Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 19, 2006 16:42:11 GMT -5
Killing case in a new round ---- Durham mother reliving the pain
DURHAM - Sharlene Pence sat rigidly in a Durham County courtroom, wound
tight with nerves, as the man who confessed several times to killing her
teenage son sat just a dozen feet away.
Todd Boggess, who was convicted in 1997 of beating Pence's son, Danny, to
death in Durham County, has been given a reprieve by the N.C. Supreme
Court because of an error by a trial judge. In a hearing last week before
Boggess' new trial, his attorneys tried to use new evidence to get 2
confessions thrown out.
It's almost too much for Pence to bear. She thought she was done with this
when Boggess was sentenced to death.
"This reminds me of the time my son was murdered," she said this week
during a break in the hearing. "That's not what I want to remember about
my son."
Boggess, now 31, has been described as a drifter. He is slight of build,
wears glasses and has forearm tattoos and a long, braided ponytail. His
fate might lie in stacks of pages of detective notes, interview
transcripts and a single sentence in a story on the Pence case that
appeared in a detective magazine in 1998. Boggess' attorneys hope details
within these documents will be enough to eliminate two confessions from
use once the new trial gets under way.
Attorneys will make their final arguments in a week or two, after which
Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand will rule on the new evidence.
Boggess met Danny Pence one August night in 1995 at Johnny Mercer's Pier,
a teenage hangout at Wrightsville Beach. Pence was looking to sell his
custom Ford Mustang, a car he had doted on -- changed its wheels, amped up
its sound system and repainted. Boggess, who was 20 at the time, and his
girlfriend, Melanie Gray, who was 14, went with Pence on what they said
would be a test-drive.
The trio eventually ended up in Durham -- where Gray grew up -- and
Boggess bludgeoned Pence to death on Terry Road, investigators said. They
then took the car, hastily repainted it, and drove back toward the coast.
They were eventually arrested in a Beaufort County cornfield.
Defense attorneys this week zeroed in on discussions detectives had with
Boggess after his arrest, first in Beaufort County and later on a drive to
New Hanover County, where Pence, a high school honor student, lived.
In Beaufort County, detectives questioned Boggess and had at least one
heated exchange with him. Detective Richard Buchanan of the Durham
Sheriff's Office accused the defendant of lying, according to testimony
this week.
Boggess bristled at Buchanan's accusation -- which was punctuated with an
expletive -- and said, "If y'all going to treat me this way, then I
probably would want a lawyer," according to testimony and the N.C. Supreme
Court's August 2004 ruling that overturned Boggess' conviction.
In its decision, the state's high court ruled that Boggess' statement did
not "constitute a request for an attorney."
Last week, detectives testified that they ceased interrogations once
Boggess made that statement. But defense attorneys hope a line in a
detective magazine will raise some questions.
In a 1998 issue of "Detective Files" magazine, writer John Railey -- using
a pen name -- summarized the Pence saga under the headline "A Death Ride
for Danny." In it, Railey detailed what happened while detectives Marc
Benson and Doug Vredenburgh, knowing Boggess had requested an attorney and
wished not to talk any further, drove him from Beaufort County to
Wilmington.
"As Benson drove, Vredenburgh took another crack at the suspect," the
story states.
In court last week, Vredenburgh claimed that line in the story was not
accurate. Attorneys brought in Railey -- now a Winston-Salem Journal
columnist -- to testify, but when he protested, agreed to admit his story
into evidence instead.
While in custody in New Hanover County, Boggess gave an incriminating
statement to investigators -- 1 of 2 his attorneys are now hoping to get
thrown out. The 2nd came a day later, in Durham, when Boggess sought out
Durham Sheriff's Office Detective Adam Clayton -- the case's chief
investigator -- and confessed to killing Pence, Clayton testified last
week.
About two months later, Boggess once again sought Clayton and again signed
a statement in which he confessed to the killing, Clayton testified.
Gray served a 10-year prison sentence for her role in the killing and was
released last year.
