Robert Hicks was executed by the State of Georgia for the murder of Toni Rivers
According to court documents Robert Hicks, who was a convicted rapist, would attempt to abduct Toni Rivers however she was able to escape briefly. Hicks would chase her down and stab the woman repeatedly causing her death
Robert Hicks would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Robert Hicks was executed by lethal injection on July 1 2004
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When Was Robert Hicks Executed
Robert Hicks was executed on July 1 2004
Robert Hicks Case
Moments before his execution, Robert Karl Hicks apologized for his crimes and begged for God’s mercy. “I would like to apologize for everything I did. I’m sorry. God forgive me,” Hicks said as he was strapped to the gurney, ready to receive a lethal injection. His last words were, “Come get me,” after a clergyman said a short prayer.
Hicks, 47, stabbed Toni Strickland Rivers eight times with a pocket knife, slit her throat and left her half-nude body in a field near Griffin, about 35 miles south of Atlanta, on July 13, 1985.
He was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. on Thursday, 22 hours after he was originally scheduled to die. The Georgia Supreme Court had put his death sentence on hold for a day but then allowed it to proceed Thursday afternoon. “The emotion that’s overwhelming at this moment is relief,” said Cary Grubbs, the victim’s brother-in-law. “Forgiveness is a word that still sticks in the throat for us. However, we’ll have to let go of the anger we have.” Hicks took several deep, quivering breaths as the deadly chemicals entered his body. He closed his eyes and his breathing drew shallower until they stopped.
The prosecutor of Hicks’ case at trial, David Fowler, said he was satisfied to finally hear Hicks express remorse over what he had done. Over the years, Hicks claimed he was insane and that drug dealers had set him up. “He very carefully tried to cover it up from the moment he did it,” Fowler said. “That is not someone who’s out of his mind. .. I’m just glad justice has finally been completed.”
For his last meal, Hicks ate a few bites each of fish, shrimp, french fries, coleslaw, crescent rolls, chocolate cake, a vanilla milkshake and a soda. He did not finish eating any of the items. The execution was the first in Georgia this year and the state’s 35th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Hicks, a construction worker, was a convicted rapist who had been released just nine months before killing Rivers. He was granted parole after serving less than half of a 15-year sentence for raping a 16-year-old girl. He saw Rivers talking to her boyfriend on a pay phone at a rural grocery store, and he followed her as she left, Fowler said. Hicks did not know her. Hicks tried to abduct Rivers but she escaped, Fowler said. Then he chased after her with the knife and nearly decapitated her. Rivers was not raped, but she was stripped naked from the waist down. “It was just a random act,” Fowler said.
Hicks was picked up by a sheriff’s deputy near the murder scene after his car ran out of gas. A bloody knife later determined to be the murder weapon was found in his pocket. His pants, socks, and car seat were stained with the victim’s blood. A pair of women’s shorts, sandals and a key ring with the initials “T.R.” were found in the car, court records show.
Hicks initially told authorities he killed Rivers, and he claimed at trial that he was insane. His doctor said he suffered from a disorder that prevented him from controlling his impulses. But recently, Hicks has said he was innocent and that a drug dealer and another man committed the murder.
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