Thursday, June 25, 2009

John Lee Hampton - Repeat Sex Offender - GUILTY of new rape and murder

Hampton was released from a Georgia prison in 2004
after serving 11 years for child molestation.

Mack said her sister did not know about Hampton's history as a sexual offender.



A Georgia sex offender accused of beating, raping and stabbing a Clearwater mother of three was found guilty of first-degree murder this afternoon.

Prosecutors said they are seeking the death penalty.

John Lee Hampton, 35, silently stared at the ceiling as the guilty verdict was read in the Pinellas County courtroom. Family members of Hampton and the victim, 25-year-old Lashonda McKinnes, hugged and cried at the end of the trial, which began Monday.

Hampton gave conflicting accounts of the murder on June 10, 2007, then explained that he killed McKinnes by stabbing her neck and slitting her throat when she came at him while he looked through her things, a prosecutor said.

Police said Hampton's shorts and shoes were stained with blood and that bloody socks were found in a trash can at McKinnes' north Clearwater apartment complex.
Hampton had attempted to clean the scene by dousing McKinnes with lighter fluid and other chemicals, said David Tobiassen of the State Attorney's Office. At least one of McKinnes' three young daughters saw the killing.
Jimmy Hampton, 32, said his brother's "bad record," including a charge of kidnapping and 11 years in a Georgia prison for child molestation, added to the verdict.

"If he did it, he deserves what he got," Jimmy Hampton said. "But I can't say if he did it. I wasn't there."

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte

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