The Superior Court judge who presided at Cromartie’s habeas corpus hearing has not filed a decision.

    Prison inmates file documents in Butts County Superior Court, the county in which Georgia’s Death Row is located. Judges are appointed to hear the cases, said Russ Willard, public information officer for Thurbert Baker, Georgia attorney general.

    “It’s weeks to months before a decision is known,” Willard explained.

    Cromartie is among 102 inmates on Death Row — 101 men and one woman.

    Kelly Gissendaner is the woman. She was convicted of murder in Gwinnett County in November 1998.

    The average stay on Death Row before being put to death is 14.5 years.

    http://timesenterprise.com/local/x44...r-1997-slaying

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    On March 20, 2014, Cromartie filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/geo...4cv00039/92143

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    On April 21, 2014, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Cromartie's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Superior Court of Georgia, Butts County
    Case Nos.: (2000-V-295)
    Decision Date: February 9, 2012
    Rehearing Denied: October 9, 2012
    Discretionary Court
    Decision Date: September 9, 2013

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    On March 31, 2017, Cromartie's habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.

    https://docs.justia.com/cases/federa...00039/92143/81

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    On June 8, 2017, Cromartie filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci.../ca11/17-12627

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    On January 3, 2018, the 11th Circuit denied his appeal. On March 26, 2018, rehearing was denied.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-5796.html
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    I believe this is the sixth person that is waiting before SCOTUS right now. GA might have another wave year.

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    Distributed for SCOTUS conference of November 30.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-5796.html
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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