William Dillard Powell

William Dillard Powell (September 25, 1946 – March 11, 2005), a 58-year-old white male, was executed by lethal injection at the Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina on March 11, 2005. Powell was found guilty of the 1991 murder of Mary Gladden, a 54-year-old white female. Powell, who was 45-years old when he committed the capital crime, was sentenced to death on April 29, 1993.

Mary Gladden was an employee of The Pantry on Charles Road in Shelby, North Carolina. She was killed on October 31, 1991, while on duty at The Pantry. On that day between 3:15 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. Scott Truelove bought $5 worth of gasoline at The Pantry. While paying at the counter he stood near a rough-looking man with unkempt, shoulder-length hair, facial hair, and a tattoo on his left forearm.

The next morning, November 1, Truelove read about the murder and gave a description of the man to Captain Ledbetter of the Shelby Police Department. On November 16 Truelove identified Powell as the man by picking him out of a photographic lineup.

At approximately 4:15 a.m. on October 31 Clarissa Epps stopped at The Pantry to buy gasoline. She went in to pay for her purchase and after waiting in vain for a clerk to appear called out but received no answer. Epps, after seeing Gladden lying in blood behind the counter, drove home and called police.

On the 31st, in response to a radio dispatch, Officer Mark Lee of the Shelby Police Department arrived at The Pantry at 4:26 a.m. Lee first ensured that all customers had left the store and then found Gladden behind the counter. She was lying on her back in a pool of blood with her head toward the cash register and her hands at her sides. Lee noticed injuries to her left eye and ear as well as other injuries to her head. He also saw a one-dollar bill on the floor near her left foot and another on the counter.

Dr. Stephen Tracey, who performed the autopsy, testified that Gladden had numerous lacerations on her head and that her skull was fractured in several places. Gladden’s nose was broken and her left eye had been displaced by a fracture to the bone behind it. Her brain had hemorrhaged, was bruised and lacerated in several places, and contained skull fragments. Tracey determined that blunt trauma to the head caused Gladden’s death and that she died from the trauma before she lost a fatal amount of blood. He also concluded that human hands had not inflicted the wounds, surmising from their size and shape that the perpetrator had used a lug-nut wrench, a tire wrench, or possibly a pipe. Mark Stewart, an employee of The Pantry, testified that he worked on both October 27 and November 1. On the 27th Stewart saw a tire tool behind the counter to the side of the cash register. The tool had lain there for approximately one year. It was curved on one end with a round hole for a lug nut and was split on the other end for hubcap removal. Stewart noticed that the tool was missing when he worked on the 1st of November.

Thomas Tucker, a district manager of The Pantry, testified that he arrived at The Pantry sometime after 6:00 a.m. on October 31. He examined the cash register tape for that morning and it showed, among other transactions, a gasoline sale of $5 at 3:29 a.m. and a no-sale at 3:35 a.m. The cash register enters a no-sale when it is opened but no purchase is made. According to the tape no transaction occurred between the $5 purchase and the no-sale. Tucker opened the register at 6:22 a.m. at the direction of Captain Ledbetter to determine whether any money had been taken during the homicide. He concluded that approximately $48 was missing.

On November 16 Lieutenant Mark Cherka and Officer David Lail drove to Anthony's Trailer Park to find Powell and bring him to the police station for questioning. Powell came out of a trailer and allowed Cherka to take four photographs of him. He agreed to accompany Cherka and Lail to the police station for questioning as a possible suspect in a murder. Powell was told that he did not have to leave with them, as he was not under arrest at that time. Powell and the officers arrived at the police station at approximately 4:00 p.m. whereupon Cherka began questioning Powell. Powell refused to allow Cherka to tape record the interview so Cherka made notes of what transpired shortly after the interview ended. Powell stated that he had gone to sleep at around 4:00 a.m. on the 31st of October after drinking with Don Weathers and Powell's girlfriend, Lori Yelton. Later that morning Yelton and Powell took Weathers to the hospital because he had cut himself at some point during the previous night.

Cherka left the interview room and related Powell's statement to Ledbetter. While Cherka had been questioning Powell Truelove had identified Powell from a lineup containing thirty-two photographs as the man he saw in The Pantry on October 31. Ledbetter informed Cherka of the identification and then accompanied Cherka back into the interview room.Powell again indicated he did not want to be tape-recorded and Ledbetter complied. Ledbetter told Powell about Truelove's identification and asked him if he wanted an attorney. Powell stated that he had not killed anyone and did not want an attorney. Ledbetter advised Powell of his Miranda rights and Powell signed a waiver of those rights thereafter continuing to deny involvement in the murder.

Ledbetter then told him he knew Powell had killed Gladden and asked, "Why did you kill her?" Powell hung his head and answered, "She slapped me and I went off on her." Powell then asked to speak to Ledbetter alone and Cherka left the room. Ledbetter again asked Powell why he had killed Gladden. Powell stated that she had slapped him, he had panicked, he had not intended to harm her, and he merely wanted the money from the cash register.

Powell indicated that he wanted to speak to Ledbetter off the record. He asked him to tear up the Miranda waiver form, which Ledbetter ripped into four pieces. Powell then related additional details about the crime including information about the weapon he had used. At about 6:00 p.m. Powell asked for a lawyer and one was contacted for him. Powell was then arrested and taken into custody after he conferred with his lawyer. Powell testified that he did not read the Miranda waiver form but signed it because he felt "agreeable" from cocaine he had ingested. He further testified that Ledbetter suggested they talk off the record. Powell further admitted he had given Miranda warnings during his tenure as a jailer in law enforcement and recited the warnings on the witness stand. He also admitted he had not mentioned in his pretrial affidavit that Ledbetter proposed that they talk off the record.

Billy Joe Sparks testified that sometime after the Gladden murder he had a conversation with Paul Barnard, who called himself Rambo. During the conversation Rambo sniffed glue and both men drank beer. Rambo told Sparks he had killed a woman at a supermarket by beating her to death. Rambo died before Powell's trial and Sparks did not tell police about Rambo's statement until after his death.

Johnny Smith, the operator of a local entertainment center, testified that he had spoken to Truelove about the murder. Smith stated that Truelove told him he had seen a man with red hair in The Pantry on the day of the murder. Truelove testified that he knew Rambo and that the lineup from which he identified Powell contained a photograph of Rambo. Truelove never picked Rambo as the person he saw at The Pantry on October 31 adding that he remembered having a conversation with Smith about becoming an uncle, and not about the murder. Truelove and his sister both have red hair, and his sister had recently given birth to a baby with red hair.

The State also called Officer James Glover of the Shelby Police Department in rebuttal. Glover testified that Rambo claimed to be a Vietnam veteran and to have a black belt in karate—neither claim was true. Before his death Rambo had telephoned Glover and told him he had lied to Sparks about committing the murder. He said he told Sparks he had killed a woman only to maintain his street image.

A Cleveland County jury found Powell guilty of first-degree murder under the felony murder rule, with robbery with a dangerous weapon as the underlying felony. At sentencing the same jury found that the murder was committed for pecuniary gain and no mitigating circumstance, and unanimously recommended the death sentence. On March 10, 2005, Governor Michael F. Easley denied clemency.

See also

* Capital punishment in North Carolina
* Capital punishment in the United States

References

* [http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/apps/offender/offend1?DOCNUM=0329098&SENTENCEINFO=no&SHOWPHOTO=no Offender Data Screen] . North Carolina Department of Correction. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
* Michelangelo Delfino and Mary E. Day, "Death Penalty USA 2005 - 2006", (2008), 52-57.
* "State v. Powell" (1995) 459 S.E.2d 219.