Could One Person Beat Eight Others to Death?
By: The Maverick Files
Tags: Georgia, America, Justice, Murder, True Crime

The Conviction — Beyond Reasonable Doubt?

When the trial started, the judge clearly stated to the jury, that the defendant, Guy Heinze, Jr. comes into the trial as innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of evidence was on the prosecution, and if the jury wasn’t certain that they believed the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, he should be acquitted.

But did the final decision of the jury do justice to the duty as described by the judge?

The crime scene — the mobile home or trailer

Ten people lived in the mobile home, which was only about 900 square feet, a small space for so many people. The occupants of the home included Guy Heinze, Jr., his father, Guy Heinze, Sr. and a man named Russell Toler, Sr., who wasn’t their blood relation but was considered as an Uncle by Heinze Jr., and a brother by his father. The others were “cousins” of Heinze, or children of Toler, Sr. as well as a 3-yr old son grandson of Toler Sr.

The door of the trailer was never locked as a large family shared the mobile home, and nobody had a key. There was no air conditioning or windows in the trailer.

The only survivor of the attack was the 3-yr old son of Chrissy Toler, who was also seriously injured but survived after being rushed to the hospital.

The murder weapon

As mentioned before, the murder weapon for the killings was never found. The neighbor who called the police on behalf of Heinze claimed that she had seen Heinze drive up shortly before he called for her help on discovering the state of his family.

The weapon, from forensic analysis, is believed to be the barrel of a shotgun, that was never found. However, in a statement shortly after the killings, Heinze admitted to having bought the shotgun, but also that he had reported it stolen. However, the shotgun actually belonged to one of the victims — so there was a conflicting opinion about the murder weapon. Yet, a man who had seen all of his family dead, couldn’t fully be blamed for making conflicting statements.

Blood-soaked boxers

The biggest circumstantial evidence that may have convinced the jury was a pair of blood-soaked boxers. However, according to the neighbor who first saw Guy and reported the incident, as well as a caretaker, who helped out, none of them saw a significant amount of blood on him.

The guilty verdict

The guilty verdict claimed that Guy had arrived home in the early hours of the morning, high on crack cocaine, and had gone about hunting for a box of strong painkiller tablets, that his uncle, Toler, Sr., was prescribed for.

When Toler confronted Guy about this, Guy is said to have gotten furious and attacked Toler. He then bludgeoned seven other residents of the trailer to death.

The reason for the killings is described to be over drugs and money and that they were committed by Guy in a fit of rage in a state of being under the influence of drugs.

The crucial “juror 152”

Despite the facts of the case, and the brutality of the killings, why did the prosecution settle for life imprisonment, and didn’t push for a death sentence?

The defense and the prosecution struck a deal where the prosecution would take a death sentence off the table in return for the defense agreeing to substitute a problematic juror — Juror 152.

In a response filed by the prosecutors in January 2019, there was some light thrown on why the substitution happened.

As stated in the response,

“First came a note from the juror regarding Juror 152. … During discussion between the parties and the court, it was placed on the record that Juror 152 had a relationship with Heinze, that Juror 152’s wife was sitting with Heinze’s family in the audience, that Juror 152 winked at said family, and that Juror 152 disregarded the court’s instructions by discussing this case with non-jurors three times.

As deliberations continued, the court expressed frustration with Juror 152 saying, ‘And believe you me, if I felt that if we could get rid of him, I’d get rid of him.’ … At that time the court referenced two notes sent by the jury which appear to address these issues. … Later in the deliberations, the court noted that there were problems occurring in the jury room. Specifically, the court explained that the jurors were tired and acting out. …

“The court additionally noted that ‘there’s some conflict between 152 and the foreperson. And apparently, it got heated in there….’ In response, the court excused the jury for dinner. … An ex parte hearing was conducted with the court, the contents of which are sealed.”

Given the multiple issues with Juror 152, he was removed and substituted by another juror. After this, the jury decided on a guilty verdict.

The questionable elements of the case

According to the police officials who were at the crime scene, many of them have described it as the most horrific crime scene they have ever seen.

Autopsies showed that there were a total of 220 injury wounds found on all the dead combined and each of them died of brain and head injuries.

Could it have been humanly possible for one man to inflict such brutality on eight people in a small closed space?

Many of the victims were able-bodied men, who could have easily combined to overpower an attacker. Was it also at all possible that there were no loud cries that were heard by the other residents of the trailer park while such an incident happened? Wouldn’t at least some of the victims have naturally managed to escape the scene, given we know the trailer door was never locked?

Heinze was initially not a suspect, but a person of interest, but gradually as the investigation unfolded, he tended to be the central suspect, and the police never really had another suspect they could pin. Could this have been a case of tunnel vision by the police and the investigators?

The failed appeal

Guy Heinze, still claiming to be innocent, appealed to the Supreme Court, but as recently as earlier this month, his appeal for a new trial was denied by the Supreme Court of Georgia.