Defendant: 22-year-old bi-racial (African-American and Caucasian) male

Indictment: First Degree Capital Murder, Armed Robbery, Conspiracy to Commit a Felony

Crime: Benny Donaldson and his dominant older brother, William, decided to rob two unsuspecting young white men working on an out-of town harvesting crew and finishing the day having drinks in a bar. The Donaldson brothers were experienced in robbery and had brought along their two girlfriends who posed as prostitutes in order to lure the out-of-towners to the next-door motel. When the price had been negotiated with the women, the brothers burst in, William with a gun and Benny with a knife. William easily beat one man until he was knocked out. But Benny encountered a resisting victim who was a bigger than he, necessitating using his knife to subdue him. According to the prosecutor, Benny stabbed him once, which proved fatal. Later William would claim it was he who grabbed the knife from Benny and stabbed the deceased victim.

The Donaldson brothers grew up in a family with extreme domestic violence and severe child abuse delivered by their African-American father, the untouchable police chief in a small town. After he abandoned the family and failed to pay child support, their Caucasian mother was forced to work two fast-food jobs which took her away from her children all their waking hours. As well, since she had met her 28-year-old, violent husband when she was a 16-year-old run-away, and had given birth to three sons in five years, she was never able to sustain the role of a parent, much less as a single, overwhelmed mother.

The boys lived a feral life, feared and hated in every neighborhood in which they landed. Consequently, they were juvenile delinquents at an early age. William, whom the family described as “vicious,” was the leader of the family. In a curious situation, the oldest child, Charles, never was in trouble with the law and had a successful school record. He went on to have a professional culinary career.

Trial: Many irregularities occurred in Benny’s trial. William was represented by highly-trained public defenders who afforded him excellent advocacy. He received a sentence of life without parole. Benny, however, was represented by a man chosen by the judge from a common list of private-practice attorneys willing to represent capital defendants. It later came out that Benny’s attorney was, in fact, favored by the judge, was an alcoholic and drug addict who was high during the trial, and was representing over 100 criminal defendants at the time of Benny’s trial. He conceded that he did minimal work for his client and only saw him at preliminary court appearances. While the attorney did authorize a mitigation study and an expert was lined up to testify, the judge disallowed the testimony from the seasoned expert and chose his own local psychologist, whom he knew. That person had never testified in a capital trial before.

Verdict: Guilty

Sentence: Death