The KFC Murders: Everybody Needs a Little Justice
It took 24 years: but two-and-a-half decades after the bodies of five people shot execution-style were found along a remote road, the first trial has begun in what became one of Texas’s oldest unsolved mass murder cases.
Justice never sleeps.
From the AP:
NEW BOSTON, Texas (AP) – Romeo Pinkerton, 49, a convicted robber, faces a possible death sentence in the killings known as the Kentucky Fried Chicken murders.
Pinkerton’s cousin, Darnell Hartsfield, 46, who also has an extensive criminal record, is charged in the case as well. His trial is to be held some time next year.
Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Pinkerton and Hartsfield entered the KFC near closing time on the night of Sept. 23, 1983. Police said they robbed it, then forced the five victims into a van, drove about 15 miles to an oil-field and fatally shot them.
“The case has been represented by a lot smarter people than I as the most significant unsolved case in the state of Texas,” said George Kieny, a former FBI investigator brought into the long-stalled case.
Kieny collected DNA samples from Pinkerton and Hartsfield that ultimately led to the capital murder indictments against the pair in November 2005.
Four of the victims worked at the KFC in Kilgore, about 25 miles east of Tyler and 115 miles east of Dallas. The fifth was a friend of one of the employees.
The victims were Mary Tyler, the restaurant’s 37-year-old assistant manager; co-workers Opie Ann Hughes, 39, and Joey Johnson and David Maxwell, both 20; and Monte Landers, 19, a friend of Johnson and Maxwell.
Police were summoned to the restaurant after Tyler’s daughter came to pick up her mother but found no one there. Investigators found blood on the floor and a cash register tape showing about $2,000 was missing from the cash box.
Preliminary jury selection in Pinkerton’s trial began Monday in New Boston, where state District Judge J. Clay Gossett moved the trial because of publicity about the case in Henderson, about 90 miles away.
Pinkerton, wearing blue jeans and a blue T-shirt over a long-sleeved white undershirt, said little in the nearly empty courtroom Monday.
In response to questions from the judge, he replied five times that he had no objection to the exclusion of five prospective jurors who gave work- or health-related reasons.
Gossett, who sent out 350 jury summonses, has said the trial could take as long as three months. Individual questioning of potential jurors, a tedious task likely to take weeks, was to begin next week.
The case remained open until April 1995, when a Kilgore man convicted of federal drug trafficking charges was indicted for capital murder after a torn fingernail believed to be his was found on one of the victims’ bodies. Subsequent DNA tests, however, exonerated him. Charges were dropped and the case remained unsolved.
Then in late 2001, Kieny, taking advantage of newly developed DNA technology, took samples from Hartsfield and Pinkerton that tied the pair to the KFC murders.
Hartsfield has been in a Texas prison since 1995 on a 40-year sentence for delivery of a controlled substance and engaging in organized criminal activity.
In 2003, he told a grand jury he wasn’t at the restaurant. But with the new DNA results, plus earlier witness accounts that put him there that night, prosecutors charged him with perjury.
A jury convicted him and he was sentenced to life in prison because of his criminal record, which also includes aggravated robbery, burglary and reckless endangerment.
Two weeks later, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced capital murder indictments against him and Pinkerton, a convicted burglar who’d been paroled at least five times. Prison records show Hartsfield was arrested for aggravated robbery three days after the KFC slayings.
Pinkerton told investigators he was in prison at the time of the slayings but records show he was paroled two days before the murders.
Even if Pinkerton is convicted, his execution ultimately may be in doubt. Defense lawyers say there is evidence in his past of mental retardation, which under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling could prevent him from being put to death. Prosecutors are contesting the mental retardation claims.
Let’s hope those Texans don’t fall for Pinkerton’s bogus mental retardation claim–which is the only thing that can save him from a much-deserved injection of lethal justice.
CR Nation: Is this a case of mistaken mental identity, or a last-ditch effort to save the life of a man who cared so little for life back in the day?
