Robbie Lyons was executed by the State of North Carolina for the murder of Stephen Stafford
According to court documents Robbie Lyons would enter a market where he would rob and fatally shoot the owner Stephen Stafford
Robbie Lyons would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Robbie Lyons would be executed by lethal injection on December 5 2003
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When Was Robbie Lyons Executed
Robbie Lyons was executed on December 5 2003
Robbie Lyons Case
Robbie James Lyons was executed early this morning for the 1993 shooting death of a Winston-Salem convenience store owner.
Late Thursday, Gov. Mike Easley denied Lyons’ clemency petition, which raised concerns that poor legal representation and racial bias contributed to his death sentence. The Rev. Jesse Jackson sent a letter asking Easley to commute Lyons’ sentence to life in prison, citing Lyons’ childhood of violent beatings and drug abuse. “I have the deepest sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their families and loved ones left behind — but the death penalty is not the best way to acknowledge their grief,” Jackson wrote.
Lyons, 31, was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the killing of Stephen Stafford, 48, during an armed robbery at his store Sept. 25, 1993. Lyons was the seventh inmate on death row executed this year, the most in one year in North Carolina since 1949, when 10 people were put to death.
Forsyth County prosecutors dismissed the issues raised by Lyons’ defense lawyers. They portrayed Lyons as a violent man who showed no remorse about the killing and had not changed his ways. Their proof: Lyons was placed in solitary confinement last month after assaulting a prison guard, disobeying an order and using profanity. “Lyons remains an evil, violent person,” said Ramona Stafford, the victim’s widow, who was scheduled to be among the execution witnesses along with her two children, Stephanie and Dwayne, and other relatives.
Stephen Stafford was a loving husband, a caring father and someone who tried to help the community around his store, his widow said. “He had more IOUs in his cash drawer than he did cash,” Ramona Stafford said. For his last meal Thursday, Lyons drank a Pepsi and ate a pizza and lasagna, both with meat that was prepared in accordance with Islamic law. One of Lyons’ lawyers, Kirk Osborn of Chapel Hill, said prosecutors kept all but one black woman from serving on the jury. He also pointed to a study that shows that black people are 3 1/2 times more likely to get the death penalty in North Carolina if their victim is white and 2 1/2 times more likely in Forsyth County. “A black murdering a white person is behind the eight ball to begin with,” Osborn said.
Lyons had one experienced lawyer, Osborn said, but the lawyer who gave the opening argument and questioned all the witnesses was a primarily a real estate lawyer who only met with Lyons once before the trial. However, Forsyth Assistant District Attorney David Hall insisted that Lyons’ legal representation was “excellent.” One of Lyons’ lawyers had previously handled nine death penalty cases, all of which resulted in life sentences. The other, the real estate lawyer, had prosecuted murder cases while in the military and was an excellent trial attorney, Hall said.
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