Sentencing Trial Begins

[awakening2lite]

Published: April 20, 2009
PICKENS, S.C. (AP) - An attorney for a social worker hired to examine the man who confessed to raping and killing a South Carolina college student says prosecutors intimidated his client.

Everett Godfrey told a judge Monday that prosecutors frightened the expert hired by Jerry Buck Inman’s attorneys by threatening to have her arrested if she did not return to Pickens for the trial.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Inman for the 2006 death of Tiffany Souers. The 20-year-old Clemson University engineering student’s body was found in her apartment near campus.

Inman has pleaded guilty.

Sentencing was halted in September when Marti Loring refused to testify. The Atlanta social worker said she felt threatened by prosecutors, who said she could be prosecuted for practicing social work without a South Carolina license.



http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/update_sentencing_underway_for_clemson_murder_tria l/23748/

[awakening2lite]

4.20.09

PICKENS — The admitted killer of a 20-year-old Clemson University student was back in court Monday after a six-month delay of his sentencing hearing in what has become a slow process to justice in the now three-year-old case.


Jerry Buck Inman pleaded guilty to murdering 20-year-old Clemson University student Tiffany Marie Souers on Aug. 19, 2008. Souers' body was found in her off-campus apartment in 2006. She had been strangled by Inman with a bikini top.


Inman, a Tennesse native, said he had spotted Souers of Missouri while driving around the campus area. He returned, broke into her apartment and killed her, he said in a statement to police.


After his guilty plea, the judge began hearing testimony from defense and prosecution witnesses, who explained how the brutal murder occurred and examined his criminal and mental history.


It was during that testimony phase in early September 2008 that Marti Loring, a licensed social worker in Georgia, was to finish the defense team's testimony regarding Inman by providing a chronology of Inman's life. But 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Arial questioned whether she was licensed to practice in South Carolina, and Loring said she thought her testimony might be given under the threat of prosecution.


http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/apr/20/inman-hearing-started-monday-more-fireworks/

[awakening2lite]

4.20.09


Sentencing decision due in student's murder


A Tennessee drifter and convicted sex offender could learn this week whether he will face the death penalty for the 2006 rape and strangulation of a Clemson University coed.


The sentencing phase of Jerry Buck Inman’s death penalty trial is set to resume today in a Pickens County courtroom after a seven-month delay.


Inman, 38 — recognizable by his shaved head and a tattoo of a bat on his neck — pleaded guilty in August to raping and strangling 20-year-old Clemson student Tiffany Marie Souers on May 26, 2006, in her off-campus apartment in Central.



http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2009/04/19/22/668-A5souers20.embedded.prod_affiliate.74.jpg
Tiffany Souers


The crime shocked the Clemson community and the state and made national news.


In September, Circuit Judge Ned Miller put the sentencing phase of the trial on hold after Inman’s attorneys accused longtime 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail of trying to intimidate a defense expert by suggesting she could face criminal penalties if she testified.


Miller denied a defense request to declare a mistrial after four days of testimony. But he postponed the sentencing phase to allow Inman’s lawyers time to find a similar expert to review the case.


Contacted recently, Symmes Culbertson, of Greenville, one of Inman’s lawyers, and Ariail spokeswoman Marcia Barker declined comment, citing a standing gag order by Miller.


The defense is expected to resume its case today. It is not known whether Inman will take the stand in his own defense.


Miller, a former Greenville County public defender, can issue one of two possible sentences: life in prison or death. He can rule from the bench immediately after testimony is completed or issue his decision later.


Inman had pushed for a jury to decide his sentence, but Miller ruled state law prohibited it in cases in which the defendant pleaded guilty.


Souers, a rising junior from a wealthy St. Louis-area family, was described by friends as a straight-A civil engineering major who found time for family, friends and community charity work.


Her parents, Jim and Bren Souers, attended the court proceedings in September. Efforts to reach them last week were unsuccessful.


Inman spent about 18 years — nearly half his life — in Florida and North Carolina prisons for raping a woman and a male inmate. He also is charged in the rape of a Tennessee woman and the attempted rape of an Alabama woman in their homes in the days before the rape-strangulation of Souers.


