Convicted in courthouse slaying, defendant verbally attacks judge and prosecutor in sentencing phase
As the penalty phase of his capital murder case continued Monday, it appeared that a convicted courthouse shooter may have been given good advice by his defense counsel not to testify.
But it also appeared that Bartholomew Granger might be intentionally seeking a capital sentence, which he indicated he would prefer over a prison term, the only other sentencing option.
During his Monday testimony, Granger continued to deny that he was responsible for the slaying of a bystander, Minnie Sebolt, 79, who died outside the Jefferson County courthouse, but admitted that he had shot his daughter—who was a witness in a sexual assault case at the time of the shooting—and then ran over her with his pickup truck when he saw she was still alive, the Associated Press reports.
His daughter, now 22, and two other women wounded in the March 2012 shooting spree all survived.
Granger also portrayed himself as a victim of a “lynching” in a profanity-filled tirade Monday, verbally attacking both the judge and the prosecutor in the case, the AP recounts.
As he returned to his seat after testifying, he said: “Give me liberty or give me death. That’s what I want.”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Man convicted in courthouse slaying shouts that his daughter, not the victim, should be dead”
