Opinion ID: 2299781
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 29

Heading: Wayne Busby

Text: On April 9, 1985, Wayne Busby had been on a twenty-four-hour binge of drinking and smoking crack. Needing more money to purchase drugs, Busby broke into the apartment of a seventy-four-year-old female neighbor. As the woman went downstairs to see who was at the door, Busby hit the woman in the face, broke her ribs, and strangled her to death. The force applied by Busby caused the broom to break. During the struggle, the woman managed to scratch Busby on the neck. After strangling the woman, Busby went to the woman's bedroom and her son's bedroom, and took money, a camera and film, and other items. Busby was charged with knowing-or-purposeful murder and felony murder. Defendant was convicted of both counts. The prosecutor served a notice of aggravating factors for c(4)(g), contemporaneous felony, and c(4)(f), seeking to escape detection. At the penalty trial, the jury found both aggravating factors, and also found mitigating factors c(5)(a), emotional disturbance; c(5)(d), mental disease, defect or intoxication; and c(5)(h), the catch-all. Additionally, the jury found that the aggravating factors did not outweigh the mitigating factors. Busby was sentenced to life imprisonment with a thirty-year parole bar. Busby was thirty-one-years old at the time of the murder. As a child, he was an embarrassment to his family and was subjected to physical and psychological abuse. At age fifteen, Busby began using marijuana, and he eventually started abusing crack, PCP, and alcohol. Relatives thought that he was emotionally unstable. After the murder, Busby attempted suicide. Busby had a prior robbery conviction and two disorderly person convictions.