Cornelius Goss was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Carl Leevy
According to court documents Cornelius Goss would break into the home of Carl Leevy and would strike him multiple times with a two by four as he lay sleeping in his chair. Goss would rob the home before fleeing
Cornelius Goss would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Cornelius Goss would be executed by lethal injection on February 23 2000
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When Was Cornelius Goss Executed
Cornelius Goss was executed on February 23 2000
Cornelius Goss Case
On May 20, 1987, 66-year-old Carl Leevy, a sporting goods representative for Converse, headed home between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. after having played in a golf tournament in Carrollton, Texas. That night, Leevy’s wife returned to their home in Dallas, Texas from her bridge game at approximately 12:15 a.m. When she arrived, she saw that her husband’s car was parked in the garage where it was supposed to be, but his Converse duffle bags were in disarray. She called out for her husband, but received no reply. According to witness statements, Leevy typically ate dinner in the evening, then retired to his easy chair in the den to watch television. As Mrs. Leevy continued her approach, she did not hear the television, which was usually playing loudly due to her husband’s hearing problem. She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen and saw that his easy chair was empty. She called out a second time but received no response. She continued and found her dead husband on the floor in the den. Mrs. Leevy then ran to her neighbor’s house and called the police.
When paramedics and police arrived, they found Leevy laying face down on the floor next to his chair. There was blood coming from his ears, mouth, and nose due to an obvious head injury. A butcher knife and a dirty 2×4 length of wood were laying next to him. Wood chips were found in the area of the victim’s body, both behind the chair and in front of the desk; consistent with Leevy being struck with the 2×4. The medical examiner later testified at trial that Leevy had sustained four distinct external injuries to his head. Additionally, an internal examination of the brain revealed a “depressed skull fracture,” or “denting in” of the skull. The medical examiner found “extensive” fracturing of the skull, including the forehead, the left side of the skull, the right side of the skull above the ear, the back of the skull, the base of the skull, the top of the eye sockets, and the temple and ridge bone on the right side of the skull. There was no evidence of defensive injuries to Leevy.
At the scene, police found in the backyard a pair of bloody gloves, consistent with a pair missing from a master bedroom night stand. Strewn along the back fence were billfold items, pictures, and a checkbook. A shirt was found laying beside a pile of wood containing 2×4 boards between the carport and the back fence. In the den, the desk behind Leevy’s body appeared to have been gone through and a file cabinet had bloody glove prints on it. Money was missing from the desk. Although the entire house was processed for latent fingerprints, comparable prints were only obtained from the window, window screen, and window sill, all at the point of entry into the master bedroom. Also discovered missing after the murder were various pieces of jewelry Leevy possessed. These included a necklace that had a $10 goldpiece hanging from it, a Rolex watch, and two rings — one a distinctive Converse ring. Leevy’s reading glasses were found on a silver plate on top of the television. The glasses appeared to have blood and a speck of wood on the right earpiece.
On May 21, 1987, just 12 hours after the murder, a man by the name of Gerald Shed picked up Goss hitchhiking in Dallas. Cornelius Goss was carrying a gym bag and was wearing a Rolex watch that he wanted to sell. After purchasing beer and liquor, the men drove to a pawn shop where Shed attempted to pawn the Rolex watch. A pawn shop employee offered Shed $150 for the watch but refused to complete the transaction when Shed was unable to produce a driver’s license. Shed then exited the store. Shortly thereafter, William Bryant arrived at the same pawn shop to sell some of his own property. Before he entered the store, however, Shed approached him, said he did not have his identification with him, and asked whether Bryant would be willing to pawn a Rolex watch for him. Bryant agreed and completed the transaction. After leaving the pawnshop, Shed dropped Cornelius Goss off at a residence “off Winfield.”
The pawn shop later ran the Rolex transaction through a law enforcement computer database and discovered that it was stolen. The serial number from the pawn shop ticket matched the serial number that the family had found on an earlier repair bill for Leevy’s watch. Shed’s identity was discovered and, after his arrest, he implicated a person who he knew only as “Goss” as the man who gave him the Rolex watch to pawn. Shed also led police to the house where he had dropped Cornelius Goss off on May 21st. Through a neighbor, police confirmed that Goss lived at the house and Shed later identified Cornelius Goss in a photo lineup. When police learned that Cornelius Goss’ fingerprints matched those recovered from the point of entry of the Leevy home, a warrant was obtained for the arrest of Cornelius Goss. Police arrested Goss at a residence in South Oak Cliff. Inside this residence, officers found an athletic bag in the living room similar to one missing from Leevy’s house. Later searches of this residence revealed new and worn Converse clothing, a Converse bag, a lock blade knife, a ladies gold bracelet and a large blue garment bag which contained a pair of Converse miniature display shoes.
