Convicted 'Stocking Strangler' Carlton Gary's poor health cuts hearing short

A new-trial hearing for convicted “Stocking Strangler” Carlton Gary was cut short after about an hour’s testimony Thursday because Gary felt ill, attorneys said.

Set to begin at 10 a.m., the court session was delayed an hour as lawyers dealt with Gary’s health complaints. His attorney, Jack Martin, said his client’s blood pressure was elevated and required medication.

Two witnesses testified until shortly after noon, when Superior Court Judge Frank Jordan Jr. called a lunch recess until 2 p.m. But court did not resume then as attorneys met privately in the judge’s chambers.

At 2:55 p.m., Jordan adjourned the hearing until 10:30 a.m. today.

Testimony from two expert witnesses Thursday morning focused on two items of evidence that Martin says don’t match Gary to stranglings crime scenes: a bite mark found on a victim’s breast and a shoe print outside a window the intruder climbed through.

The teeth marks were found on Janet Cofer, 61, found raped and strangled April 20, 1978, in her 3783 Steam Mill Road. She was the last of the seven stranglings victims.

Then-Coroner Don Kilgore had a dentist replicate the mark with a mold that produced a stone cast. It showed a space in the killer’s upper teeth, and indicated the lower teeth were crowded together.

During a hearing last year, Martin had witnesses who knew Gary in the 1970s testify that his teeth were straight and even, with no gaps. But prosecutors produced a photo taken when Gary was 10 years old, which showed a possible space between his front teeth.

On Thursday, Martin called to the witness stand forensic orthodontist Holland Maness, who testified Gary’s child photograph showed a possible gap of 1¼ to 1 1/3 millimeters. She said that’s not uncommon for children that age whose teeth are still developing. Typically the growth of other permanent teeth in the upper jaw close that gap, she said.

About one in four children have such a gap, and but only 7 percent still have it as adults, she said.

Under cross-examination by Senior Assistant Attorney General Sabrina Graham, who’s assisting local prosecutors on behalf of the state, Maness said that if later Gary were to have a rotated tooth in his upper jaw, that could cause another gap.

For a shoeprint expert, Martin summoned podiatrist Charles Fenton III, who said he examined Gary’s feet on Jan. 26 and found them to fit a shoe size 13 1/2.

Fenton was questioned about a shoeprint found Feb. 11, 1977, on an air-conditioning unit outside the 1800 Carter Ave. of Ruth Schwob, 71, who was choked by a masked intruder she fought off, pressing a panic alarm by her bed. Police found Schwob sitting on the edge of her bed with a stocking around her neck.

Her assailant had stood on the air-conditioner to crawl through a kitchen window. The shoe pattern left on the unit appeared to be a tennis shoe Martin said was a size 10, though previously it was reported to be a size 9 or 9½.

During last year’s hearing, a former Columbus detective who questioned Gary after his arrest in 1984 said Gary’s toes were curled inward from wearing shoes that were too small. Police also said Gary told them he wore smaller shoes to confuse investigators.

Under Martin’s questioning, Fenton said he tried to force Gary’s foot into a size 10 shoe comparable to the one that would have produced the print. Gary’s foot would not fit, he said.

“It’s my opinion that Mr. Gary would not be able to wear a size 10 shoe,” Fenton said.

Under Graham’s cross-examination, Fenton said he didn’t think wearing too-small shoes would cause Gary’s toes to curl so severely his feet would fit in size 10 shoes, but Fenton could cite no scientific research to back that.

Wearing a size 10 shoe would have been extremely uncomfortable for Gary, possibly impeding his movement, Fenton said.

“Would it be more uncomfortable to be caught by police for raping and murdering a series of women?” Graham asked.

At first Martin objected, calling the question “silly,” but then he let it go.

Fenton admitted getting arrested for multiple murders would be more uncomfortable.

Other witnesses expected to testify in this round of hearings include Superior Court Judge Bill Smith, now semi-retired, who as a district attorney prosecuted Gary in 1986.

Though Smith used each of the stranglings to illustrate a pattern of criminal conduct, he sought convictions in only three cases with the strongest evidence.

The jury convicted Gary and sentenced him to death for these stranglings:

The Oct. 21, 1977, slaying of Florence Scheible, 89, of 1941 Dimon St., who was found raped and strangled with a stocking around her neck and a pillow over her face.

The Oct. 25, 1977, murder of Martha Thurmond, 69, of 2614 Marion St., who was found raped and strangled with a stocking around her neck, her body covered by a pillow, sheets and blanket.

The Dec. 28, 1977, homicide of Kathleen Woodruff, 74, of 1811 Buena Vista Road, who was found raped and strangled with a scarf around her neck, her body partially covered.

Besides the Cofer slaying from which the bite-mark mold came, these were the other cases:

The Sept. 15, 1977, slaying of Ferne Jackson, 60, of 2505 17th St., who was found raped and strangled in her bedroom, a stocking and dressing-gown sash wrapped around her neck. The killer left her body covered.

The Sept. 24, 1977, murder of Jean Dimenstein, 71, of 3027 21st St., who was found raped and strangled in her home, a stocking wrapped three times around her neck and her body covered.

The Feb. 12, 1978, homicide of Mildred Borom, 78, of 1612 Forest Ave., who was found raped and strangled in a hallway of her home, a Venetian blinds cord around her neck and her face covered.

Gary was hours away from lethal injection Dec. 16, 2009, when the Georgia Supreme Court stayed the execution and ordered a Superior Court here to consider DNA-testing any stranglings evidence deemed suitable. Gary’s DNA matched only evidence found at the Dimenstein scene, authorities said.

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Convicted 'Stocking Strangler' Carlton Gary's poor health cuts hearing short."