August 8th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Last ditch effort, in my very humble opinion.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Previously undiagnosed mental retardation should not be allowed as evidence. There seems to have been a sudden rise in the condition after the Supreme Court ruling. They should make a rule, that to be admissable in court, the mental retardation had to be documented before the crime occured.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:21 am
I remember this case. It was so pointless and cruel — as are all crimes. It is good, at last, that justice will be served. Mental retardation is not a sudden condition that one deveops when you are arrested for a crime, and this man has a lifetime of behaviors and performances that will confirm his cognitive ability. His mental condition was not a factor in any of his other crimes — so, try the man for these murders and give him the justice he deserves. I am a broken record, but of all the responsibilites I feel our government owes its citizen, appling the law fairly but firmly is top of the list. What pisses me off is how these criminals have been in and out of jail throughout the years. There is wasted time and money.
Thanks to the officals that kept working the case.
August 8th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I think that Texans are smart enough to see through the ‘mentally retarded’ bull crap. Isn’t it interesting that when criminals face the death penalty, their slimey defense attorneys come up with mental retardation and/or mental illness for their scumbag clients? Couey is the poster child for the ‘mental retardation’ defense and I’m glad the judge didn’t fall for it in his case.
Lets give Pinkerton and his buddy an injection of LETHAL justice!
August 8th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
He wasn’t mentally incompetent enough to commit the act of murder five times. One time maybe, but five people?! I don’t think so. I hate these glitches in the system that allow people to get out of their just punishment and make it impossible for those that really are incompetent to get the help they need.
August 8th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Every scientist who advances the capabilities of DNA testing should be given a Nobel Prize or some equivalent. Thanks to their research and remarkable skills cases like this, in which justice has so long been denied, are finally being resolved.
As for mental retardation – yea, right, and I’ve got some prime farmland in the middle of the AZ desert I’d like to sell someone.
August 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
The quesion I would have is why the retardation claim hasn’t come up in any of his other trials?
But still, the death penalty might well be a hollow victory. It would only give him the exclusive suite for the next 15 years.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:54 am
“Defense lawyers say there is evidence in his past of mental retardation, which under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling could prevent him from being put to death. Prosecutors are contesting the mental retardation claims.”
They are saying that is from the past. We shall see. Tomorrow the judge rules on Couey as well.
As for not coming up in other trials, its because this is a capital case. There is no law saying we cant incarcerate retarded people. We just cant kill em.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:12 am
True Melissa, and let’s hope the judge in Texas finds the same ruling the Florida judge found with Couey, and releases a similar statement as Judge Howard wrote about this disgusting creature: “A person who is mentally retarded simply could not have planned such a sophisticated crime, and escape.”
August 9th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
How Sad…
August 12th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
OutOfTX: Hey, I have a bridge that will look real nice on that prime farmland . . . Maybe we could be business partners and work out a really sweet deal, lol.
These days, I don’t believe anyone accused of a crime when they say they have some affliction or mental deficiency.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
For whatever reason, this crime has taken 24 years to come to a trial…our family is grateful for all those tireless detectives like George Kieny that kept fighting for us. Our lives have moved forward, but our hearts have stayed in those moments when we waited to hear what had happened to our loved ones…stayed in those moments while a preacher stood in front of us and our friends and gave us words of hope on how to carry on…stood still when the pictures that the Tyler paper published on its front page on the fifth anniversary of our loved ones laying face down in the dirt…and stayed with me watching David’s son grow up into an incredible young man…It will be a blessing to see this come to an end so we can go back and visit once again only those moments that bring us good and happy memories…the ones where they were alive and laughing, living and loving thier lives…That is what this will mean for me to have this finally come to an end…It will give me back the freedom to remember David alive and well…
October 29th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
God has kept all of the victims families in his hands. My husband, Kenneth Cox, was with David, Monte, and Joey the night of the murders, but God had different plans for him. He remained on Earth for years questioning his existence. He too had contact with the detectives over the years wanting answers to simple questions. Lana, he has often wondered how you and your son have been. Ken passed away on September 3, 2007 waiting for justice. One of the last things I said to him was, “Now you will be able to find the truth.” I know that they are all together again and I am sure acting crazy and laughing just as they did while here with the living. I knew of all three men while in school and have learned alot more. May their memories bring comfort to those that have long since needed closure. God Bless!
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
Su,
I am saddened beyond words about Kenneth…I wish I could contact you somehow to talk…I would love to get to know you. Lana