Published: May 14, 2008 10:02 am            

Mays gets death

Jury takes a little more than 2 1/2 hours to return sentence

After seven days of testimony, Randall Wayne Mays made it clear on Tuesday that he had no interest in the punishment a jury was about to give him for the capital murder of Henderson County Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Ogburn.

392nd District Judge Carter Tarrance advised the convicted cop killer he didn’t have to listen to what was said next: that Mays is to be executed for his crime.

A Henderson County jury took two hours and 34 minutes to determine Mays is a future danger to society and that there is no reason he should be spared from the death penalty. When the verdict was read by Tarrance, a collective exhale was heard in the courtroom.

The message to police officers, many of whom were co-workers and friends of Ogburn, was clear.

“If you kill a policeman, you’re going to die,” said Jim Langford, a deputy with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department.

Mays will now get an automatic appeal of his death sentence. The appeals process could carry on several years.

Henderson County Sheriff Ronny Brownlow said his department will never forget May 17, 2007 — the day Ogburn and HCSD Investigator Paul Habelt were shot and killed by Mays — but he added that justice has prevailed.

“It was one of the darkest days in the history of this county,” Brownlow said.

During her closing statements in the punishment phase, Henderson County District Attorney Donna Bennett reminded the jury about the day Mays killed Ogburn and Habelt.

“Paul and Tony were friends of mine,” Bennett said. “We are here because of what the defendant did. He could have saved the lives of Tony Ogburn and Paul Habelt, but he chose not to.”

Mays shot Ogburn while deputies were deciding what to do next during a standoff at Mays’ Payne Springs residence, Bennett said.

“(Mays) was able to get Tony Ogburn’s face in the scope and pulled the trigger,” she said. “He makes a decision to continue. He gets the face this time of Paul Habelt and blows away Paul.”

Throughout Bennett’s closing statement, Mays interrupted and blurted statements out.

“When they point guns at me I have problem,” he said at one point.

Mays’ defense lawyer, Bobby Mims, asked the jury to spare Mays’ life and give him life in prison without parole.

Mims told the jury he has represented many types of people, but never anyone like Mays.

“I’ve never represented anybody mentally ill like that man,” Mims said. “He is a poor, pathetic, mentally ill person.”

Later, Mims told reporters Mays is the most difficult client he’s ever had.

“He didn’t trust us and I’m not sure he still does,” he said.

Testimony presented by Mims during the trial revealed Mays has what doctors termed a “paranoid” disorder.

Mims told the jury he had never met someone mentally ill until he met Mays. He said the defense team, which included Athens attorney Steve Green, was not trying to give excuses for May’s actions, but trying to get the truth out. The events of May 17, 2007, did not have to happen, he said.

“I just can’t help thinking what would’ve happened if we had a few more minutes when (Mays) came out of the window,” Mims said.

Mims asked Mays to stand up during his closing arguments, and he then said to the jury, “(The state) wants you to kill this man.”

Mims also pointed to Mays’ “terrible childhood” as a possible factor for his mental illness.

“It doesn’t excuse it,” he said. “This is just a sad story that has no good ending.”

Bennett ended her closing statements by showing a photo of Mays as a small boy riding a pony — a photo introduced into evidence by the defense team. She then showed two photos of Ogburn’s and Habelt’s bodies.

“Don’t think about the defendant riding on a horse,” she said. “Think about what he did on May 17. What happened out there was the choice of the defendant.”

As the jury exited the courtroom to decide Mays’ fate, he blurted out once more, saying, “I apologize.”

“This verdict says juries still respect police officers for doing their job, and sometimes (that job) takes their lives. It says that we appreciate what they do,” Bennett told the Athens Review after the trial. “We had a very strong case. In my mind there was no question that he killed Tony Ogburn.”

        

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