Georgia Supreme Court affirms conviction in murder of 78-year-old Columbus veteran
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Had Richard Boynton Jr. answered the door at his Columbus home back in 2008, the 78-year-old might not have been killed by the man who broke in through a bedroom window to get to a shoebox containing $7,000 in cash.
That’s among the details of Boynton’s murder reviewed this week in a Georgia Supreme Court decision affirming the murder conviction of Patrick Satterfield, one of two men convicted of Boynton’s death. The Supreme Court in 2012 upheld the murder conviction of Satterfield’s accomplice Christopher Young, who testimony showed was the burglar who shot Boynton in the chest.
Both were convicted in 2010, when Muscogee Superior Court Judge John Allen sentenced them to life in prison for felony murder, armed robbery and burglary. Both appealed, and the Supreme Court in both decisions threw out their convictions for burglary, because that was the underlying felony for their murder charge. Their burglary and murder counts should have merged into one offense for sentencing, the justices ruled.
Planning a burglary
The court’s review of the evidence in Satterfield’s case showed he and Young were associated with one of Boynton’s grandsons, who had lived with Boynton and stashed the shoebox of cash in a closet. Police alleged the grandson had been involved with Satterfield in other crimes, but said the grandson played no role in Boynton’s shooting.
The evidence showed that to get to the box of cash, Young and Satterfield planned to break into Boynton’s Burnside Drive home after having their driver drop them off, park nearby and go knock on the door, to make sure no one was home. He did, and no one answered, so the driver told them no one was inside.
The driver said he later picked up Satterfield, who told him someone was in the house. Next Young came to the car, carrying three rifles and a shotgun, and said he shot the man who was inside, the driver testified.
The discovery
After worried neighbors called police about a door standing open, Boynton was found dead around midnight on Dec. 5, 2008. His grandson testified that the shoebox he’d put the cash in was found empty on the floor, and his grandfather’s gun cabinet had been shattered and ransacked.
Boynton’s family said he was a veteran whose hearing was impaired from his having twice served in Vietnam.
In appealing to the state Supreme Court, Satterfield claimed his defense counsel was ineffective. The court rejected those claims, finding his attorney’s conduct was not so deficient as to damage his defense or alter the trial’s outcome. The evidence was sufficient to show Satterfield planned and participated in the crime, whether he fired the fatal bullet, the court decided.