Chamblee54

On July 10, 2014, Tommy Lee Waldrip is scheduled to be put to death by the State of Georgia. GDC ID: 0000204612 was convicted of the murder of Keith Evans, on Saturday, April 13, 1991. Mr. Evans was 23 years old, when he was murdered 23 years ago. Murderpedia tells the story.
Tommy Lee Waldrip was convicted of the malice murder of Keith Lloyd Evans … The jury was authorized to find that appellant (Tommy Lee Waldrip) murdered Keith Evans to prevent Evans from testifying against his son, John Mark Waldrip, at his armed robbery retrial in Forsyth County. Evans, who worked as a clerk in the store at the time of the robbery, testified as the State’s sole eyewitness at John Mark’s first trial in 1990…. On Saturday afternoon, two days before the retrial was scheduled to begin, the appellant and his co-indictees, John Mark and appellant’s brother-in-law, Howard Livingston, drove to Cleveland, Georgia …That evening, John Mark called Robert Garner, who was also scheduled to testify against him at the retrial, and threatened to harm Garner if he testified.
At approximately 9:30 p.m. appellant and John Mark left appellant’s apartment in appellant’s wife’s Ford Tempo. Sometime between 10:30 p.m. and midnight, the co-indictees met Evans at a highway crossing in Dawson County. After running Evans’ truck off the road, they shot at him through the windshield. He was hit with birdshot from a shotgun in the face and neck. Since Evans was still alive, the co-indictees drove his truck, with Evans in the passenger seat, to Hugh Stowers Road in Dawson County, where they beat him to death with a blackjack. They buried Evans’ body in a shallow grave in Gilmer County and set his truck on fire.
The fire was reported at approximately 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. A current insurance card for the Ford Tempo, belonging to appellant’s wife, Linda Waldrip, was found near the burned truck. Appellant was interviewed on Sunday afternoon and denied any involvement in Evans’ disappearance. During the interview, Linda Waldrip was asked for her insurance card for the Ford Tempo, and she produced an expired card.
John Mark’s retrial for armed robbery did not take place. On Monday morning, Keith Evans was missing and Garner refused to testify against John Mark. Garner informed the district attorney of the threats made against him. John Mark was arrested and charged with influencing a witness.
Appellant was arrested on Tuesday, and on Thursday, confessed to shooting and beating the victim and burning his truck. He then led authorities to the victim’s body, and later, to the shotgun.
The following day, appellant gave a conflicting statement, in which he contended that John Mark and Livingston murdered the victim and burned his truck, and that he was merely a bystander. Appellant gave a third statement in which he related that all three of the co-indictees participated in the crimes.
All of the people in this case are white. The last man executed in Georgia, Marcus Wellons, was black. There seems to be a pattern. Whenever Georgia executes a man, the next one is usually of a different race. It is not known if this is intentional.
David J. Kessler is an attorney. He worked on Mr. Waldrip’s case. He wrote a piece for Toledo Law Review about his experience. It is not copy friendly, so there will be few quotes here. If you have the time, and legal documents do not cause brain damage, his story is worth reading.
Apparently, Tommy Lee Waldrip is mentally ill. How this illness manifests itself was not specified. He confessed to the murder three times, but gave a different story all three times. The confession is the centerpiece of the state’s case. Outside of the insurance card, there is little physical evidence linking Mr. Waldrip to the crime.
Mr. Kessler went through thousands of pages of evidence. The authorities did not give up the documents easily. In one of the documents, Mr. Kessler found this: “Tommy was initially interviewed by [the Sheriff], however, he asked for an attorney and the interview was terminated.”
A casual observer might wonder why this case is such a big deal. While unpleasant for Mr. Evans, the crime is not nearly as heinous as many on death row. For some reason, the state pushed this one, and Mr. Waldrip is scheduled to die Thursday night.
UPDATE On Wednesday, July 9, 2014, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles changed the sentence to life without parole.
There will be no execution. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.