Florida's death row: 305 people live there. Only 8 killed victims in Palm Beach County.

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Of more than 300 people living on Florida's death row, the state's third most populous county has contributed only eight — compared with more than eight times that number in Broward and more than twice that number in Miami-Dade.

Here are the stories of the crimes that led to the sentencing of the inmates in Palm Beach County, with most of the cases stemming from the 1970s, '80s and '90s. An 18-year pause for Palm Beach County in sentencing anyone to death row ended with the case of Marlin Joseph, who killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter. 

Florida history:  A brief review of Florida’s death row

More: State high court: West Palm Beach inmate will stay on death row

Delray case: Death Row inmate indicted in 1975 Delray murder case

Marlin Joseph, shot mother and daughter in 2017

Sentenced to death on Nov. 19, 2020

On Dec. 28, 2017, Joseph repeatedly shot Kaladaa Crowell, 36, at a home their families shared on Third Street in West Palm Beach. As she pleaded for help, he shot her again in the head.

Then he chased her 11-year-old daughter, Kyra Inglett, out of the home as she fled and shot her five times, including three times in the head.

Joseph lived in the home, three blocks from Clematis Street, with his mother, Robin Denson, her partner Crowell, Crowell's daughter and several other family members.

Witnesses said Kyra had previous issues with one of Joseph's daughters, who was about the same age. Joseph reportedly told his mother days before the shooting that if there was another incident, he would have to take care of it.

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On Dec. 28, 2017, investigators said he got a text from his daughter after an incident with Kyra. When he got home, witnesses said the children had worked things out and were playing again. Joseph went to his room and read the Bible.

Once Crowell came home, witnesses said they heard Joseph confront her and shoot her several times. As she pleaded for help, he delivered at least one more shot to her head, police said.

After that, he chased Kyra out of the home with the gun.

Carlton Francis, stabbed to death twin 66-year-old sisters

Sentenced to death on Nov. 10, 1998

Carlton Francis stabbed to death 66-year-old twin sisters, Bernice Flegel and Claire Brunt, at their West Palm Beach home on July 24, 1997. Carlton, a neighbor, had occasionally received financial help and rides to school from the sisters.

Both widowed, the twins had lived together since 1983 and had been friends with Carlton’s mother, Elizabeth Goods, who lived on the block with Francis, two nephews and his elderly aunt. Goods and the twins went to garage sales together. At the scene, investigators found several shoeprints inside the home, some of which were consistent with Carlton Francis’ shoe size.

More: What new law means for 7 on Death Row

Claire Brunt was stabbed 16 times.  Bernice Flegel received 23 stab wounds. Francis’ 8-year-old nephew testified to seeing Francis near the sisters’ home around the time of the murders, with a red stain on the shoulder of his T-shirt.

When Brunt’s daughter visited about 4 p.m. on the day of the murders, she noticed the sisters’ car missing and the front door ajar. Inside, she found her mother’s body in the living room and her aunt’s body in the kitchen. She found that a number of small items, including jewelry, antique coins, pocket watches, and a black radio were missing as well.

About 3:40 p.m. that day, Francis visited a friend named C.J., who admitted to selling heroin to Francis a number of times.  C.J. testified that the car Francis was driving was the same that was stolen from the sisters.

After seeing a news report of the murders, Francis asked to borrow a wheelbarrow and gasoline, burning some clothing, a duffel bag, and what appeared to be a pocketbook and passport. Francis and his mother were questioned by police, and he could not produce the clothing that he was wearing during the day.

At a later date, Francis attempted to get C.J. to pawn some items, including coins, jewelry, and a black radio, but C.J. declined. A number of  items belonging to the sisters were found in a trash pile across from C.J.’s house.

Francis was arrested 10 days after the murders.

Noberto Pietri killed West Palm Beach motorcycle officer in 1988

Sentenced to death on March 15, 1990

Pietri was at Lantana Community Correctional Work Release Center awaiting a transfer to a more secure facility when on Aug. 18, 1988 he walked away. For the next four days, he used cocaine and committed burglaries to support his drug use.

