Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 500

529US2

Unit: $U47

[10-04-01 09:34:47] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 529 U. S. 420 (2000)

425

Opinion of the Court

they discovered Mrs. Keller. Petitioner ordered the cap-
tives to remove their clothing. While petitioner kept guard
on the Kellers, Cruse searched the house for money and
other valuables. He found a .38-caliber handgun and bul-
lets. Upon Cruse’s return to the kitchen, petitioner had
Cruse tie their captives with telephone cords. The Kellers
were conﬁned to separate closets while the intruders contin-
ued ransacking the house.

When they gathered all they wanted, petitioner and Cruse
decided to rape Mrs. Keller. With Mrs. Keller pleading with
them not to hurt her or her husband, petitioner raped her.
Cruse did the same. Petitioner then ordered the Kellers to
shower and dress and “take a walk” with him and Cruse.
Id., at 97. As they were leaving, petitioner told Mrs. Keller
he and Cruse were going to burn down the house. Mrs. Kel-
ler begged to be allowed to retrieve her marriage license,
which she did, guarded by petitioner.

As the prosecution later presented the case, details of the
murders were as follows. Petitioner, now carrying the .38,
and Cruse, carrying the .357, took the Kellers to a thicket
down a dirt road from the house. With petitioner standing
behind Mr. Keller and Cruse behind Mrs. Keller, petitioner
told Cruse, “We’ll shoot at the count of three.”
Id., at 103.
At the third count, petitioner shot Mr. Keller in the head,
and Mr. Keller collapsed to the ground. Cruse did not shoot
Mrs. Keller at the same moment. Saying “he didn’t want to
leave no witnesses,” petitioner urged Cruse to shoot Mrs.
Ibid. Cruse ﬁred one shot into her head. Despite
Keller.
his wound, Mr. Keller stood up, but petitioner shot him a
second time. To ensure the Kellers were dead, petitioner
shot each of them two or three more times.

After returning to the house and loading the stolen prop-
erty into the Kellers’ jeep, petitioner and Cruse set ﬁre to
the house and drove the jeep to Fredericksburg, Virginia,
where they sold some of the property. They threw the re-