(source: The News & Observer)
DURHAM - Sharlene Pence sat rigidly in a Durham County courtroom, wound
tight with nerves, as the man who confessed several times to killing her
teenage son sat just a dozen feet away.
Todd Boggess, who was convicted in 1997 of beating Pence's son, Danny, to
death in Durham County, has been given a reprieve by the N.C. Supreme
Court because of an error by a trial judge. In a hearing last week before
Boggess' new trial, his attorneys tried to use new evidence to get 2
confessions thrown out.
It's almost too much for Pence to bear. She thought she was done with this
when Boggess was sentenced to death.
"This reminds me of the time my son was murdered," she said this week
during a break in the hearing. "That's not what I want to remember about
my son."
Boggess, now 31, has been described as a drifter. He is slight of build,
wears glasses and has forearm tattoos and a long, braided ponytail. His
fate might lie in stacks of pages of detective notes, interview
transcripts and a single sentence in a story on the Pence case that
appeared in a detective magazine in 1998. Boggess' attorneys hope details
within these documents will be enough to eliminate two confessions from
use once the new trial gets under way.
Attorneys will make their final arguments in a week or two, after which
Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand will rule on the new evidence.
Boggess met Danny Pence one August night in 1995 at Johnny Mercer's Pier,
a teenage hangout at Wrightsville Beach. Pence was looking to sell his
custom Ford Mustang, a car he had doted on -- changed its wheels, amped up
its sound system and repainted. Boggess, who was 20 at the time, and his
girlfriend, Melanie Gray, who was 14, went with Pence on what they said
would be a test-drive.
The trio eventually ended up in Durham -- where Gray grew up -- and
Boggess bludgeoned Pence to death on Terry Road, investigators said. They
then took the car, hastily repainted it, and drove back toward the coast.
They were eventually arrested in a Beaufort County cornfield.
Defense attorneys this week zeroed in on discussions detectives had with
Boggess after his arrest, first in Beaufort County and later on a drive to
New Hanover County, where Pence, a high school honor student, lived.
In Beaufort County, detectives questioned Boggess and had at least one
heated exchange with him. Detective Richard Buchanan of the Durham
Sheriff's Office accused the defendant of lying, according to testimony
this week.
Boggess bristled at Buchanan's accusation -- which was punctuated with an
expletive -- and said, "If y'all going to treat me this way, then I
probably would want a lawyer," according to testimony and the N.C. Supreme
Court's August 2004 ruling that overturned Boggess' conviction.
In its decision, the state's high court ruled that Boggess' statement did
not "constitute a request for an attorney."
Last week, detectives testified that they ceased interrogations once
Boggess made that statement. But defense attorneys hope a line in a
detective magazine will raise some questions.
In a 1998 issue of "Detective Files" magazine, writer John Railey -- using
a pen name -- summarized the Pence saga under the headline "A Death Ride
for Danny." In it, Railey detailed what happened while detectives Marc
Benson and Doug Vredenburgh, knowing Boggess had requested an attorney and
wished not to talk any further, drove him from Beaufort County to
Wilmington.
"As Benson drove, Vredenburgh took another crack at the suspect," the
story states.
In court last week, Vredenburgh claimed that line in the story was not
accurate. Attorneys brought in Railey -- now a Winston-Salem Journal
columnist -- to testify, but when he protested, agreed to admit his story
into evidence instead.
While in custody in New Hanover County, Boggess gave an incriminating
statement to investigators -- 1 of 2 his attorneys are now hoping to get
thrown out. The 2nd came a day later, in Durham, when Boggess sought out
Durham Sheriff's Office Detective Adam Clayton -- the case's chief
investigator -- and confessed to killing Pence, Clayton testified last
week.
About two months later, Boggess once again sought Clayton and again signed
a statement in which he confessed to the killing, Clayton testified.
Gray served a 10-year prison sentence for her role in the killing and was
released last year.
(source: The News & Observer)