Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOVELOCK, NEV. LENGTH: Short
On Wednesday, they granted his wish.
The jury that convicted Sonner of first-degree murder Thursday took about four hours to sentence him to death Wednesday. An appeal is automatic.
On Tuesday, Sonner defied his lawyer and told the jury he would rather die than go on living with himself.
He said he had ``something inside that cannot be cured'' the night he killed Trooper Carlos Borland. ``Since that incident, it's just been getting worse. I would urge you to put me out of my misery.''
The prosecution was allowed to introduce evidence during the sentencing phase of the trial that implicated Sonner in the Montgomery County rape and the killing of two people during a robbery in Vega, Texas, 10 days after he fled from a North Carolina jail Nov. 16.
On Tuesday, Sonner dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief or wiped them with a finger as he apologized for the pain he had caused his family and the relatives of the trooper.
Sonner had confessed that he shot Borland, although he was not told until afterward that the trooper had died.
Borland, 25, was shot Nov. 30 when he stopped Sonner on Interstate 80 just east of here for failing to pay for gasoline at a truck stop. Borland died the next morning.
Sonner, 26, was arrested the following evening as he huddled over a campfire in Dixie Valley, east of Fallon.
by CNB