A defense expert testified last year Inman was sexually abused by an alcoholic father who later abandoned him and that his mother, a paranoid schizophrenic with violent mood swings, didn’t protect him. By age 10, he was doing drugs; in his teens, he was running away from home and living on the streets, the expert said.


He attempted suicide seven times — six while in prison, according to testimony.


In written police statements, Inman said he was having a hard time adjusting to life outside prison and decided to drive through the Southeast to “get away.”


The unemployed construction worker said he ran out of money after arriving in South Carolina and was looking for a place to rob. He eventually made his way to The Reserve in Central, an off-campus apartment complex where Souers lived.


He said he first saw Souers during the day on the patio of her first-floor apartment, drove around awhile, and came back to her apartment early the next morning. He entered her apartment through an unlocked door a couple of hours after a friend had dropped her off after an evening out at a local restaurant.


Inman said he woke the sleeping Souers, who was alone in the four-bedroom apartment because it was summer break, and tied her hands after she fought with him.


Inman then raped Souers and strangled her with a bikini top, investigators said. He told police he fled with her bedsheet, car keys and two of her credit cards, though authorities said he was unable to use the cards at local ATMs.


DNA from Souers’ body and a carpet sample from her bedroom matched Inman’s DNA, authorities said. He was arrested June 6, 2006, near the home of his mother and stepfather in Dandridge, Tenn.


http://www.thestate.com/local/story/756101.html

[packy]

How sad that he had to strangle her. If the prosecution did as the defense accused then what happens I wonder.

[awakening2lite]

How sad that he had to strangle her. If the prosecution did as the defense accused then what happens I wonder.

Good question. For one thing the woman did not testify. What impact it will have on the sentencing, I don't know.

Inman asked to plead guilty and for the DP, the Judge said no and as my memory served it was because it was some kind of legal ploy. (Have to research that for more detail).

The sentencing trail is not broadcast, at least not that I am aware of, I am watching for on line news.

Inman has been described as a serial rapist. He also attacked, with a crude jail made knife, one of the guards while waiting for trail.

A very violent man.

IMO

[awakening2lite]

Published: April 20, 2009
The sentencing phase continues Monday morning for convicted killer Jerry Buck Inman.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, but it will be up to a judge to decide Inman’s sentence. Inman pleaded guilty last September to killing Tiffany Souers, 20, in her Central apartment in 2006.
Inman will appear before Judge Ned Miller at the Pickens County Courthouse.
The sentencing phase of the trial was delayed after the plea due to the contention of a defense witness that Solicitor Bob Arial threatened her, Inman requested that he be sentenced to death.
The proceedings were postponed again in January because of a medical situation involving one of the defense attorneys.

Live Blog from the courthouse from Kristen Nastasia
Update 12:25 am
Defense attorney Jim Bannister now continuing with mistrial motion. This is separate hearing where witnesses are being called.
Judge Miller says he will give the defense a chance to “put a foundation under its mistrial motion”.
Public Defender John Mauldin is taking the stand. He is testifying on a case that he worked on State vs. Michael Laney. Bannister and his defense team are claiming Solicitor Bob Ariail did the same thing to a witness in this case about licensing and being arrested for testifying in South Carolina without one here.
The case also was continued for months. The defense is claiming similar cases and the solicitor did the same thing.
Update 11:24 am
Dr. Marti Lauring saying this has been an alarming experience and it will impact her, however, she is prepared to continue testifying in this case about Jerry Buck Inman’s state-of-mind.
Says she will try and do her best, but is not sure how she will be impacted if she testifies.
Judge Miller telling Lauring he will not allow Solicitor Bob Ariail to do the questioning if she does testify.
Deputy Solicitor Betty Strom now cross examining Lauring.

