Stephen Stanko sentenced to death

Stephen Stanko received his second death sentence Thursday afternoon.

After deliberating for a little more than an hour, the jury sentenced him to death.

Judge Steven John allowed Stanko to address jurors with a hand-written letter during closing arguments prior to their deliberation.

During that address, Stanko said, “No matter what it is I know you (the jury) will make the right decision. But do it fairly. Don’t put me in that position I am going to kill you and do the same thing that you are accusing me of.“

“In going to court, I just didn’t want to hurt anybody else and that’s why I didn’t want my family here,“ Stanko said, “because I didn’t want them to go through this.“

The same jury took just 45 minutes Monday afternoon to convict Stanko of the murder of 74-year-old Henry Lee Turner in his Conway home more than four years ago.

“It’s the first step, in talking so briefly with them,“ said 15th Circuit Court Solicitor Greg Hembree about Turner’s family who were at the trial since it began, “you could see the relief on their faces, guilty is really what they are about, I mean they wanted to hold him accountable for his actions, for killing their dad and family member so that’s been accomplished and that’s a huge relief for them.“

Before resting their Monday, prosecutors presented their rebuttal witnesses to refute what the defense put up during the weekend.
The team brought in forensic psychologist Dr. Pamela Crawford, who told the jury that when she interviewed Stanko for 17 hours in 2006, she concluded “he has a grandiose sense of self importance, failure to conform to social norms and lack of remorse.”
Before her testimony, Crawford told 15th Circuit Court Judge Steven H. John, in the absence of the jury, Stanko said he was in fear of his life and that’s why he had to shoot Turner.
“It’s clear from what he told me that not only did he remember the events, but he was asserting that he was defending himself,” Crawford said, “which sort of rules out an insanity defense in the sense that he said that, ‘I remembered it, I did this because I was trying to protect myself,’ and that’s just pretty crucial.”
John told persecutors he wouldn’t allow the details of the conversation between Crawford and Stanko to be heard by the jury.

During closing arguments both sides asked the jury to come up with a verdict that “will speak the truth.“

“Folks let me tell you something,“ said Deputy Solicitor Fran Humphries, “he had plans, and if you can plan you will appreciate the wrongfulness of your actions and if you appreciate them then he is not insane, not by law of the State of South Carolina,“

“He has a severe case of anti social personality disorder,“ said defense attorney Bill Diggs, “but he has a severe case of it because it manifests not only in terms of lying and stealing but killing , I mean if you think you could recognize the rightness or wrongfulness of your conduct would you do it with your family member?“
Diggs and along with attorney Brana Williams rested their case Sunday after working to convince jurors Stanko was insane when he killed Turner, a Florence County native, in 2005.
The team brought several of the same mental health experts who testified Saturday back to the stand.
Dr. Ruben Gur testified Stanko has damage to his frontal lobe area which causes his brain to be abnormal. He said very few people have this problem, which he said causes them to have a personality disorder that results in having “little regard for others.”
Neurologist Dr. Thomas Sachy, who also took the stand during Stanko’s previous trial for the murder of his-live in girlfriend in 2005, said because Stanko has a damaged frontal lobe, it would force someone to act in an “impulsively violent or in a psychopathic manner.”
Sachy backed up his statements by showing the jury Positron Emission Tomography, or PET, scan data analysis he said clearly shows Stanko’s brain doesn’t function the same way a normal human being’s brain does.
During cross examination, Hembree asked Sachy whether Stanko knew right from wrong during the time of the killing.
“He did not understand the moral difference between right and wrong,” Sachy said. “Morals aren’t something we think about because they are something we appreciate, they are biologically determined, its how your brain works.”
Sachy told the jury he reviewed Stanko’s past medical records, including his birth records, through which he concluded that something “bad had happened to him during his birth.” He said those records show Stanko had “signs of brain damage and there was a threat that he might die.”
In the absence of the jury, the court heard Stanko speak for the first time when John asked him if he will testify during his trial.
Stanko said he will not.
During testimony and evidence presentation Saturday, psychiatrist Bernard Albiniak, who also testified Friday, told the jury Stanko “is considered a psychopath.”
Just after 3 p.m. Saturday Stanko’s attorneys decided to move forward with an insanity defense.
Diggs asked the jury to consider Stanko’s mental state during opening statements Friday.
“I don’t want to say this, and I know it’s going to sound wrong to my client because he’s a human being, but he’s not healthy, period,” Diggs said.
Crime scene expert Brent Turvey took the stand Saturday and showed the jury several photographs taken at the crime scene where Turner was shot to death in his home.
Photos showed the gun used, a bloody suitcase and Stanko’s business cards recovered from the truck he stole from Turner’s home.
Turvey said Turner was killed with a gun that was shot through a pillow found on his bed at the crime scene.
Police said Turner’s murder was only one of many crimes Stanko committed in one week. He already received the death penalty for the killing of 43-year-old Laura Ling of Murrells Inlet, a librarian who lived with Stanko.
Investigators found Ling’s body after a teenager, later identified as Ling’s daughter, called police from the home and said she had been raped. They said Turner’s murder happened a few days later. A Georgetown jury convicted Stanko guilty of the murder and sexual assault in August 2006.
Stanko was sentenced to death soon after his conviction.
Stanko and his legal team appealed that sentence within a year. His lawyers argued in S.C. Supreme Court the jury wasn’t questioned properly and Stanko didn’t have a fair chance in court.
In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled against the appeal and wouldn’t allow a new trial for Stanko.
The appeal process delayed the trial for Turner’s death.
The Stanko case received national attention when a nationwide search for him followed the Turner and Ling slayings. U.S. Marshals tracked him down and arrested him in an Augusta, Ga., shopping center.
The CBS show television show “48 Hours” also featured the Stanko case in January 2007.