Jurors deliberated for two hours late Wednesday before returning a guilty verdict against Bobby "Rex" Stribling
Bobby Stribling says the judge called him a "white trash convict," and he killed him
A jury convicted a southeast Georgia man of malice murder Wednesday for the slaying of a 74-year-old district attorney found brutally beaten on the floor of his law office in 2007.
JESUP, GA (AP) -- Jurors deliberated two hours before returning a guilty verdict against Bobby ’Rex’ Stribling, who faces the death penalty for killing Glenn Thomas Jr.
The sentencing phase of the trial was scheduled to begin Thursday at the Wayne County courthouse. The jury must choose whether to sentence Stribling to life in prison or death by lethal injection.
During the trial, defense attorney Gerald Word said Stribling admitted he killed Thomas. But Word insisted it was a crime of sudden rage that didn’t warrant a death sentence.
Word said in his closing argument Wednesday that Stribling, a cocaine addict and repeat felon, went to Thomas’ office to try to borrow money. He said Stribling snapped when Thomas called him ’white convict trash.’
’He killed Mr. Thomas during the course of aggravated battery,’ Word said. ’He’s guilty of a horrible crime, but not malice murder.’
He said Stribling should be convicted of felony murder’a crime punishable by life in prison under Georgia law, but not death.
Prosecutor Rick Malone called Stribling a ’remorseless killer’ and said the slaying was brutal enough to warrant a malice murder conviction, which would allow for a death sentence.
Evidence showed Thomas was struck in the head at least 15 times with an unknown blunt weapon. Prosecutors say Stribling stole $1,350 from Thomas, as well as his wallet and truck keys, as the lawyer lay bleeding on the floor. They say Stribling stole Thomas’ pickup truck and drove to Brunswick, where he traded it for crack cocaine.
Malone told jurors Stribling hunted Thomas down seeking payback and a refund of $500 his family had paid the lawyer for past legal services. He said Stribling’s family hired Thomas in hopes of getting him released from prison early.
’He said he snapped. That’s an excuse, a crutch, a way around the truth,’ Malone said. ’This man is a manipulator of major proportions and you are his next victims.’
Thomas was a lawyer and municipal court judge who served 30 years as district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit.
In addition to malice murder, the jury found Stribling guilty of aggravated battery, aggravated assault, armed robbery, burglary and motor vehicle theft.
The trial jury was selected in Douglas, more than 60 miles west of Jesup, because of pretrial publicity.
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