Update 10:59 am
Defense attorney Bannister now saying he is GOING to call Dr. Marti lauring for a limited purpose.
She just took the stand. Judge Miller says he will not allow solicitor Bob Ariail to examine her. Deputy solicitor Betty Strom will take over those duties.
Update 10:55 am
Bob Ariail saying this is all an attempt by the defense to have a mistrial… and nothing wrong happened. Ariail is showing documents saying it was Georgia court system that put warrant out for Dr. Lauring’s arrest. Ariail saying she “hid from service” and none of it has to do with the 13th circuit solicitor’s office.
Judge Ned Miller says Dr. Marti Lauring was not released from this case and so she was still under original subpeona for this case.
Miller ruling he is releasing Dr. Lauring from her subpeona after defense says it will not call her to testify.
Judge Miller says “Am I on the Federal Bench?“ talking to defense attorney bannister… says he has no authority to determine what is misconduct in Georgia.
Judge Miller says he has been very flexible in this case and it is coming to an end.
Update 10:35 am
Motions continue here… Defense attorney James Bannister asking for assurance for out-of-state witnesses testifying in South Carolina.
He says according to documents, the subpeona was issued only five hours before the hearing. Impossible for her to make it from Atlanta when it was left at her home on her door and she was at work. The documents for arrest say she is a flight risk and avoiding service. That document was filed in Dekalb County, Georgia by the district attorney’s office. Bannister saying that information could only come from 13th circuit solicitor office.
BANNISTER ASKING FOR MISTRIAL BECAUSE THIS IS MISCONDUCT BY BOB ARIAIL, HE SAYS. HE WANTS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE.
He says he wants finding from court:
1. Solicitor’s conduct was intentional
2. Substantial interference with Dr. Lauring’s ability to testify and two of her constitutional rights

He wants a separate hearing for this issue saying they need to bring in those involved in this in Georgia to court to hear what is going on.
Judge Miller now saying the conduct does not impact Inman because defense indicated already they will not call Dr. Lauring again.

Update 10:24 am
Dr. Marti Lauring, the clinical social worker who was released from this case after solicitor Bob Ariail questioned her ability to testify without a license in SC. She said she felt threatened by Ariail.
Right now, her attorney Mr. Godfrey is telling the judge she found a subpeona on her door April 16th in Atlanta requiring her to be in court here in Pickens on April 16th. Since she never received it, she says people started “banging on her door” looking for her for her arrest since she did not appear.
Dr. Lauring said she felt scared and intimidated and she does not feel safe. She contacted an attorney and was told by the solicitors office they will “Stand down on the warrant if she appears in court today here in Pickens.“
Godfrey says notice requires people have ample time to know they have to appear in court and she did not receive it.


http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/sentencing_phase_of_inman_trial_begins_monday/16735/

[awakening2lite]

Inman defense accuses solicitor of misconduct

44 mins 41 secs ago

PICKENS - A defense lawyer for the man who murdered a Clemson University student is now accusing the prosecution of misconduct.

Greenville attorney Jim Bannister filed a motion that Solicitor Bob Ariail be recused from the sentencing hearing of Jerry Buck Inman, who pleaded guilty to murdering and raping 20-year-old Tiffany Souers in May 2006.

Bannister also asked for a mistrial.

He made the motions, questioning the solicitor’s conduct toward defense witness Dr. Marti Loring, a sociologist originally slated to testify last September in the sentencing hearing on behalf of Inman.

Loring refused to testify then, saying she felt threatened by the solicitor.

This prompted Judge Ned Miller to delay the sentencing seven months while the defense found another witness.

This morning, Loring told the court she would do the best she could if asked to testify but said she did not have her normal level of composure.

Miller barred the solicitor from cross examining Loring, who also testified about events last week leading up to her return to court today.

However, the judge said there were no grounds to recuse Arial from the case.

After Loring’s testimony, Bannister called to the stand, John Mauldin, who testified to having a similar situation take place concerning the solicitor’s conduct during another death penalty sentencing.

When the hearing broke for lunch, Mauldin was still on the stand.

