Chosen to present here because he is one of a minority of white death penalty defendants and because he committed the relatively rare crime of parricide.

Demographic: 19-year-old Caucasian male

Indictment: Two Counts of Capital Murder

Crime: Timothy Allman conspired with three other video-gaming friends to kill his prosperous parents in order to obtain his inheritance. Tim did not have friends, had dropped out of his community college classes, and for doing so, had been kicked out of his parents’ house. He felt fortunate to have run into 21-year-old Samantha, the leader of a merry band of ne’er-do-wells, whose mother let him come to live with them. The four friends played games together each evening in a nearby 24-hour-restaurant, which one of them managed.

Samantha demanded that each member, in order to belong, contribute something to the group, and when she asked Tim what he had to offer, he revealed his parents’ wealth. She quickly cooked up a plot to transfer their wealth. Each person had a particular role: Samantha designed the plan; José, the restaurant manager, was to procure the gun; Patsy would do the dirty work using the gun and a knife to kill both parents; and Tim would use his key to let them in through the garage late at night when he knew his parents would be asleep. Samantha’s idea was to use the several millions of dollars to buy themselves houses, cars, and fund their college educations.

The caper went off just as she had directed, but Patsy had a hard time getting each of the parents killed, so Samantha shouted out encouragement while Tim watched. They all left in Tim’s fancy sports car, but not until he had taken a polaroid picture of the bloody scene and hidden the memento in a backyard storage building. He also failed to thoroughly clean his car of transferred blood.

They waited and waited, but heard nothing of the crime on the news. A day later Tim feigned finding his parents in a routine visit and called 911. Meanwhile, Patsy freaked out and eloped to another state to stay with an aunt. She unloaded on her aunt, who talked her into confessing to the police. It was a strong prosecution case from there.

Samantha at first received the death penalty, but it was overturned to life without parole. Patsy was given 30 years for cooperating. José was given five years for accessory to murder. Tim obtained a highly regarded defense attorney who had previously been a beloved district attorney. He was offered a plea deal, but he turned it down because he believed he could get off.

While awaiting trial, Tim tried to bribe another inmate to arrange for the poisoning of Patsy, which the prosecutor used in the penalty phase of the case.

Verdict: Guilty

Sentence: Life in Prison Without Parole

Chosen because defendant represents the majority of the race, background, and crimes that are indicted as capital murder, and because it was a black on white crime.

Defendant: 22-year-old bi-racial (African-American and Caucasian) male

Indictment: One Count Capital Murder, Armed Robbery, Conspiracy to Commit a Felony

Crime: Benny Donaldson and his dominant older brother, William, decided to rob two unsuspecting young white men working on an out-of-town harvesting crew and finishing the day having drinks in a bar. The Donaldson brothers were experienced in robbery and had brought along their two girlfriends who posed as prostitutes in order to lure the out-of-towners to the next-door motel. When the price had been negotiated with the women, the brothers burst in, William with a gun and Benny with a knife. William easily beat one man until he was knocked out. But Benny encountered a resisting victim who was a bigger man than he, necessitating using his knife to subdue him. According to the prosecutor, Benny stabbed him once, which proved fatal. Later William would claim it was he who grabbed the knife from Benny and stabbed the deceased victim.

The Donaldson brothers grew up in a family with extreme domestic violence and severe child abuse delivered by their African-American father, the untouchable police chief in a small town. After he abandoned the family and failed to pay child support, their Caucasian mother was forced to work two fast-food jobs which took her away from her children all their waking hours. As well, since she had met her 28-year-old, violent husband when she was a 16-year-old run-away, and had given birth to three sons in five years, she was never able to sustain the role of a parent, much less as a single, overwhelmed mother.

The boys lived a feral life, feared and hated in every neighborhood in which they landed. Consequently, they were juvenile delinquents at an early age.

William, whom the family described as “vicious,” was the leader of the family. In a curious situation, the oldest child, Charles, never was in trouble with the law and had a successful school record. He went on to have a professional culinary career.

Trial: Many irregularities occurred in Benny’s trial. William was represented by highly-trained public defenders who afforded him excellent advocacy. He received a sentence of life without parole. Benny, however, was represented by a man chosen by the judge from a common list of private-practice attorneys willing to represent capital defendants. It later came out that Benny’s attorney was, in fact, favored by the judge, was an alcoholic and drug addict who was high during the trial, and was representing over 100 criminal defendants at the time of Benny’s trial. He conceded that he did minimal work for his client and only saw him at preliminary court appearances. While the attorney did authorize a mitigation study and an expert was lined up to testify, the judge disallowed the testimony from the seasoned expert and chose his own local psychologist, whom he knew. That person had never testified in a capital trial before.

Verdict: Guilty

Sentence: Death

Chosen to present here because he killed a police officer, because it is highly questionable that it was intentional, and because it was a black-on-white crime.

Defendant: 23-year-old African American male

Indictment: Capital Murder of a Police Officer, Sexual Assault, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon

Crime: James Armstrong, Jr. was a successful barber, a musician and gospel song-writer, and divorced father of one who came from a highly-respected family known to the community. He had been raised in a very strict, over-protective Christian environment; his father, stepfather and uncle were all pastors. Since age twenty-one, he had regularly smoked marijuana, something he hid from his parents. For several months, James had been dating a woman who was more invested in the relationship than was he, and on the day of the crimes, he had decided to break up with her. He had been praying about it, and had convened his co-workers to give him support. As well, the night before he’d had a major argument with his musician uncle during which the man derided James’ musical talent and his chances for a career. He was in great turmoil.

As he walked home from a convenience store, he ran into two of his customers who were smoking blunts (marijuana cigarettes laced with anabolic steroid). He kept pestering them for one, which would be his first one, until they finally gave in. James had never had such an experience— unpleasant psychedelic hallucinations, feelings of rage, and unusual physical power.

When he got home, his girlfriend stated that he frightened her and forced her to have sex. Afterwards, she ran out of the house covered with only a blanket and called her father, who lived down the street, for help. When her father arrived at the house, he exited his SUV, leaving the key in the ignition and the door opened. As he ran to the door, James confronted him with a baseball bat and hit him over the head. Although the man was subdued and injured, he recovered.

James’ girlfriend had also called the police, and after he had beaten her father, he heard police sirens coming toward him. It was raining that night with a heavy fog, and the street was blocked and under construction. James panicked and jumped into the SUV with the open door and keys in the ignition. As he gunned the car, backing out of the driveway, he turned in an irrational move toward the closed street. At that same time, a police officer was walking through the street construction to locate the emergency. James slammed on the gas and hit the officer, thinking he had hit a construction barrel. He drove only a few yards further before he jumped out of the car. Police surrounded him, and as he lay face down, being hand-cuffed, he begged them to kill him.

Trial: Because a police officer was killed, capital murder was charged. It is not customary to ask for manslaughter in such a case. For weeks after James was jailed, he suffered the effects of THC and delirium from high levels of testosterone; he continued to be suicidal. In the guilt phase of the trial, James’ intent was the issue. However, because a police officer was killed, the jury didn’t allow itself to consider whether it was accidental. The reason James Armstrong, Jr. did not receive the death penalty or life without parole, was that mitigation in the penalty phase revealed what an upstanding citizen he had been before the night he fell apart. As well, many members of his respected family were there to support him and attest to his good character.

Verdict: Guilty

Sentence: Life in Prison, plus $10,000 fine