
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210224
SECTION: NATIONAL/INT                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

FLA. STUDENT-KILLER SENTENCED TO DIE

Relatives of five slain college students sobbed and shouted as a judge condemned Danny Harold Rolling to death for a grisly crime spree that terrorized this college town in 1990.

Ricky Paules, mother of one victim, yelled ``Yes!'' as the first sentence was read. As Rolling was led out of the courtroom, Mario Taboada, brother of another victim, stood and shouted: ``Justice is beyond these walls. We have the last say. We will prevail.''

Rolling, who beheaded one of his victims and left her head on a bookshelf, pleaded guilty Feb. 15 to five counts of first-degree murder, three counts of sexual battery and three counts of armed burglary.

He didn't speak at the hearing, nodding his head slightly as Circuit Judge Stan Morris accepted a jury's recommendation that he be put to death for two of the mutilation sex murders.

Morris wasn't bound by the jury's recommendation, and the death sentence is subject to automatic appeal. The judge also sentenced Rollings to three consecutive life terms for the rapes and burglaries.

``All of the offenses were committed in a manner that were especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,'' Morris said.

Rolling, 39, already is serving three consecutive life terms, plus 170 years, for a series of Tampa burglaries and robbery days after the slayings.

The students were killed in their off-campus apartments in August 1990, just before the fall semester. A knife was used in all the killings and several of the bodies were posed.

by CNB