Mays family offers apologies

By Angela Weatherford

May 13, 2008 10:54 am

— It was a Mays family reunion of sorts in 392nd District Court Monday.
One by one, loved ones of Randall Wayne Mays took the stand to testify the defendant had a difficult life that led to mental illness and a drug problem.
Randall Wayne Mays was convicted last week for the murder of Henderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Tony Ogburn, 61, on May 17, 2007.
On that day Mays killed both Ogburn and HCSD Investigator Paul Habelt at Mays’ Payne Spring property. HCSD Deputy Kevin Harris was also injured in the standoff.
The defense, led by Bobby Mims, closed its case Monday afternoon.
“Randy” — as his family calls him — was described as a person with a good heart, but who would sometimes go into spells where “his face would change.”
Through tears, family members remembered Mays’ three brothers who have all died: Noble Mays Jr., Ray Mays and Kenneth Mays.
The oldest, Noble, was executed in 1995 for stabbing and robbing a man in Wichita Falls. Noble was described by his sister, Sherry Ross, as “kinda crazy.”
“(Noble) would make the boys go off and do things with ’em,” Linda Ross, another of Mays’ sisters, said. She said she didn’t know what the boys would do, but she told the jury about the siblings huffing gas from cars.
Mims asked Linda Ross who was in charge, and she said no one was in charge.
Mays’ brother Ray — who Linda Ross described as the defendant’s hero — was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1977. Randall Mays was sitting in the car when his brother was shot.
“(Ray) fell over in his lap and said ‘I can’t breath,’” Linda Mays said through tears. “That was it. Randy was never the same afterwards, he was never the same in the head.”
Each relative described Mays as randomly getting a strange look on his face from time to time.
“He just has a weird look in his eyes like he’s not there,” Dorothy Hillis, Randall Wayne Mays’ mother, said.
His estranged daughter, Lynn Forbis, said she grew up with her maternal grandparents and didn’t reconnect with her father until the last couple of years — mostly on the phone.
“He would just hang up while we are still talking,” Forbis said. “I don’t think he knows why he does it.”
Forbis remembered her father at her wedding sitting in the middle of the aisle taking photos and walking up to the bride and groom offering his congratulations.
“He was just to happy to contain his feelings,” she said while tears ran down her face. “I just smiled and gave him a hug.”
As each member entered or exited the courtroom, they would look at the defendant.
Mays waved at his mother as she sat in the witness stand, and when she left she mouthed the word “I love you” to her only surviving son.
When both Sherry Ross and Linda Ross left the courtroom in tears, they whispered to the family “I’m so sorry.” The Ogburns and Habelts did not respond.
Forensic scientist Dr. David Self testified Mays has a strong history of drug use and began injecting methamphetamine in 1977 — the same year his brother was shot. He also pointed out that studies show a history of prolonged drug use can lead to mental illness because of damage to nerve cells in the brain.
No drugs or alcohol were found in Mays’ system on the day of the shootings.
The Mays property was also a main topic Monday, with family members testifying that Mays bought the land in 1991 and built everything on the two acres.
“I think (his property) represented the home he always wanted and never had,” Self said.
Mims asked Hillis how she feels about the fact that two of her sons could be executed.
“I just can’t describe it,” she cried.
While Sherry Ross was on the stand, she referenced the possible connection between her brothers by saying, “I never thought it would be two.”
The defense and state, led by Henderson County District Attorney Donna Bennett, are expected to give closing statements and the jury will go into deliberation Tuesday morning.

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