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A
Wake County jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for convicted
murderer Seaga Gillard.
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Seaga
Gillard sentenced to die for 2016 double murder at Raleigh motel
By
Alfred Charles, WRAL.com managing editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Wake County jury on Monday
decided to impose the death sentence on Seaga Edward Gillard, convicted of
killing two people nearly three years ago at a Raleigh motel.
The unanimous decision came
about two hours after the jury resumed deliberations Monday morning.
Gillard did not show any
emotion as the jury's decision was read.
The death penalty sentence is
the first by a Wake County jury in over a decade.
The jury began its deliberations around 2:30 p.m.
Friday afternoon in the punishment phase of the trial after nearly 90 minutes
of instructions from Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway.
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April
Lynn Holland and Dwayne Garvey
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Gillard, 30, was convicted two weeks ago by the
same jury of several charges, including two counts of first-degree murder,
attempted robbery with a firearm and attempted first-degree rape.
Security
cameras at the motel near Crabtree Valley Mall captured the deaths of Holland
and Garvey. During the first phase of the trial, jurors saw the grisly
black-and-white footage in which Gillard opened fire on Garvey inside a motel
hallway.
Before
jurors began deciding what punishment to impose, prosecutors tried to convince
the panel that Gillard deserved capital punishment.
"It's about
justice (and) our law says this is about maximum justice," said Wake County Assistant District
Attorney David Saacks, who argued that Gillard's decision to kill April Lynn
Holland, 22, and her boyfriend, Dwayne Garvey, 28, deserved the death penalty.
But defense attorneys urged
jurors to reject capital punishment.
"The only way he leaves
prison is in a casket," Edd Roberts said. "He will never know the
freedoms we take for granted."
Saacks told the jury Friday
that despite the couple's involvement in running a prostitution enterprise,
their lives still mattered.
After the jury's verdict had
been announced, Jacqueline Garvey, the mother of Dwayne Garvey, took the stand
to talk about the loss her family has suffered.
"You unjustly
changed and hurt people's lives forever, especially (for) his children who will
grow up without their father in his life," she said.
Angela Holland, sister of
April Lynn Holland, tearfully told the court how her sister's death profoundly
affected her, saying she started heavily drinking alcohol to cope with her
loss.
"I know you
don't care about what you did,"
Angela Holland said. "And I hate you for
that."
Death
penalty rare in NC
The state of North Carolina
hasn’t executed anyone since August 2006.
A tangle of legal fights,
such as the protocol used to carry out death sentences, whether physicians
could participate and whether the way the death penalty has been enforced is
racially biased, have essentially created a de facto moratorium on capital
punishment in the state.
There are currently 140
people on death row at Central Prison.
The last person from Wake
County to be sentenced to die is Byron Waring in 2007.
The last time a Wake County
jury imposed the death penalty was in 2007, when a jury sentenced Byron Waring to death for the murder of Lauren Redman.
The last time an inmate was
executed in North Carolina was in 2006 when Samuel Flippen was put to death.
The Forsyth County man had
been convicted of the murder of his 2-year-old stepdaughter.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.wral.com/seaga-gillard-sentenced-to-die-for-2016-double-murder-at-raleigh-motel/18233770/
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April Lynn Holland and Dwayne Garvey, who were
shot to death on the second floor of the America’s Best Value Inn at 3921 Arrow
Drive, off Blue Ridge Road near the Crabtree Valley Mall, before dawn on Dec.
2, 2016. The next day, police charged Seaga Edward Gillard, 28, and Brandon
Xavier Hill, 29, with first-degree murder in the double homicide. Courtesy of
the Garvey family
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OTHER
LINKS:
Convicted
Raleigh double killer could be sentenced to death Friday
VICTIMS PHOTO: https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/photos/a.1724066011048691/1875610965894194/?type=3&theater
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