azathoth777
09-24-2006, 08:35 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Florida Governor Jeb Bush has signed a death warrant for the man who pleaded guilty to the grisly 1990 slayings of five Gainesville college students.
Danny Harold Rolling pleaded guilty in 1994 to the string of murders, and a judge followed a jury's recommendation that he be sentenced to death. He is to be executed Oct. 25, Bush's office said Friday.
Rolling, a drifter from Shreveport, Louisiana, terrorized Gainesville in late August and early September 1990, killing four women and a man in their off-campus apartments. One victim was decapitated and others were mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted.
Killed were Christa Hoyt, 18; Sonja Larson, 18; Christa Powell, 17; Tracy Paules, 23, and Manny Taboada, 23.
Rolling was arrested shortly after the killings for the robbery of a grocery store, but he was not identified as a suspect in the murders for five months. That was when Shreveport police suggested to Florida investigators that he be considered a suspect. His DNA matched samples found at the crime scenes.
Despite his guilty plea, Rolling sought appeals and insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought.
"They couldn't help but look at me ... from a viewpoint that I'm a monster," he said at a hearing on his motion for a new sentencing hearing in July 2000. "But I am not a monster."
Rolling lost an appeal before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta earlier this year.
Rick Parker, the defense attorney at Rolling's death penalty hearing, did not immediately return a call Friday evening seeking comment.
In an interview with The Associated Press more than four years ago Rolling said he was amazed he had avoided execution as long as he had.
"I do deserve to die, but do I want to die? No," he said. "I want to live. Life is difficult to give up."
Rolling blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was jailed. He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
He was accused of three murders in Louisiana but never prosecuted.
Danny Harold Rolling pleaded guilty in 1994 to the string of murders, and a judge followed a jury's recommendation that he be sentenced to death. He is to be executed Oct. 25, Bush's office said Friday.
Rolling, a drifter from Shreveport, Louisiana, terrorized Gainesville in late August and early September 1990, killing four women and a man in their off-campus apartments. One victim was decapitated and others were mutilated, posed and sexually assaulted.
Killed were Christa Hoyt, 18; Sonja Larson, 18; Christa Powell, 17; Tracy Paules, 23, and Manny Taboada, 23.
Rolling was arrested shortly after the killings for the robbery of a grocery store, but he was not identified as a suspect in the murders for five months. That was when Shreveport police suggested to Florida investigators that he be considered a suspect. His DNA matched samples found at the crime scenes.
Despite his guilty plea, Rolling sought appeals and insisted he was not as atrocious as many thought.
"They couldn't help but look at me ... from a viewpoint that I'm a monster," he said at a hearing on his motion for a new sentencing hearing in July 2000. "But I am not a monster."
Rolling lost an appeal before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta earlier this year.
Rick Parker, the defense attorney at Rolling's death penalty hearing, did not immediately return a call Friday evening seeking comment.
In an interview with The Associated Press more than four years ago Rolling said he was amazed he had avoided execution as long as he had.
"I do deserve to die, but do I want to die? No," he said. "I want to live. Life is difficult to give up."
Rolling blamed the murders on abuse he suffered as a child and his treatment in prison. He said he killed one person for every year he was jailed. He served a total of eight years in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
He was accused of three murders in Louisiana but never prosecuted.