Steven Ray Thacker

Steven Ray Thacker
FDOC mug shot of Steven Ray Thacker
Born	(1970-11-21)November 21, 1970 Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	March 12, 2013(2013-03-12) (aged 42) Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Oklahoma, U.S.
Cause of death	Execution by lethal injection
Criminal status	Executed in Oklahoma in 2013
Conviction(s)	Oklahoma First-degree murder Kidnapping Rape Missouri Murder Tennessee First-degree murder
Criminal penalty	Oklahoma Death (first-degree murder) Ten years' imprisonment (kidnapping) 50 years' imprisonment (rape) Missouri Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (murder) Tennessee Death (first-degree murder)
Details
Victims	Laci Dawn Hill, 25 Forrest Reed Boyd, 24 Ray Patterson, 52
Date	December 23, 1999 – January 2, 2000
Location(s)	Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee
Imprisoned at	Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (Tennessee; 2002–2013) Oklahoma State Penitentiary (Oklahoma; 2013)

Steven Ray Thacker (November 21, 1970 – March 12, 2013) was an American convicted murderer who murdered a total of three people in three different states across the U.S. On December 23, 1999, Thacker kidnapped and murdered 25-year-old Laci Dawn Hill in Oklahoma, before he fled to Missouri in a stolen car. During a robbery in Missouri, Thacker killed 24-year-old Forrest Reed Boyd, and he subsequently drove Boyd's car to Tennessee, where he killed 52-year-old tow truck driver Ray Patterson.

Thacker was arrested in Tennessee on January 2, 2000, and he was therefore charged by the authorities of Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma for all the three murders. Thacker was sentenced to life in prison by the Missouri courts for the murder of Boyd, and he also received two death sentences in Tennessee and Oklahoma for the murders of Patterson and Hill respectively. Thacker was ultimately executed by lethal injection for Hill's murder in Oklahoma on March 12, 2013.

Murder spree

Between December 23, 1999 and January 2, 2000, Steven Ray Thacker killed three people in three different states across the U.S.

Laci Dawn Hill

On December 23, 1999, in Bixby, Oklahoma, Thacker arrived at the house of 25-year-old Laci Dawn Hill (May 13, 1974 – December 23, 1999), after he responded to an advertisement put up by Hill, who wanted to sell a pool table. However, Thacker entered Hill's home with the intention to rob her, and when Thacker held Hill on knifepoint, the latter informed Thacker that they could go to a nearby ATM machine to retrieve some money. With the failure of the robbery bid, Thacker kidnapped Hill from her house and took her to a remote cabin, where he raped her.

After raping Hill, Thacker decided to murder Hill in order to silence her and avoid getting caught. He first strangled Hill with his hands and/or a piece of cloth, before he went on to plunge the knife into Hill's chest twice, therefore causing her death. Thacker hid the lifeless, half-naked body of Hill on the cabin floor and covered it with box springs and several mattresses.

The body of Hill was found by the police six days after her murder. The police managed to identify Thacker as the murderer, after investigations indicated that he stole the debit and credit cards of Hill to purchase Christmas gifts to his family. By then, Thacker had already fled to Missouri in a stolen car.

Forrest Reed Boyd

On January 1, 2000, in Aldrich, Missouri, 24-year-old restaurant supervisor Forrest Reed Boyd (March 18, 1975 – January 1, 2000) became the second victim of Thacker.

While he was still on the run for murdering Hill, Thacker entered Boyd's home to commit burglary. He had previously spent the past two days hiding in the forested areas to avoid the manhunt and narrowly managed to evade capture for several times, and he also broke into several houses to commit burglary. It was during one of these burglaries on January 1, 2000, when Thacker was caught red-handed by Boyd while he was stealing from Boyd's house. Boyd was subsequently murdered by Thacker, who stabbed him several times.

Ray Patterson

On January 2, 2000, Thacker, who escaped to Dyersburg, Tennessee after murdering Boyd, killed his third and final victim of his multistate killing spree.

