Five months after committing the Blockbuster murders, Dorsey killed 51 year old Hyon Suk Chon, during a convenience store robbery in Ennis, Texas. Dorsey pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to sixty years in prison. He was in prison serving time for this murder when he confessed to the Blockbuster murders.

Citations:

Dorsey v. Quarterman, 494 F.3d 527 (5th Cir. 2007) (Habeas).

Final/Special Meal:

None.

Final Words:

“I love all y’all, I forgive all y’all, and I’ll see y’all when you get there. Do what you’re gonna do.”

ClarkProsecutor.org

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Executed Offenders (Leon Dorsey)

Inmate: Dorsey, Leon David IV
Date of Birth: 11/17/75
DR#: 999359
Date Received: 06/12/2000
Education: 12 years
Occupation: delivery driver, laborer
Date of Offense: 04/04/94
County of Offense: Dallas
Native County: Dallas
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 05' 11"
Weight: 174 lb
Prior Prison Record: None.
Co-Defendants: Alejandro Sierra

Prior Prison Record: Dorsey had no prior criminal record at the time this offense was committed. However, after this offense was committed and prior to being convicted for this offense, Dorsey committed Murder with a Deadly Weapon and Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle in Ellis County (involved Dorsey and one co-defendant enter a food store, fatally shooting a 51 year old Oriental female, then fleeing the scene with an unknown amount of money). Dorsey received a 60 year sentence for that offense and was serving that sentence when he was convicted of Capital Murder and sentenced to death for the current offense.

Summary of incident: On 4/4/1994 during the night in Dallas, Dorsey entered a video store and used a 9 millimeter pistol to rob and kill a 26 year old white male employee and a 20 year old white male employee. He forced them into the back office, where he shot and killed them. He took $392 from the business.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Media Advisory: Leon David Dorsey Scheduled For Execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information on Leon David Dorsey, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 12, 2008. In May 2000, Leon David Dorsey was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the robbery and slaying of James Lloyd Armstrong at a video store in Dallas.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Two employees at a Blockbuster Video store in Dallas were robbed and murdered around midnight on April 4, 1994. Employee James Armstrong was shot twice and employee Brad Lindsey was shot once in the back. The robber took several hundred dollars from the business. The in-store video camera recorded the crime and shows that the killer was a black male with short hair.

Later that day, Dorsey admitted committing the robbery and murders to his girlfriend and to an acquaintance. Later that week, the girlfriend reported Dorsey’s admissions to the police. At the time, police erroneously believed that Dorsey was too tall to be the killer, and he was not charged with the crime, which remained unsolved until the case was reopened in 1998. During the 1998 investigation, police sent the videotape of the robbery-murder to the F.B.I. for an analysis of the robber’s height. Based on the new estimate of the perpetrator's height and accurate information about Dorsey’s height, police questioned Dorsey again, and he confessed

CRIMINAL HISTORY AND PUNISHMENT EVIDENCE

Five months after committing the Blockbuster killings, Dorsey killed a convenience store clerk during a robbery in Ennis, Texas. Dorsey pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to sixty years in prison.

While in prison, Dorsey attempted to stab another inmate. During an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Dorsey admitted to “possibly” killing as many as nine people, “more or less.”

At fourteen, Dorsey took a gun to school and discharged it in a classroom. At fifteen, Dorsey lived on an Air Force base and committed several property crimes, including a residential robbery, a theft from a vehicle, and a theft of some items from lockers at the base gymnasium. When police investigated and found the stolen items at Dorsey’s home, they also discovered 20 to 25 bullet holes in the basement wall of his house and numerous spent shells.

At sixteen, Dorsey fired a gun at a young couple in another car and verbally threatened to kill them.

