Hodges sentenced to die
February 12, 2009
Willie James Hodges sat still and
quiet in the courtroom Thursday as a judge declared that he should die
by lethal injection.
Circuit Judge Terry Terrell
sentenced Hodges, 48, of Epps, Ala., to death for the murder of Patricia
Belanger, 58, of Pensacola.
“May God have mercy on your soul,”
Terrell said as Thursday’s hearing ended.
Found in her Mayfair home on Dec.
19, 2001, Belanger was beaten with a hammer and her neck was pierced
with a steak knife. Hodges was convicted of the Belanger murder in March
2008.
Hodges is facing charges in two
other murders.
He is also charged with shooting
Winnie Johnson, 66, of Sumter County, Ala., while burglarizing her home
in 2001. He’s also accused of raping and stabbing Laverne Jansen, 81, of
Cincinnati in 2003.
A victim’s advocate with the State
Attorney’s Office placed her hand on the shoulder of Belanger’s daughter,
Deborah Taylor, as Terrell made his ruling. The family members declined
to comment after the hearing.
The Florida Supreme Court
automatically reviews death penalty cases, and appeals can take many
years.
Defense attorney Marty Lester said
he expects the appeal to focus on whether Hodges meets the legal
standard for mental retardation, which would mean he could not be
executed.
Terrell decided that was not the
case, saying that Hodges carried on normal activities despite his IQ in
the mid-to-upper 60s.
Prosecutor John Molchan noted that
Hodges had romantic relationships, held steady jobs and possessed an
eloquent writing ability.
Terrell also said Hodges displayed
ingenuity when he jammed a chair in the front door of Belanger’s home so
no one could gain access. And, the judge said, Hodges dropped several
photographs of his cousin at Belanger’s home in an apparent attempt to
shift blame.
The crime remained unsolved until
2003 when an investigator recognized one of the people in the
photographs found at the Belanger home. The man in the picture, Vonkish
Golden, is Hodges’ cousin.
When investigators questioned
Golden, they learned that Hodges often stayed with his family. Both men
were related to Richard Ptomy, Belanger’s neighbor.
Authorities matched a fingerprint
found at the crime scene to that of Hodges.