On Aug. 22, he broke into a house and stole a 9-mm semiautomatic and a .38-caliber revolver. West Palm Beach Police Officer Brian Chappell was patrolling on his motorcycle for speeding motorists on Southern Boulevard just east of I-95 that day when Pietri, driving a stolen silver pickup going east, speeded past him. The truck turned right on South Dixie Highway, then west on Malverne Road, where it stopped.

Witnesses said Chappell put his helmet on his handlebars and approached the truck with his gun in his holster. He was not wearing his bullet-proof vest that day, according to West Palm Beach police. A pistol appeared out the window of the truck. Chappell was shot once through the heart within 2 to 4 feet of the truck.

Chappell managed to say "officer shot" over the radio before collapsing onto the pavement. Chappell, 30, was dead on arrival at Good Samaritan Hospital. Pietri drove to his nephew’s house and dumped the truck into a canal off Florida’s Turnpike. Pietri’s fingerprint was found on the inside of the driver’s window.

On Aug. 24, Pietri stole another car. An officer, who was not in uniform, identified him. Pietri threatened to shoot the officer and escaped.

Later that evening, Pietri stole a car from the driveway of a young couple. The wife was in the driver’s seat while the husband had returned to the home to retrieve something. Pietri jumped into the car and told the wife, “Drive, or I’ll shoot you.”  When she hesitated, Pietri pushed her out of the car and started to drive away. Pietri did slow down to allow the husband to take child from the back seat.

More: In the line of duty: Local officers slain over the years

A police officer spotted the stolen car. Pietri stopped the car and motioned for the officer to approach. When he did, gun drawn, Pietri sped away. Officers chased at speeds of more than 100 mph until Pietri lost control of the car. He then jumped out of the car and ran away. While running he reached in his pants, pulled out a bag of cocaine, and put it in his mouth. An officer caught up with Pietri and arrested him.

Leroy Pooler fatally shot ex-girlfriend in 1995

Sentenced to death on Feb. 23, 1996

On Jan. 1, 1995, Leroy Pooler knocked on the door of the West Palm Beach apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Kim Brown. Brown and her brother, Alvonza Colson, were home.

Brown told Pooler that she did not want to see him anymore. Brown may have been dating another man. Colson then opened the door and asked what Pooler wanted. When Colson saw that Pooler had a gun, he attempted to escape; Pooler shot him in the back and dragged him back into the apartment by his leg. Brown began to plead with Pooler not to kill her or her brother.

She asked that Colson be allowed to get to a hospital, and Pooler let him to call an ambulance. He then changed his mind and told Colson to call an ambulance once he and Brown had left. Brown followed Pooler to the front door of the apartment, but shut and locked the door after Pooler left. Colson told Brown to run out the back, and he would stay and call an ambulance.

Then Colson realized that the phone wires had been cut. He started toward the back door as Pooler broke through the front door. Pooler found Colson hiding near the back door, but was distracted by Brown’s cries for help from behind the apartment. Pooler left the apartment and caught up with Brown. He struck her in the head with a gun. This blow caused the gun to fire. Pooler pulled Brown toward his car as she begged him not to kill her.

Brown began to fight Pooler. Then he began to pull her back toward the apartment and shot her several times. At one point he paused to say, “You want some more?” Several witnesses saw the shooting. Brown was shot five times, once in the head. Then Pooler drove away.

Two days before, Brown told one of her friends that Pooler had told her that he was going to kill her because, if he could not have her, no one else would.

Ronald Knight lured man from gay bar, shot him in the back

Sentenced to death on May 29, 1998

Ronald Knight was convicted for the murder of Richard Kunkel. On July 8, 1993, Knight and two co-defendants, Timothy Pearson and Dain Brennault, decided to go to a gay bar, lure a man away from the bar, and then beat and rob him. police say.

That night, they invited Kunkel to leave the bar and party with them. Kunkel followed the defendants to Miami Subs in his own car. When they finished eating, the defendants convinced Kunkel to leave his car there and ride with them to the party.