At eighteen, five months after the double slaying at the Blockbuster store, Dorsey was arrested for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was convicted, and his sentence was probated.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Dorsey was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in May 2000. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Dorsey’s conviction and sentence on October 2, 2002. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Dorsey’s petition for writ of certiorari on June 23, 2003. Dorsey filed a petition for state writ of habeas corpus on May 6, 2002. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals adopted the trial court’s findings and denied relief on February 18, 2004. Dorsey filed his federal habeas petition on December 17, 2004. On July 31, 2006, the federal district court denied Dorsey’s petition for federal habeas relief. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the federal district court’s denial of federal habeas relief on July 30, 2007. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Dorsey’s petition for certiorari review on February 25, 2008.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson

Txexecutions

Leon David Dorsey IV, 32, was executed by lethal injection on 12 August 2008 in Huntsville, Texas for killing two store employees during a robbery.

On 4 April 1994, Dorsey, then 18, entered a Dallas Blockbuster video store around midnight. Using a 9 millimeter pistol, Dorsey forced two employees, James Armstrong, 26, and Brad Lindsey, 20, to give him the money from the cash register. He then forced them into the back office. When Armstrong had trouble opening the safe, Dorsey shot him in the side. Lindsey was shot in the back when he tried to run away. Dorsey then shot Armstrong again. Both victims died. Dorsey stole $392 from the business. The robbery and first two gunshots were recorded on in-store video cameras, as well as a visit earlier that day when Dorsey came to check out the store.

Dorsey later admitted the crime to his girlfriend, who contacted the police. Investigators questioned Dorsey, but after they reviewed the videotape of the crime, they concluded that he was too tall to be the killer, so he was not charged.

Five months later, Dorsey killed 51-year-old Hyon Suk Chon, a female convenience store clerk, during a robbery in Ennis. He pleaded guilty to murder with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

In 1998, while Dorsey was serving his sentence, the Dallas video store case was reopened by a cold case unit. Police sent the videotape of the crime to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for an analysis of the perpetrator's height. Based on the FBI's height estimate, police questioned Dorsey again, and he confessed.

Before his capital murder trial began, Dorsey was interviewed from death row about the murders. "They're dead," he said, "That's over and done with. I could have came in here and been, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so bad.' But I don't feel like that. That's not being honest with myself." Dorsey also said that the families of his victims should treat the loss of their loved ones like losing money in a craps game, rather than dwelling on it. The interview was used at Dorsey's trial as evidence that he should be sentenced to death.

In the pre-trial interview, Dorsey, who called himself "Pistol Pete", said that when he was ten years old and in kindergarten, he stabbed a pee-wee football teammate and tried to burn down his babysitter's house. At age 14, he took a gun to school and discharged it in a classroom. At 16, he fired a gun at a couple in another car and threatened to kill them. He also had a juvenile record of property theft and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. "I've done cut folks; I've done stabbed folks; I've killed folks," he said, "but it don't bother me."

A jury convicted Dorsey of capital murder in May 2000 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in October 2002. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Dallas county prosecutor Jason January did not blame the police for deciding not to charge Dorsey after the first murder. He said that the technology at the time was not advanced enough. "You hate to see that," he said, "knowing that potentially if the technology had been as good when the crime was committed, someone else would not have been killed."

In his eight years on death row, Dorsey was written up at least 95 times for disciplinary infractions, including the 2004 stabbing of a corrections officer 14 times in the back with an 8½-inch shank. The officer's body armor protected him from serious injury. Authorities found another shank in Dorsey's cell less two weeks before he was executed.

Dorsey was not available for media interviews while on death row because of his disciplinary record and his threats of violence. Prison officials were prepared to use force to take him to the execution chamber, but Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said that Dorsey did not put up a fight, and force was not used.

At his execution, Dorsey acknowledged his sister, who watched from a viewing room, but did not acknowledge the victims' witnesses. "I love y'all. I forgive y'all. See y'all when you get there," he said in his last statement. "Do what you're going to do." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m.

Texas executes inmate convicted of double slaying

Aug. 12, 2008

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A twice-convicted killer with a history of violence that continued even after he was sent to death row was executed Tuesday for gunning down two video store workers during a 1994 robbery.

