Glen Dale Gore, murder retrial

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2nd trial begins for man given death sentence

By Penny thingyerell
The Oklahoman
June 7, 2006

ADA - Jury selection begins today in the second murder trial of Glen Dale Gore, whose conviction and death sentence were overturned in August by the Court of Criminal Appeals.
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Gore, 46, is accused of first-degree murder in the 1982 rape and strangulation of Deborah Sue "Debbie" Carter, 21, a high school acquaintance who was seen shoving him away in the parking lot of the club where she worked hours before her death.

This will be the fourth murder trial endured by the victim's family in what has become a 23-year saga involving two wrongful convictions of other men, followed by Gore's 2003 conviction and death sentence, and now Gore's second chance in court.

The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Gore wasn't allowed to present evidence that others might have committed the crime, so he is entitled to a new trial.

The emotionally charged case prompted former Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Richard Wintory to leave his position as a prosecutor in Tucson, Ariz., and return to help prosecute Gore again.

Wintory said he promised the family he'd return if the case resurfaced. He served as lead prosecutor in the first trial and will join Pontotoc County Assistant District Attorney Chris Ross to prosecute him again.

At the same time, Norman defense attorney David Smith agreed to represent Gore free of charge.

Several of Carter's relatives will be in the courtroom, including the victim's mother, who plans to be there every day.

"They're just going to get to torture me again," said Carter's mother, Peggy Sanders of Ada, who attended the prior trials. "We're going to ask for the death penalty again and hope we get it again and just hope this will be the last time. I can't handle any more."

In 1988, jurors convicted Dennis Fritz and Ronald Williamson in Carter's death. Fritz was sentenced to life in prison; Williamson was sentenced to death. The two men remained behind bars for 12 years until DNA testing of forensic evidence exonerated them.

Williamson once came within five days of execution. He died in 2004 from liver disease.

Gore testified as a witness against Fritz and Williamson at their preliminary hearings. DNA testing later revealed that semen found on the victim had the same DNA profile as Gore's blood. Gore had previously been convicted on kidnapping and other related charges after his ex-wife testified he held her and her daughter hostage for six hours and fired shots at police.

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Murder retrial begins in Ada

By Penny thingyerell
The Oklahoman
June 12, 2006

ADA -- The prosecution delivered its opening statement Monday morning in Pontotoc County’s fourth attempt at getting a lasting conviction for the 1982 rape and strangulation of Deborah “Debbie” Sue Carter.
In the murder retrial of Glen Dale Gore, 45, Special Prosecutor Richard Wintory spent an hour outlining the long and complicated case. Jurors heard in blow-by-blow detail how Carter, 21, fought for her life as her assailant stuffed her mouth with a washcloth and raped her while controlling her with a belt.

Carter had left work at the Coachlight Bar and was fixing breakfast when someone was allowed into her apartment.

Wintory said Carter’s assailant brutally beat her in the bedroom of her garage apartment early Dec. 8, 1982. After she died, he then tried to implicate someone else by painting the words “Die” in nail polish on her chest, Wintory said.

The killer wrote on the kitchen table in misspelled words: “Don’t follow us or you’ll die.” Using the ketchup from Carter’s kitchen table, he wrote “Duke Graham” on her back, apparently hoping to implicate a local acquaintance, Wintory said.

Carter’s apartment was wiped clean of fingerprints, leaving only several hairs and sperm as evidence, Wintory told jurors.

Jurors heard that at one point Carter called a friend, Gina Vietta, and asked her to come over because she was uncomfortable with someone there. She then called Vietta back and said she had the situation under control, but asked Vietta to check on her the next morning.

Wintory said that was Carter’s last conversation with anyone other than the killer.

When the case was first prosecuted in the 1980s, forensic science had not advanced to the certainty of DNA, Wintory said. Two men with questionable histories were targeted in the investigation. When a microscopic hair analysis and inaccurate sperm analysis didn’t rule them out and when informants - including Gore - implicated them, they were tried and convicted.

After 12 years in prison, Dennis Fritz and Ronald Williamson were exonerated by DNA testing in 1999. A DNA analysis of the sperm, however, matched Gore, who fled a minimum security work release program when he learned of the results, Wintory said.

A month before the DNA results came in, Wintory said Gore was asked if there was any reason for his sperm to be in and on Carter the day she died. Gore said no.

“I’ll stand on it. I have nothing to run from,” Wintory quoted him as saying. “But he did exactly that. Glen Gore had everything to run from and he did.”

Jurors did not hear about Gore’s last trial and conviction, which was overturned on appeal because he wasn’t allowed to present evidence that others may have committed the crime.

The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.