'I consider myself a predator': Man sentenced to death for 1987 rape, murder denied parole

A man sentenced to death in 1988 for the rape and murder of a Northern Kentucky woman, but later spared by an order from former Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, will spend the rest of his days in prison.

The Kentucky Parole Board decided Monday that Gregory Wilson, now 67, must serve out the remainder of his life sentence for the rape and murder of Deborah Pooley in 1987. That means he will not be granted any future opportunities at parole.

Wilson made his first appearance before the parole board on Jan. 23.

"Keeping Gregory Wilson in prison for the rest of his life will keep Kentuckians safe from this serial rapist and killer," Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said in a statement. "I appreciate the parole board righting Matt Bevin’s wrong."

Wilson and his co-defendant, Brenda Humphrey, were convicted of abducting Pooley in May 1987 from a parking lot near her home in Covington, according to Enquirer reporting from the trial.

Jurors found that Wilson raped and strangled Pooley to death while Humphrey drove to Indiana.

The 36-year-old restaurant manager’s decomposed remains were found two weeks later roughly 20 miles west of Indianapolis. She had been robbed and left naked in a field.

Wilson was found guilty of abduction, rape, robbery and murder and was sentenced to death. Humphrey was convicted of kidnapping and facilitation to rape and murder and has since been released on parole after serving a sentence of 25 years to life.

Wilson appealed his convictions and death sentence but remained on death row until Bevin commuted his sentence in December 2019 to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

“To say that his legal defense was inadequate would be the understatement of the year,” Bevin wrote in his commutation order. “The prosecution and defense in this case were, from start to finish, incredibly incompetent.”

‘I consider myself a predator’

Wilson, wearing a beige prison jumpsuit and sporting a white beard, admitted during his parole hearing to raping and strangling Pooley with a lamp cord after forcing her into the backseat of her vehicle.

He and Humphrey had been out walking that evening when they spotted Pooley in her car, Wilson said. The plan was just to steal the vehicle and he didn't originally intend on raping and killing the woman.

At the time of Pooley’s murder, Wilson was out on parole for two rape convictions. He spent over a dozen years in an Ohio prison on those charges and was released just 10 months before Pooley’s killing.

Wilson later pleaded guilty in 1992 to charges in a rape case involving two women in Butler County, court records show. He was indicted in that case shortly after being taken into custody by authorities in Northern Kentucky.

“I consider myself a predator," Wilson told the parole board. "I did some bad things."

Officials have previously pointed to Wilson as a person of interest in a Newport woman's killing in 1987, though there's no indication he was ever charged.

Trial beset with controversy, alleged incompetence

Wilson’s trial was mired in controversy and he has complained that his defense attorneys were inept.

With a trial just months away and no local attorneys offering to represent Wilson for the then-maximum state fee of $2,500, a Kenton County Circuit Court judge posted a notice outside his courtroom in a desperate plea for volunteers.

John Foote and William Hagedorn stepped up. Foote had never tried a felony before and Hagedorn, who offered to serve as lead counsel for free, had no office, no law books and used the phone number of a local tavern on his business card.

Claiming his lawyers were incompetent, Wilson represented himself during parts of the trial. He gave his own opening statement, saying only, “I am not a lawyer, and I’m not guilty,” according to trial transcripts.

His closing argument was so short it took less than two pages to transcribe, whereas the prosecutor’s argument took 54.

During the sentencing phase of his trial, Wilson did not present any character witnesses, nor did he point out any mitigating circumstances to the jury.

Court papers revealed sex between co-defendant, other judge

It was revealed years later through court papers that Humphrey, who testified against Wilson identifying him as the killer, was taken each day of the trial to the chambers of another judge, where they had sex.

Humphrey, a former prostitute, began her relationship with the judge three years earlier and their trysts continued until he died in 1993, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Not everyone agreed Wilson had competent legal representation

Wilson’s convictions and death sentence have been upheld by state and federal courts, which overruled his allegations of incompetent legal representation, saying that he waived his right to counsel at trial and decided to represent himself.

At least one judge who presided over Wilson’s federal appeal, however, wasn’t convinced.

“Over my more than thirty years on the bench, Wilson’s trial stands out as one of the worst examples that I have seen of the unfairness and abysmal lawyering that pervade capital trials,” reads a 2010 dissenting opinion by liberal U.S. Sixth Circuit Court Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr., an appointee of President Jimmy Carter who died in 2016.

Wilson has been in prison since November 1988 and is currently incarcerated at the Kentucky State Reformatory in Oldham County, according to Department of Corrections records.

Louisville Courier-Journal staff writer Andrew Wolfson contributed to this report. Additional source: The Enquirer archive.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Gregory Wilson parole decision: Ex-death row inmate to serve life