"I love all y'all. I forgive all y'all. See y'all when you get there," Leon David Dorsey IV said in his final statement. "Do what you're going to do." Dorsey, 32, acknowledged his sister when witnesses filed in but didn't direct any comments to the relatives of his victims.

He was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m. CDT, nine minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year upheld his conviction and death sentence and no late appeals were filed to try to block Dorsey's lethal injection.

Prison records showed that since Dorsey arrived on death row eight years ago, he's had at least 95 disciplinary cases, including a 2004 attack where he used an 8 1/2-inch shank to stab an officer 14 times in the back. The officer's body armor prevented serious injuries. Less than two weeks ago, authorities recovered another shank from his cell. His threats of violence kept prison officials from making him available for media interviews as his execution date approached, but prison officials said he offered no resistance as he was led to the death chamber.

"He's mean," said Toby Shook, a former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Dorsey for capital murder. He called Dorsey a "true psychopath." "He's very smart, very organized. ... He just was always headed in this direction," Shook said. "Every day he was looking to hurt someone. It was the only satisfaction he got in life."

Dorsey was already serving a 60-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to killing a woman during a convenience store robbery when a Dallas police cold case squad gathered enough evidence to tie him to the unsolved shooting deaths of James Armstrong, 26, and Brad Lindsey, 20, at a Blockbuster Video store in East Dallas where they worked.

Evidence showed Dorsey, who called himself "Pistol Pete," cased the place on Easter Sunday night in 1994, then returned after midnight to steal $392 from a cash register. Then 18, Dorsey shot the workers when Armstrong had difficulty opening a safe at gunpoint and Lindsey tried to run. Most of the crime was recorded on security cameras in the store.

"Viewing Dorsey's execution will not bring any happiness, but we've lived to see justice for James 14 years later and today we pray for Dorsey's father," Armstrong's parents, Gerald and Nanci Armstrong, said in a statement released after the execution. Nanci Armstrong said she struggled with forgiving Dorsey "but I knew that I had to forgive him."

Dorsey initially was questioned about the slayings after his girlfriend reported to police that he had admitted the shootings to her. But police initially believed he was too tall, based on images from the security tape. When the case was reopened in 1998, Dallas authorities had the tape analyzed by the FBI and determined Dorsey could have been the gunman.

The Ennis robbery, in which 51-year-old convenience store manager Hyon Suk Chon was killed, occurred five months after the video store killings. "You hate to see that, knowing that potentially if the technology had been as good when the crime was committed, someone else would not have been killed," said Jason January, who prosecuted the capital case with Shook.

Some of the evidence prosecutors used in their push for the death penalty was in an interview he gave to a reporter while he was awaiting trial. "I've done cut folks; I've done stabbed folks; I've killed folks," he told The Dallas Morning News. "But it don't bother me."

Dorsey at age 12 moved to Waxahachie to live with his grandparents after he was booted from Germany, where his mother was stationed in the Air Force. Records show when he was 14 he took a gun to school and fired it. At 16, he fired at a couple driving in a car. "He'd walk down the street with a sawed-off shotgun tied to his arm and with a coat on and then just throw it open — just to see the reaction of people," Shook said. "He's a piece of work."

Dorsey was the seventh prisoner executed this year in the nation's most active death penalty state and the first of two inmates scheduled to die this week. Two more are to die next week.

Dorsey executed for 1994 Blockbuster murders

By Kristin Edwards - The Huntsville Item

August 12, 2008

Leon David Dorsey, who was convicted of the April 4, 1994, shooting deaths of a 26-year-old male and a 20-year-old male at a Dallas Blockbuster video was executed Tuesday. Dorsey was pronounced dead at 6:27 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Walls Unit. Dorsey is the seventh death row inmate to be executed in Texas this year since the lethal injection has been reinstated.

According to Michelle Lyons, TDCJ public information officer, Dorsey had recently made threats to harm a correctional officer prior to his execution, but fortunately did not follow through with his threats. “Leon Dorsey was executed Tuesday without putting up a fight,” she said. “He did not have to be forcibly taken into the execution chamber, and the entire execution was carried out without incident.”