Since Inman pleaded guilty, Miller must decide if the Tennessee native gets the death penalty or life in prison.

http://www.pickenssentinel.com/pages/full_story?article-Inman%20defense%20accuses%20solicitor%20of%20misco nduct%20=&page_label=home_top_stories_news&id=2353199-Inman+defense+accuses+solicitor+of+misconduct&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead&open=&

[awakening2lite]

EXCERPT ~ Serial Rapist.

Inman also faces charges in an attempted rape in Alabama and a rape in Tennessee that authorities have said occurred in the days before Souers' death. Both women testified that they identified Inman as their attacker after seeing his face on television during coverage of Souers' death.

Inman spent 18 years in prison for rapes he committed as a teenager and is a registered sex offender. He had been free for about nine months before his arrest in Souers' death.


EXCERPT ~ The Confession.

When Inman pleaded guilty to rape and murder, he confirmed everything in handwritten confessions shortly after his June 2006 arrest.


"I did not go there to kill her. I don't want to talk about the sex part, but I did have sex with her," he wrote, saying he killed Souers because he knew she would recognize him.


EXCERPT ~ Oddly, Inman's defense asks for harsher punishment.



Under South Carolina law, those who plead guilty are sentenced by judges. Inman's attorneys have argued the 38-year-old sex offender should get life in prison, which they said would be worse than death for him because of the guilt he feels.

EXCERPT ~ The Process.

Under South Carolina law, those who plead guilty are sentenced by judges. Inman's attorneys have argued the 38-year-old sex offender should get life in prison, which they said would be worse than death for him because of the guilt he feels.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEyYQSdJNINZEpP-pLLD2XmQUuogD97MC7A02

[awakening2lite]

Day 2 ~

PICKENS, S.C. -- A judge has refused to stop the sentencing hearing for a Tennessee man who confessed to raping and strangling a South Carolina college student.


Circuit Judge Edward Miller on Tuesday refused a request for a mistrial by an attorney for Jerry Buck Inman.


Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Inman for the death of Tiffany Souers.





Inman last year pleaded guilty to raping and killing Souers in 2006. The body of the 20-year-old engineering student from Ladue, Mo., was found in her off-campus apartment.


Sentencing started in September, but was halted after a defense expert refused to testify. After the mistrial was rejected Inman's attorneys asked for another delay to prepare a new witness, but Miller ordered them to talk with the old one and says she will testify Wednesday


http://www.thesunnews.com/575/story/868910.html

[awakening2lite]

Day ~ 2

EXCERPT

After the mistrial was rejected, Inman's attorneys asked for another delay to prepare a new witness, but Miller ordered them to talk with the old one and said she will testify on Wednesday.

http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/19238593/detail.html

[awakening2lite]

Day ~ 2

EXCERPT

Judge Ned Miller said Tuesday morning that Ariail’s comments were inappropriate, but it doesn’t impact Inman’s ability for fair trial and ruled the case will continue.


The defense then asked for more time to prepare, saying they can’t have an expert witness ready to testify Tuesday. The judge eventually granted the defense a continuance until 10:00am Wednesday.


http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/no_mistrial_for_inman_sentencing_phase_on_hold/16790/

[nanabillie]

http://www.wyff4.com/news/19210312/detail.html2009
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COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A judge has refused to stop the sentencing hearing of Jerry Buck Inman, the man who confessed to raping and strangling Clemson University student Tiffany Souers in 2006.
Circuit Judge Ned Miller on Tuesday refused a request for a mistrial by an attorney for Jerry Buck Inman. Defense attorney Jim Bannister made the request for mistrial based on controversy over a defense witness who has refused to testify.
Inman's sentencing was derailed in September when defense witness Mari Loring claimed she was intimidated by prosecutors and refused to testify.
On Monday morning, Loring was back in the same Pickens County courtroom as her lawyer claimed that prosecutors frightened and intimidated his client.
Everett Godfrey said that Loring has been threatened with prosecution -- and more recently with arrest -- after she failed to appear at a hearing last week. Loring said she didn't know about the hearing.
http://www.wyff4.com/images/structures/buttons/button_enlarge.gif
http://www.wyff4.com/2008/0909/17432719_240X180.jpg
(http://www.wyff4.com/news/19210312/detail.html#)Jerry Buck Inman in court.