Knight then drove to a secluded area where they stopped and got out of the car to urinate. Before getting back into the car, Knight pointed a gun at Kunkel and told him to turn around and take off his jeans. As Kunkel did that, Knight fired a single shot into Kunkel’s back.

Kunkel fell to the ground and began crying for help. Knight told Pearson and Brennault to search Kunkel’s pockets. Brennault refused. Knight and Pearson then dragged Kunkel from the road to the side of a canal where he was left to die, and where his body was later discovered.

Knight then threatened to kill Brennault and Pearson if they told anyone about the murder. They returned to Miami Subs where Kunkel had left his car.

Knight stole Kunkel’s car and took it for a joyride, and later that night the three men burglarized Kunkel’s house. When Brennault and Pearson were originally questioned by the police about the murder, they denied knowing anything about it, but both men later confessed.  Knight bragged about the murder to Christopher Holt, who later testified along with Pearson and Brennault against him at trial.

Duane Owen killed 14-year-old baby-sitter, Boca woman in home

Sentenced to death on March 13, 1986

On March 24, 1984, 14-year-old Karen Slattery babysat for two young children in Delray Beach. Sometime in the early hours, Owen cut a screen on the house, removed his clothes and raped and killed the teen, while the two young children slept, unharmed.

Two months later, sometime during the late night and early morning of May 29, Owen forced his way into the Boca Raton home of Georgianna Worden, an executive secretary and mother of two young children.  As Worden slept, the intruder hit her with a hammer. The blow caused her death. The intruder also sexually assaulted Worden, 38.

Her children found Worden’s body as they were preparing for school. Owen was arrested the on May 30, on unrelated charges.

During interrogations that occurred over the next several weeks, Owen confessed to Worden's murder. Owen’s fingerprint was also found on a library book in her home.

Jerry Haliburton attacked neighbor while he slept to see if he could kill somebody

Sentenced to death on April 11, 1988

On Aug. 9, 1981, Jerry Haliburton, while on parole, burglarized the West Palm Beach apartment of a neighbor, Donald Bohannon, 25, and attacked him while he slept.  Bohannon, a truck driver, died as a result of thirty-one stab wounds to the neck, chest, arms, and scrotum.

Six months later, Haliburton confessed to the slaying as he held a knife to his younger brother’s girlfriend and raped her. His younger brother Freddie testified against him.

After arresting him, police questioned Haliburton, but when he got an attorney, the attorney was not allowed to see Haliburton. During the questioning, Haliburton took a polygraph.  After a court order was obtained, the attorney was allowed to consult with Haliburton and the interrogation was stopped.

According to Haliburton’s brother, Haliburton said he killed Bohannon just to see if he could kill another human being.

Paul Scott beat to death a Boca Raton florist in his home

Sentenced to death on Dec. 14, 1979

On the evening of Dec. 4, 1978, Paul Scott and Richard Kondian murdered James Alessi, 28, in Alessi’s Boca Raton home.

A witness, Charles Soutullo, claimed he was asked to participate in a scheme to rob and murder Alessi, but refused. The victim, who knew both men, picked up Scott and Kondian and later returned with them to his home.

Alessi’s nude body was found on a sofa in his home the next day. He was covered with blood and his hands and feet were tightly bound with electrical cord and telephone wire.  Alessi had been beaten in the head, chest and on the arms. The head injuries, one of which fractured his skull, caused his death.

Evidence indicated a violent struggle took place and the victim attempted to free himself. Scott’s fingerprints were found throughout the home, including the neck of a broken vase and a bloodstained knife on the sofa where the victim’s body was found.

After beating Alessi to death, Scott and Kondian rummaged through his house.  They used a key to get inside Alessi’s florist and jewelry shop and seized most of the gold jewelry. They also stole Alessi’s car.

Scott was caught in Sacramento, Calif., one month after the murder.  At the time of his arrest, Scott had a golden bear charm that was identical to the one that belonged to Alessi.

Kondian, who had no prior record and was then too young at age 18 for the death penalty, was sentenced to 45 years and served 15.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County Death Row killers: Baby-sitter, twins among victims