During his very brief last statement, Dorsey did not acknowledge Gerald and Nanci Armstrong or Joan Coleman, the parents of Dorsey’s two victims in the Blockbuster shootings, James Armstrong and Brad Lindsey. His only words before his last statement – “Hey, sis,” – were directed to his sister, Tameka Finklea. “I love all y’all, I forgive all y’all, and I’ll see y’all when you get there,” he said. “Do what you’re gonna do.”

While Joan Coleman did not make a formal statement following the execution, Gerald and Nancy Armstrong released a letter to the media which addressed their feelings about Dorsey’s execution. “Losing James has been and always will be painful; it doesn’t get any easier, but we’ve gotten stronger,” the letter read. “Viewing Dorsey’s execution will not bring any happiness, but we’ve lived to see justice for James 14 years later and today we pray for Dorsey’s father.”

In a segment of the letter which appears to have been written by Nanci Armstrong, more detail is offered regarding her feelings about Dorsey. “While Gerald has said it was different for him, I have struggled with forgiving Dorsey for killing our son,” she said. “Perhaps Dorsey is as evil as Charles Manson and has no remorse, but I knew that I had to forgive him. “I could do it in my head, but not in my heart.”

According to information released by the Texas Attorney General’s office, James Armstrong and Brad Lindsey were shot and killed at a Dallas Blockbuster, and the person who shot them also stole $392 from the business.

While Dorsey actually admitted committing the robbery and murders to his girlfriend and to an acquaintance, Dorsey was not immediately charged with the crime. Dorsey confessed to the 1994 murders in 1998, when new evidence led police to re-question him.

Five months after committing the Blockbuster killings, but before he had been charged with them, Dorsey killed a convenience store clerk during a robbery in Ennis, Texas. Dorsey pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Texas executes man for 1994 double slaying

Around midnight on April 4, 1994, two employees at a Blockbuster Video store in Dallas at the Casa Linda Plaza Shopping Center were robbed of only $392 and murdered. The in-store video camera recorded the crime and shows that the perpetrator was a black male with short hair. The two employees were forced into a back room, where the video shows them speaking briefly before being killed. Brad Lindsey was shot once in the back; employee James Armstrong was shot twice.

Later that day, Leon David Dorsey IV, a Waxahachie gang member, admitted committing the robbery and murders to his girlfriend, Arrietta Washington, and to an acquaintance, Antwan Hamilton. In an interview with a newspaper reporter, Dorsey stated that he had burned the jacket he had worn that night and would not disclose the location of the murder weapon. Washington braided extensions into Dorsey's hair as a disguise.

Later that week, she reported Dorsey's admissions to the police. The police interviewed Dorsey, but he denied any involvement. At the time, police erroneously believed that Dorsey was too tall to be the perpetrator, and he was not charged with the crime, which remained unsolved until the case was reopened by a veteran detective in 1998. During the 1998 investigation, police sent the videotape of the robbery-murder to the FBI for an analysis of the perpetrator's height. Based on the new estimate of the perpetrator's height and accurate information about Dorsey's height, police questioned Dorsey again, and he confessed.

While awaiting trial, Dorsey again confessed to this offense during an interview with Dallas Morning News reporter Jason Sickles. In the interview, Dorsey blamed the victims for their deaths and said they could be alive today. "But they didn't use their choice wisely," he said. Dorsey told the reporter that he feels no remorse for killing James Armstrong and Brad Lindsey. He said their families should not dwell on their deaths, comparing it to losing $1,000 in a craps game. "They're dead. That's over and done with," he said. "Why are you going to sit there and worry yourself about that? Move on. I could have came in here and been, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so bad.' But I don't feel like that. That's not being honest with myself."

