Court upholds death sentence against ex-football star

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Tuesday upheld the death sentence against a former high school football star from Taylor County who killed one man and injured three others during a drug-fueled crime spree in 1991.

Daniel Greene was sentenced to death for killing 19-year-old Bernard Walker, who was trying to aid a convenience store clerk who had been robbed and stabbed by Greene. The clerk survived. Greene was tried in Clayton County in 1992 because of pretrial publicity, and he was convicted of other crimes in Houston and Macon counties.

After killing Walker, Greene later drove to the home of a Macon County couple who had previously employed him as a farm laborer, the ruling said. Greene burst into their home, got their car keys and then stabbed Willie and Donice Montgomery multiple times. The couple survived.

Greene then drove to another convenience store in Warner Robins and pulled a knife on the store attendant, who gave Greene money from the cash register. Greene stabbed her in the back of the shoulder before fleeing. He was later arrested at a relative's home and confessed to the crimes in a videotaped interview, saying he needed money for crack cocaine, the ruling said.

Greene, a 6-foot 5-inch, 350-pound former high school football standout, was restrained during the Clayton County trial by a remote-controlled stun belt.

In Tuesday's decision, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals only addressed Greene's death-penalty trial. Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Bill Pryor rejected claims that prosecutors unlawfully struck six prospective black jurors from the trial and that the prosecutor gave improper closing arguments that deprived Greene a fair trial.