Before she testified in September, 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Arial told Loring, who is from Atlanta, that she could be prosecuted for practicing in the South Carolina without a state license.
Even after Loring was granted immunity from prosecution in Inman's case, she had still declined to testify.
Ariail said that the dispute is an effort by the defense to keep Inman's hearing from going forward.
Miller has questioned how any dispute over Loring would prejudice his ruling on Inman's sentence.
Miller was clearly frustrated when he told Bannister that he already had seven months to decide what he wanted to do about Loring’s testimony.
Miller said, “What I’m telling you is, I will give you an opportunity -- we’ll break for you to meet with Dr. Loring. Matter of fact, we will do that. And you can make a decision whether you want to talk to her or not. I’m going to give you that opportunity. She was prepared to go forward in September and she was prepared to go forward today. We are not going to create an issue out of the air."
Miller said that the court would recess until 10 a.m. Wednesday, and he instructed Inman's defense team to have reached a decision by then on whether Loring will testify about Inman's past and past behavior.
Because of Inman’s guilty plea, Miller can sentence him to either life in prison or the death penalty.

Previous Stories:

March 24, 2009: Inman Sentencing To Resume In April (http://www.wyff4.com/news/19003939/detail.html)
September 11, 2008: Dispute Over Witness Halts Inman Sentencing (http://www.wyff4.com/news/17447776/detail.html)
September 10, 2008: Gruesome Testimony Heard In Inman Case (http://www.wyff4.com/news/17428425/detail.html)
August 28, 2008: Inman's Lawyer Fails To Get Cameras Banned (http://www.wyff4.com/news/17315959/detail.html)
July 30, 2008: In Court: Suspect In Clemson Student's Death (http://www.wyff4.com/news/17038092/detail.html)

[awakening2lite]

Day 3 ~ Sentencing Trial

http://cmsimg.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BS&Date=20090422&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=904220311&Ref=AR&Profile=1001&MaxW=318&Border=0
Defense attorney Symmes Culbertson speaks with Jerry Buck Inman during the third day of the sentencing hearing for Jerry Buck Inman Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at the Pickens County court room. Inman was convicted of the 2006 murder of Clemson student Tiffany Souers. (BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff)




Judge criticizes Inman defense team in death penalty case
April 22, 2009

PICKENS -- The judge in Jerry Buck Inman's death penalty trial said this morning that the serial rapist's defense team hasn't been interested in presenting a full defense for him and instead has focused more on battling the chief prosecutor in the case



Miller told Inman's defense attorney, Jim Bannister, that he hadn't made enough effort in the course of a delay in the trial to either to talk to Dr. Marti Loring, a sociologist called by the defense to testify on Inman's social history, or procure another similar witness who could testify to Inman's social history.


Loring has been called to testify by the judge over the defense's objections that her testimony has been colored by what she considered threatening comments by 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail last September that led to a seven-month delay in the trial to determine whether the 38-year-old Inman should be sentenced to death for raping and killing Clemson University student Tiffany Souers.


"It leads me to conclude that the defense is more interested in pursuing the misconduct issue than presenting a full defense," Miller said at the start of this morning's proceedings.


Bannister objected to the characterization.



http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090422/NEWS01/904220311/1001

[awakening2lite]

Day 3 ~ Sentencing

EXCERPT

Inman's stepfather Ken McArthur briefly took the stand Wednesday, April 22 and said tearfully that his wife has been hospitalized since the sentencing began in September.

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0409/615733.html

[awakening2lite]

Day 3 ~ Sentencing Trial Testimony

April 22, 2009




PICKENS — Jerry Buck Inman stood and spoke to Judge Ned Miller, at some length, for the first time this week, asking the judge to give him the death penalty for killing 20-year-old Tiffany Souers.


"I’ve shown by my actions that in and out of prison, I cannot be rehabilitated,” Inman said, reading from a statement on Wednesday afternoon. "I do not mean to be disrespectful your honor, but in all reality there is only one sentence that can imposed for someone like me and I ask that you give me that sentence."


