Click here for the Georgia Supreme Court ruling in Sanders v. The State.
A Rome man convicted of burning his girlfriend to death has had three felony murder convictions against him overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court today.
Eddie Lamar Sanders, 51, was convicted in October 2004 of voluntary manslaughter, three counts felony murder, one count aggravated assault using gasoline and fire and one count aggravated battery. He was acquitted of aggravated assault with intent to murder.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has reversed Sanders’ convictions for felony murder and remanded the case to the Floyd County Superior Court for resentencing on the manslaughter charge.
The evidence in the case showed that Sanders doused Ann Strickland with gasoline and set her on fire, and that she died as a result.
The Supreme Court found that this and other evidence “was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find Sanders guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the three felony murder counts.”
However, the jury also found Sanders guilty of the voluntary manslaughter of Strickland.
In reversing the felony murder convictions and remanding the case for resentencing, the court ruled that “the defendant cannot be convicted and sentenced for felony murder, because the voluntary manslaughter verdict indicates that the underlying felony is mitigated by provocation and passion.”
The court ruled that “because the same act resulted in commission of all three of the underlying felonies and caused the victim’s death… (each) can be merged into the voluntary manslaughter.”
Sanders received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in October 2004.
Click here to read about the original convictions and sentencing.
Return to www.romenews-tribune.com for updates and read Tuesday's Rome News-Tribune for the full story.
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