By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FULTON, Ga. — Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has formally served notice he will seek the death penalty against Gregory Favors, who is charged with the Dec. 27 killing of Georgia State Trooper First Class Chadwick LeCroy.
Favors, 30, had 18 prior arrests before he was charged with LeCroy’s murder. Through a series of missteps and missed opportunities, Favors was roaming the streets on the day of the trooper’s death. According to records, he should have been in jail without bond for his most recent arrest — on charges of trying to break into a car — or sitting in prison for violating his probation.
Police say Favors sped away from LeCroy and crashed his car near the intersection of Hightower Road and St. Paul Avenue in Atlanta. When LeCroy, 38, approached, Favors pulled out a gun and opened fire, fatally striking the trooper in the neck, police said.
Favors faces nine counts, including murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and fleeing and attempting to elude police. Favors is now expected to be represented by the state Office of the Capital Defender. The Fulton DA’s office had at least eight pending death-penalty cases before filing its notice against Favors, according to documents presented last month to the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.
In the past few years, Fulton juries have imposed death sentences in three trials.
In 2008, Demetrius Willis was sentenced to death for killing his ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend and her 3-year-old son. In January 2009, a jury sentenced De’Kelvin Martin to death for killing a 77-year-old grandmother, an 83-year-old grandfather and their 12-year-old grandson. The most recent death sentence was imposed in July 2009 against contract killer Cleveland Clark.
Copyright 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution