Published: May 10, 2008 06:00 pm            

Mays convicted in Henderson deputy’s slaying

By Angela Weatherford

Athens Daily Review

A gasp was heard in 392nd District Court Friday afternoon, followed by a collective, if hushed, “Yes!”

Henderson County District Attorney Donna Bennett then turned in her chair and looked at the family of Henderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Tony Ogburn.

Moments earlier, Randall Wayne Mays was found guilty of capital murder for the killing of Ogburn, 61.

In a room filled with family members and the officers who worked the streets with Ogburn, it took the jury an hour to deliver a unanimous verdict.

Those jurors must now decide if Mays will receive life in prison or the death penalty. The punishment phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Saturday morning.

On May 17, 2007, Ogburn and HCSD Investigator Paul Habelt, 63, were shot and killed during a disturbance at the Mays residence in the Payne Springs area. A third deputy, Kevin Harris, was shot in the leg. Harris was among the officers sitting in the court room.

Mays stood silently and nodded his head when Judge Carter Tarrance read the guilty verdict. As the jury was being dismissed, Mays — continuing a weeklong trend of outbursts in the courtroom — spoke out to Tarrance after the judge asked if the defense team if it wanted to inspect the verdict slip.

His defense attorney, Bobby Mims, had already answered that he did not.

“I’d like to, your honor,” Mays said, speaking up. “I’d like to have a chance to ...”

Tarrance cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

While leaving the courtroom Mays waved to his family and said, “Love you, honey.”

During the closing arguments, Texas Attorney General’s Office prosecutor Wes Mau, assisting Henderson County District Attorney Donna Bennett, called Mays “the bad guy.”

“He’s willing to kill to avoid being arrested and they are not,” Mau said, making the latter reference to the deputies. “That’s what makes him the bad guy.”

Bennett gave the jury an idea of what Mays was doing in his house in the few minutes before Ogburn was shot.

“He was leveling the (.30-06 rifle) on his couch, using the sight to make sure he doesn’t just hit (Ogburn), he kills him. The defendant isn’t anything other than a cold-blooded, calculated killer.”

Mims, in closing, spoke to the jury for only a few minutes and acknowledged that he “knew what the verdict would be.”

“This was nothing but about the truth,” he told the jury. “We have nothing to offer you but this explanation.”

Mims argued that his client has a paranoid disorder that caused him to shoot the deputies.

Mims also alluded to the fact that a further explanation of Mays’ actions would be offered during the punishment phase.

Friday morning, the defense called its last witness, Dr. Gild Kessner, a forensic psychologist. Tarrance allowed Kessner to testify in front of the jury under “a very narrow scope.”

Tarrance said — outside of the presence of the jury — that questioning could only deal with Mays’ state of mind on May 17, 2007, when he shot the Ogburn and Habelt. The defense team indicated throughout it did not intend to introduce an insanity defense of Mays’ behalf.

Mau asked Kessner if she believed Mays’ knew the consequences of his actions on May 17.

“Don’t you think he would know that if he aims a rifle with a scope at an officer, striking that officer in the face with a bullet that (the officer) would most likely die?” Mau asked.

She replied that because Mays is a paranoid individual, he lives in a different reality and was acting through his mental illness.

A person with a paranoid thought disorder always feels people are out to get them and they are always on edge, Kessner said.

Kessner later said Mays is mentally ill, but not insane.

        

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