Stephen Buckner was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for a triple murder
According to court documents Stephen Buckner would shoot and kill 42-year-old Vicky Lynn Lowery, Lowery’s daughter, 14-year-old Chelsea Nicole Gregory and Buckner’s own daughter, 25-year-old Rebecca Rose Buckner. Buckner would also shoot two other people who would survive their injuries
Stephen Buckner would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Stephen Buckner is incarcerated at Central Prison
Stephen Buckner Case
The State’s evidence tended to show that on the night of 19 February 1992, Stephen Buckner met with Anthony Cathcart, Dennis Eason, and Jamie Bivens, at Cathcart’s home. Earlier that day the men had discussed robbing the victim, a local bondsman for whom Bivens, Eason, and defendant had worked in the past. The victim was known to carry large sums of money in a briefcase. The State presented evidence that defendant had been talking about robbing the victim for some time and that it was his idea to rob the victim on this night.
When defendant and Bivens arrived at Cathcart’s home around 8:00 p.m., Bivens went into the house and changed into camouflage clothing. Bivens also had ski masks for himself and defendant and socks which he wore on his hands. Defendant was wearing a long leather jacket and Isotoner gloves and was carrying his brother’s SKS rifle; he did not change his clothes. All four men got into Bivens’ Jeep and drove towards the victim’s home. Eason and Cathcart dropped Bivens and defendant off at the top of the victim’s driveway and then went to meet their dates for the evening.
After exiting the vehicle, defendant and Bivens walked towards the victim’s home. They stopped and hid behind a utility building located near the victim’s house and waited for the victim to get home. After the victim pulled into his carport and got out of his car, defendant shot the victim three times: once in the back, once in the shoulder, and once in the head. The head wound was fatal, but either of the other two wounds also could have been fatal.
Defendant and Bivens then grabbed the briefcase in which the victim carried his money, broke into the victim’s car, and drove the vehicle from the scene of the crime. Defendant and Bivens abandoned the victim’s car in a parking lot and fled on foot into the woods with the briefcase. As the two men ran, they discarded car keys, ski masks, the socks Bivens had on his hands, and the rifle. While in the woods, defendant and Bivens opened the briefcase, removed over $25,000, and discarded the briefcase. Defendant also hid the murder weapon in the woods.
Defendant and Bivens eventually made it out of the woods and walked to a Mini-Mart, where Bivens attempted to call Eason and Cathcart. Eason and Cathcart were not at home, so defendant called his friend Paul Bridges to come pick up him and Bivens. Bridges picked them up and then drove them to Gaston Memorial Hospital, where a car belonging to another of defendant’s friends was parked with the keys in it. Defendant and Bivens borrowed the car to drive to defendant’s home to get a change of clothes. On the way back to the parking lot, Bivens discarded his boots and some of the clothes he had been wearing. Eason and Cathcart then picked up defendant and Bivens in the hospital parking lot.
When Bivens and defendant got into the car, defendant told Eason and Cathcart that he shot the victim and that “his [victim’s] brains were all over the carport.” The four men then went to Bivens’ and Eason’s apartment and split up the money. While they were at the apartment, Eason’s mother called to tell the men that the victim had been killed. The four men left the house to take Eason and Cathcart to Cathcart’s house for the night. After defendant and Bivens dropped off the other two men, they went to the victim’s office and met with his family. Bivens and defendant spent the night with the victim’s family, traveling between the *421 office, the scene of the crime, and the victim’s brother’s home. The two men also attended the victim’s wake and funeral.
On 23 February 1992, based on information they received from Cathcart and two girls, the police asked defendant and Bivens to come to the police station. At the police station Bivens confessed to his involvement in the crime but claimed that it was defendant who actually killed the victim. Bivens also claimed that the robbery was defendant’s idea and that he had only gone along with defendant’s plan because defendant threatened to harm his wife and unborn child. On the same day he confessed, Bivens helped the authorities recover some of the physical evidence hidden in the woods.
While Bivens was confessing, defendant was left in a room alone where he fell asleep. The police officers eventually came back, woke him up, and confronted him with Bivens’ claim that defendant killed the victim. Defendant responded by saying that he had not shot anybody and that he was willing to make a statement but that he wanted his attorney present before he would make any statement. The officers stopped questioning defendant but did not contact an attorney for him.
https://law.justia.com/cases/north-carolina/supreme-court/1995/444a93-0.html