A horrid picture of a boy’s life was outlined in court Wednesday showing how Inman was forced to watch sexual abuse when he was 3-years old, given drugs by his family members at 9-years old and abused repeatedly – both physically and sexually.


Social worker Marti Loring finally took the stand Wednesday, spending about an hour detailing the 38-year-old Inman’s life.


What she told Miller was Inman’s life story, riddled from every angle with alcoholism, drug addiction and abuse. It was an attempt to show what led him to becoming a criminal for all of his adult life – a life that hit its most tragic point when he killed 20-year-old Clemson University student, Tiffany Souers, in May 2006.


She talked about how Inman’s biological father would pull him and his sister from playing outside and force them to endure “ritualistic sexual abuse.” At the time, Inman was 3 years old.


“Jerry (the father) would shut the blinds, force them into their bunk beds and he tell them they better not cry or he would tell their mother they were bad children,” Loring said.


What followed after that was the rape of Inman’s sister as she lay bound at her hands and blindfolded. The young Inman was forced to lay in his bed and listen.


Loring also described how Inman started at 9-years old smoking pot, then moved on to cocaine, LSD and huffing gasoline. Some of those drugs were given to the boy – one who already showed signs of mental illness – by his family members, she said.


Inman was also abused physically by his father and sexually abused by his stepbrother, Loring said. During his early years, he was a toddler who was always crying.


“His mother took him to the doctor but no one could figure out what was causing him to cry,” Loring said.


Loring, who was called to the stand by Judge Ned Miller, followed a surprise witness by the defense – Inman’s stepfather, Ken McArthur.


It was a short moment on the stand for McArthur. But in a matter of moments, he explained to Judge Ned Miller that he loves Inman like a son.
“He was four when I married his mother, Vera,” McArthur said, in response to defense attorney’s questions. “Yes, I loved him like my own son.”
McArthur said Inman’s mother, Vera, has been hospitalized recently, partially because of the stress of the trial. Once he sat down, McArthur was visibly shaken by having to take the stand, his hands shaking and his eyes damp from tears.


Inman, a registered sex offender in Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina, faces the death penalty in the 2006 death of 20-year-old Clemson University student Tiffany Marie Souers after he pleaded guilty to her murder in 2008.


Souers’ body was found in her off-campus apartment in May 2006. According to confessions Inman gave upon his arrest in June 2006, Souers had been raped, then strangled with her bikini top.


The sentencing hearing is being held before a judge because under state law, defendants who plead guilty are sentenced by judges.


Inman’s sentencing hearing resumed Monday after Loring, a licensed social worker in Georgia, refused to testify in September 2008 when 13th Judicial Circuit solicitor Bob Ariail questioned if she was licensed to practice in South Carolina and faced possible criminal prosecution if not licensed.
Loring said Monday she now feels comfortable testifying.


Inman, wearing a white dress shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, was flanked by his attorneys at the defense table. He has not taken the stand in his own defense. Wednesday, he changed his usual stone-faced demeanor. As Loring talked about the sexual abuse he suffered as a child, he appeared agitated.


Souers’ parents, Bren and Jim Souers of Ladue, Missouri, were still not in the courtroom Wednesday.


Inman also faces charges in an attempted rape in Alabama and a rape in Tennessee that authorities have said occurred in the days before Souers' death. Both women testified that they identified Inman as their attacker after seeing his face on television during coverage of Souers' death.
Inman spent 18 years in prison for rapes he committed as a teenager in North Carolina and Florida. He had been free for about nine months before his arrest in Souers' death.


http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/apr/22/inmans-life-called-one-abuse/

[awakening2lite]

Day 3 ~ Sentencing Trial


EXCERPT ~ April 22, 2009

"There are mean and evil people in this world who do not deserve to continue to live with the rest of us, regardless of how confined they may be," Solicitor Bob Ariail told Miller. "Jerry Buck Inman and this murder and his prior behavior makes this one of those cases where the death penalty should be applied. ... He's been in prison virtually all of his adult life, and he's exhibited no change."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRbV2AsaLrOUoqct7w5i7czkiR0AD97NNHL83

[awakening2lite]

Day 3 ~ Sentencing Trial

April 22, 2009

Inman asked the judge to sentence him to be executed


A judge has heard all evidence and is now considering whether to sentence Jerry Buck Inman to death.




