Gary Whitton was sentenced to die in Florida's electric chair for the October 9, 1990 beating and slaying of a friend to death, James Mauldin (“Jimmy”), a fellow alcoholic, in a fight that left a motel room covered with blood. The men fought for more than 30 minutes at a motel after Jimmy had gone on a drinking binge.
Gary delivered massive blows
to Jimmy's head and neck
“that would have brought down a drunk elephant”.
Classification:
Murderer
Characteristics: Robbery - Alcoholic
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: October 10, 1990
Date of arrest: Next day
Date of birth: February 4, 1959 | age 64
Victim profile: James Mauldin
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: Walton County, Florida, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on September 10, 1992i
“There was blood
on the floor, the furniture, walls and even the ceiling. The crime
scene photographs were a testimony to the amount of human blood in
the body and Jimmy’s tenacity for life.” Although Jimmy’s
blood-alcohol level was more than three times the State’s legal
limit for drunkenness, “ … he was sufficiently aware of his
impending death”, the judge said.
Gary, who had been on parole for armed robbery at the time of the slaying, was expressionless during the sentencing and bowed his head before standing to depart. As he shuffled from the courtroom in shackles he winked at two unidentified women in the gallery.
Death sentences are automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. The Judge ruled the extreme wickedness of the crime outweighed mitigating circumstances of Gary's low-average IQ of 84, alcoholism and mental abuse he suffered as a child.
Despite having a 0.34 blood alcohol level, it was obvious from the physical evidence that Jimmy was sufficiently aware of his impending death to put up a fierce fight. The way that Jimmy's adrenaline clearly overrode his intoxication and allowed him to resist Gary even after taking significant blows that would have brought down a drunk elephant shows that Jimmy was aware of his impending death even though his system was depressed by alcohol. This is also evidence that Jimmy felt pain. The graphic images of the crime scene bear witness to Jimmy's will to live and the volume of blood in the human body.
Jimmy experienced a lot of pain and suffering as a result of this heinous murder, which was incredibly wicked and vile. Gary's actions demonstrated complete disregard for his victim's suffering. This murder was accompanied by such additional acts which sets this crime apart from the normal capital felonies. It was a despicable, heartless crime that caused Jimmy unnecessary pain. It was been established beyond a reasonable doubt that the capital offense was particularly heinous, atrocious, or cruel.ii
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i Blanco, J. (2023) Gary Richard Whitton | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers, Murderpedia.org. Available at: https://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/whitton-gary-richard.htm (Accessed: 18 March 2023).
ii (2023) Murderpedia.org. Available at: https://murderpedia.org/male.W/images/whitton_gary_richard/op-80536.pdf (Accessed: 18 March 2023).