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Peggy Gamble, second from the left, was found slain in her home at 2324
8th St. on Nov. 28. In this photo, she is celebrating her her 80th birthday
with her three children, from left to right, Miriam Short, Richard Gamble and
Cenneta Gunn. Provided by Peggy Gamble’s family
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December 7,
2016 11:03 AM
Family of
83-year-old homicide victim: ‘We want the death penalty’
By Sarah
Robinson
Minutes after
Angelo Short pleaded guilty to murder early Wednesday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court
in the stabbing death of 83-year-old Peggy Gamble, her family announced that
they would prefer that the District Attorney’s Office seek the death penalty if
Short were convicted.
"We
hope that plea is attached to incarceration without the eligibility of parole.
That’s the only thing we’re going to accept,” said Richard
Gamble, one of the victim’s three children. “As the
family, we want the death penalty. Like all things, if he’s willing to confess
that he did wrong, then we, as the family, will go along with that.”
The Ledger-Enquirer made
an attempt Wednesday morning to reach District Attorney Julia Slater Wednesday
morning for comment on the Short case but was unsuccessful.
The Georgia
State Board of Pardons and Parole’s website states that an offender can be
sentenced to life without parole for murder if the crime involved aggravating
circumstances sufficient to warrant a sentence of death. If the offender is
sentenced to life imprisonment and has previously been imprisoned under a life
sentence, they must serve 25 years before becoming eligible for parole
consideration.
Short’s court
appearance comes days after he pleaded not guilty Dec. 1 to taking Gamble’s
beige 1988 Toyota Corolla from her home following her death and obstructing
police during his arrest.
During that
hearing, he also pleaded not guilty robbery and aggravated assault charges
related to a Piggly Wiggly robbery he allegedly committed the morning after a
relative found Gamble’s body in her 2324 Eighth St. home.
Gamble was
pronounced dead at 1:34 p.m. Nov. 28, but Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan
said it appears as if she was dead for eight to 10 hours before her body was discovered.
She was
stabbed seven times, according to a preliminary autopsy report.
Authorities said
they found evidence on the homicide scene that someone had broken into the
victim’s home, where she had been living alone since 1993. Gamble’s Toyota,
which her family said was normally parked under her carport, was missing from the residence, Detective Stewart Carter said
during Thursday’s hearing.
Police listed
Short as a person of interest in the case early on, adding that he
was Gamble’s step-grandson. The victim’s family disputed that relationship with
Short during the hearing, but a family member previously said Short is the
stepson of Gamble’s older daughter, Miriam Short, who is married to Short’s
father, Eddie.
Carter said witnesses spotted Short driving Gamble’s Toyota with an
unidentified individual in the passenger seat the night Gamble was killed.
Short was also seen in the car alone when he allegedly left the missing Toyota
in the area of 10th Street the night of Nov. 28, three additional witnesses
told authorities.
Police said
Short robbed the Piggly Wiggly on Brown Avenue early Tuesday and they received
numerous tips later that day informing them that he was sleeping in abandoned
houses in the area of Coolidge Avenue.
Carter said
officials couldn’t find Short at the exact location they were given, but they
set up a perimeter and arrested him after he was found in an abandoned
apartment on Lawyers Lane.
Short told
police to kill him before using a crack pipe to smoke cocaine in front of them,
then he continued to tell authorities to kill him, according to Carter.
Carter also
said Short had to be subdued with a stun gun before he could be taken into
custody.
Sarah Robinson: 706-571-8622, @sarahR_92
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