When police confronted Cornelius Goss with the fact that he was under arrest for capital murder, that they had his fingerprints at the murder scene, and that they had discovered the victim’s property in his house, Cornelius Goss broke down and orally confessed that he committed the capital murder. In relevant part, Goss’s confession reads as follows: P>. . . I started walking back towards some friend’s house on Marsh Lane and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get home with only about two dollars in my pocket. I was taking shortcuts and on the spur of the moment, I stopped to instigate [sic] this guy’s house and I jumped the back fence. As dark as the house looked, I took out my pocketknife and used it to get the window open. After I got the window open, I crawled in. The door on the bedroom was closed and I started searching for money or gold. As I was searching, I heard the T.V., so I cracked the door and looked out and then left it cracked and continued searching. I found some gloves in a drawer and I put them on. I didn’t find any money, but I did put a bracelet in my pocket. I looked in the closet and I didn’t see anything of interest. I also looked under the mattress. After that I went to the door and opened it. I went to the left and saw the more open house part [sic]. When I walked into the more open house part of the house [sic] I saw the man asleep in a chair. It kind of startled me and I stepped back. I realized that he was sleeping, so I turned around and went back and looked in the room next to the bedroom. I didn’t find anything in this room, so I came back to where I saw him and I stood there a few minutes. I then snuck around through the livingroom and I paused and looked at him again. I then went into a room with a desk and a phone and there were a lot of exercise clothes and equipment. I grabbed the clothes off the rack and laid them by the patio door. I then grabbed a blue bag, and emptied it and I put the bag on the floor by the clothes. I walked back to see if he was still asleep and I leaned against what was the refrigerator. I opened it and took out a Pepsi. I was drinking the Pepsi, watching the man, and while I was standing there I thought I would take the silver from the china cabinet and put it in the bag and then leave. I went up the two stairs from the kitchen and I lost my balance, but I had not made any noise yet. I continued to make a left into the livingroom when my foot made a squeak on the kitchen floor. When I turned back to see him, I could see him moving, taking off his glasses. He saw me and he yelled, hey, and then something else of which I am not sure. I looked at the patio door and I snapped that I didn’t know how to get out. I picked up a board that was laying on a box and threw down the Pepsi. I ran back towards the man and I tried to hit him two times, but I missed the second time. I hit him one more time and he went out and I leaned over to pick up the T.V. remove control to turn off the T.V. The man grabbed my left leg, and without even looking, I hit him once or twice more. The man flopped to his left in the chair and I picked him up and tried to place him on his side. I noticed he had a watch and necklace and I took them from him. I looked around to see if anybody seen me and then I looked in the desk behind the man and I found a wallet. I took the wallet and the money that was in it and I put it in my pocket. I ran in there and grabbed the bag and put it in the clothes bag and I got the patio door open. I saw the garage door open and I went and prowled through two or three boxes, but didn’t take anything. I then got the bag and jumped the back fence and left…
In a separate confession, Cornelius Goss described what he did with the property that he stole:
. . . I asked my friend, [Charles] Ford, if he knew where I could get rid of the Converse ring with one diamond that I took from the guy’s finger. Charles took me to a place off of Sergeant Road that looked like a bootleg house. Charles went in and sold the ring for eighty dollars. I gave Charles about three or four dollars. Charles and I sold the ring two Friday’s ago. I sold the necklace and the gold about five days after this happened. I lost the wedding band that I got from the man’s finger jogging on Cedar Crest Golf Course the following morning after I sold the ring. The night this happened, I put the jewelry in my pocket. I also got some active wear from the man’s working office that was already in the blue bag. I poured some tennis shoes out of a blue Converse bag. I put the Converse bag in the big blue bag. I then left. I pulled my shirt off and left it in the backyard. I pulled the gloves that I had on and left them in the backyard. I don’t know what I did with the man’s wallet. I have been looking for the wallet for the last four or five days but I can’t find it. The red shorts that I’m wearing came out of the man’s house.
After speaking to Ford, police recovered the victim’s Converse ring.
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2000/20000222gossadvy.htm