TUPELO – A 22-year search for justice in the 1985 deaths of a Tishomingo County couple concluded Friday with the sentencing of their grandson.
Judge Thomas Gardner sentenced Keir D. Sanders, 43, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his conviction of murdering his grandmother, Elma Crawford.
In the death of his grandfather, W.D. Crawford, the jury found Sanders not guilty by reason of insanity, and further found he has not been restored to reason and remains a threat to society.
Gardner conferred a consecutive sentence of commitment to Mississippi State Hospital for an indefinite time, but suspended the sentence. He ordered that Sanders be immediately transported by the Tishomingo County sheriff to a Mississippi Department of Corrections facility to begin serving his sentence.
“I think this is a relief to the people of Tishomingo County,” said Sheriff Glenn Whitlock at the conclusion of sentencing proceedings. “It’s been hanging over the county for more than 22 years, and I know all my law enforcement career we’ve been on the lookout for K.D. Sanders.”
Two different verdicts returned by the jury in the two-count murder indictment arising from the same incident lends itself to appeal, said defense attorney Thomas Comer.
“I’m still shocked and believe everyone connected with the case is also,” he said. “It’s a perfect case for appeal because the verdict doesn’t make sense. I think it was a compromise verdict, that the jury didn’t want him back out on the street.”
The defense has 10 days to appeal after sentencing and offer other motions, Comer said, and if the judge overrules the appeal, they have another 30 days to submit the case to the Mississippi Court of Appeals.
Read more in Saturday’s Daily Journal.
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We knew this guy in San Antonio for about a year and can tell you that he is not sane at all. Very schizophrenic and dramatic mood swings that scared many of us. he would hang around a 12 step program but most of the time we had him sit outside or in a car because he scared everybody. a good worker but scary. I always thought he should have been in a mental instituion.
I was actually in a facility with him back in the 80s. We were both teenagers at the time. I was there for drug problems and was put there for mood swings. He was very strange and scary. I actually asked staff to make sure he was never anywhere close to me alone due to the things he would say he wanted to do to women- he was only about 15 at the time….