Dorsey told Mr. Sickles that he was drunk and high when he went to the Blockbuster in search of cash and that one of the men probably angered him, but he doesn't remember who or how. "One of them had to be bumping me or talking sh.t," he said. "One of them did, or I wouldn't have did it like that. I killed the second person because the first person fu.ked up. I had a tendency to dehumanize a person in a situation," Dorsey said. "If I was robbing you, and you studded up, I could fu.k you up and say that was business. If you cooperated, you could walk away from it easily."

A week before trial, Dorsey admitted committing the murders to a fellow inmate. Dorsey, whose nickname was "Pistol Pete", also sent a letter to another inmate, Rodrick Finley, offering him $5000 to take the blame for the murders. The police had previously suspected Finley of committing the crime.

In all, Dorsey confessed to five different persons: his girlfriend, an acquaintance, the police, a news reporter, and a fellow inmate. In addition, the videotape depicted the perpetrator as a black male of medium build with short hair, wearing a multi-colored jacket. Washington and Hamilton both testified that the distinctive jacket of unusual design and colors worn by the shooter in the videotape looked just like one often worn by Dorsey before the offense. They also stated that they never saw Dorsey wear that particular jacket after the offense. Washington also testified that Dorsey wore his hair in the same style as that of the shooter at the time of the offense, but that she had altered the appearance of Dorsey's hair after the offense by adding braid extensions.

Dorsey told the reporter that he wishes he'd never opened his mouth around her. "It ain't my homeboys that turned on me," he said. "It's this b.tch that I used to put $100 shoes on her feet and take care of her kids. She better hope I never get out of this penitentiary." According to the FBI expert who analyzed the videotape, the shooter was between 5'7" tall and 6' tall. Dorsey is 5'10" tall.

Five months after the video store killings, Dorsey killed a 51-year-old Korean woman, Hyon Suk Chon, at the convenience store she managed in Ennis, south of Dallas. Dorsey and a co-defendant entered a food store, fatally shooting the woman, then fled the scene with an unknown amount of money. He was in prison serving a 60 year sentence for that slaying when he was questioned again about the double slaying and confessed.

The victims' families say Dorsey's profane explanations mean little to them now. "That is just about par for the course," said Greg Armstrong, James Armstrong's brother. "If he has no remorse about it, then he deserves the death penalty." Joan Lindsey Coleman said she has felt better this week than she has in 4 1/2 years, finally knowing who killed her son. "I'll feel even better when I watch him die," she said. "They'd better not screw this up. Now that they've got him, they'd better kill him."

During his time in prison, Dorsey has racked up almost 100 disciplinary records, including stabbing an officer 14 times with a homemade knife, or shank. The officer's flak vest saved him from serious injury. Read more of Dorsey's interview here.

UPDATE: Leon Dorsey was executed for the murders of two Blockbuster Video employees during a robbery 14 years ago in Dallas, Texas. According the TDCJ, Dorsey had recently made threats that he would harm corrections officers prior to his execution, but he did not put up any fight when taken to the execution chamber. In his final statement, Dorsey said, "I love all y'all. I forgive all y'all and I'll see y'all when you get there. Do what you're gonna do." Dorsey said, "Hey sis" when the execution witnesses filed in but he did not direct any comments to the parents of his victims who witnessed the execution.

According to the Huntsville Item, Brad Lindsey's mother Joan Coleman did not make a formal statement following the execution. James Armstrong's parents Gerald and Nancy Armstrong released a letter to the media. “Losing James has been and always will be painful; it doesn’t get any easier, but we’ve gotten stronger,” the letter read. “Viewing Dorsey’s execution will not bring any happiness, but we’ve lived to see justice for James 14 years later and today we pray for Dorsey’s father.”

In a segment of the letter which appears to have been written by Nanci Armstrong, more detail is offered regarding her feelings about Dorsey. “While Gerald has said it was different for him, I have struggled with forgiving Dorsey for killing our son,” she said. “Perhaps Dorsey is as evil as Charles Manson and has no remorse, but I knew that I had to forgive him. I could do it in my head, but not in my heart.”