Inman stood and asked the judge to sentence him to be executed.
He told the judge that it wasn't true that he was molested as a child and that other people "had it a lot worse than I did."


Inman said that he is incapable of functioning in society or in prison.


"There is only one viable sentence you can impose for someone like me -- and I ask you to impose that sentence," Inman said.

Inman's attorney, Jim Bannister, referred to Christian theology and appealed the judge to grant Inman grace and spare his life. Souers was a professed Christian.

A death sentence, Bannister said, "doesn't do honor to Tiffany Souers and the life that she led."


http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090422/NEWS/90422027/1069/YOURUPSTATE01

[awakening2lite]

Man gets death for raping, strangling SC student

By MEG KINNARD – 15 minutes ago


PICKENS, S.C. (AP) — A Tennessee man who raped and strangled a South Carolina college student with her own bikini top was sentenced to die Wednesday, hours after he asked a judge to put him to death.


Jerry Buck Inman, 38, showed no reaction when Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller said he should die for killing Tiffany Marie Souers. Inman then apologized to the slain woman's family, though no relatives were in the courtroom.


"There is no excuse for any of the things I've done. There's nothing I can say that will ease any of the pain I've caused them. I'm just sorry for taking their daughter and their sister away from them," he said.

Inman's attorneys had argued their client should receive life in prison because he suffers from psychological problems and feels extreme guilt for his crimes. He asked Miller for the sentence, which is carried out with either lethal injection or the electric chair in South Carolina.

"I've shown by my actions both in and out of prison that I cannot be rehabilitated," Inman, 38, told the judge. "I don't say any of this to be disrespectful, but your honor, in all reality, there's really only one sentence appropriate for someone like me, and I ask you to impose that sentence."

Inman pleaded guilty last year to killing Tiffany Souers in May 2006. The body of the 20-year-old Clemson University engineering student from Ladue, Mo., was found in her apartment near campus with the striped bikini top used to strangle her still wound around her neck.

His comments Wednesday marked the first time the sex offender from Dandridge, Tenn., has addressed the court. Inman's comments mirrored arguments made by prosecutors.

"There are mean and evil people in this world who do not deserve to continue to live with the rest of us, regardless of how confined they may be," Solicitor Bob Ariail told Miller. "Jerry Buck Inman and this murder and his prior behavior makes this one of those cases where the death penalty should be applied. ... He's been in prison virtually all of his adult life, and he's exhibited no change."

Under South Carolina law, those who plead guilty are sentenced by judges.

In his brief closing, defense attorney Jim Bannister argued that life in prison will be more punishing for Inman than execution. Inman feels extreme guilt for his crimes, and sex offenders are harshly treated by other prisoners, he said.

"He cannot erase the life that he took," said Bannister, adding that Inman attempted suicide seven times during 19 years in prison. "He lives under this burden under the murder that he committed, the things that he's done."

Earlier Wednesday, a social worker hired by the defense to assemble a chronology of Inman's troubled history and mental health struggles told the judge that Inman's early years were marked by repeated abuse by his father, beginning when he was about 3. Inman's stepfather also took the stand briefly, tearfully telling the judge he and his wife love Inman very much.
Inman's mother joined her husband in court later Wednesday.

Inman also faces charges in an attempted rape in Alabama and a rape in Tennessee that authorities have said occurred in the days before Souers' death.

He spent 18 years in prison for rapes he committed as a teenager in North Carolina and Florida and is a registered sex offender. He had been free for about nine months before his arrest in Souers' death.

When Inman pleaded guilty to rape and murder, he confirmed everything in handwritten confessions shortly after his June 2006 arrest.


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