On that date itself, Thacker was driving the stolen car of Boyd to Tennessee, and after arriving there, Boyd's car broke down, and as a result, Thacker contacted a towing company to help him. The 52-year-old two truck driver, Ray Patterson (March 23, 1947 – January 2, 2000), responded to the report and arrived at the scene to help Thacker move his car. However, Thacker used a stolen credit card of Boyd to make payment, and when Patterson discovered that the card was stolen and confronted Thacker about the issue, Thacker stabbed and killed Patterson.

After murdering Patterson, Thacker went into hiding at Union City, Tennessee on that same day, and he lived at a motel after registering for a room under an alias. Soon after, the Tennessee authorities discovered the stolen car of Boyd at the motel where Thacker was hiding. This resulted in Thacker's arrest on the same day of Patterson's death.

Murder trials and sentencing

After his arrest, Steven Thacker faced multiple murder charges for the killings he committed in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Missouri, and he also faced trial in all the three states for the homicides.

Tennessee

Thacker's first murder trial took place in Tennessee. Although prior arrangements between the authorities of Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee led to the decision to make Thacker stand trial in Oklahoma first, it was ultimately decided that the first trial of Thacker would be conducted in Tennessee.

On February 6, 2002, the jury found Thacker guilty of murdering Patterson as charged.

On February 8, 2002, Thacker was sentenced to death by the same jury that convicted him.

Oklahoma

After he was convicted by the courts of Tennessee for the murder of Patterson, Thacker was extradited back to Oklahoma to stand trial for the rape and murder of Laci Hill. The extradition order was granted despite the opposition of Thacker's lawyers, and Thacker expressed in September 2002 that he would not plead guilty.

On December 2, 2002, on the same date when jury selection was slated to begin, Thacker pleaded guilty to the kidnapping, rape and murder of Hill.

On December 23, 2002, Thacker was sentenced to death by District Judge James Goodpaster, after the jury recommended the death sentence in their verdict three days earlier. This marked the second death sentence Thacker received for his offences. Apart from the death penalty, Thacker also received jail terms of ten years and 50 years for the charges of kidnapping and rape respectively.

It was further reported that under an agreement between the governors of Oklahoma and Tennessee, Thacker's execution would be carried out in the state where his appeals were fully exhausted first. Gene Haynes, Oklahoma's district attorney from Mayes, Rogers and Craig counties, told the newspaper The Oklahoman that it was more likely that Thacker would be executed in Oklahoma rather than Tennessee, given that the appeal process itself was faster in Oklahoma compared to other states.

Missouri

After Thacker's conviction for the rape-murder of Hill, the Missouri authorities sought an extradition order to allow Thacker to stand trial for the murder of Forrest Boyd in Missouri before he could return to Tennessee to continue his death row detention.

On September 16, 2003, Thacker pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree murder for causing Boyd's death. Soon after the plea of guilt, Circuit Judge John W. Sims sentenced Thacker to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Appeals

After the end of his murder trials, Steven Thacker was incarcerated on death row at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee. He had spent the next decade or so appealing against his death sentences in Oklahoma and Tennessee respectively.

On December 18, 2003, the first appeal of Thacker was denied by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.

On October 21, 2004, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Thacker's appeal against his death sentence for murdering Laci Hill.

On April 27, 2005, the Tennessee Supreme Court rejected Thacker's appeal against his death sentence for murdering Ray Patterson.

On July 30, 2010, the Dyer County Circuit Court in Tennessee rejected Thacker's petition for a new trial.

On March 23, 2012, Thacker's second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals was declined.

On April 23, 2012, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Thacker's appeal in relation to his death sentence in Oklahoma.

On October 23, 2012, Thacker's federal appeal over his Tennessee case was dismissed by Judge J. Daniel Breen of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Execution

On January 7, 2013, the Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt petitioned to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to schedule an execution date for Steven Thacker, who had already exhausted all avenues of appeal against his death sentence in Oklahoma. The petition was filed by Pruitt just 60 days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Thacker's final appeal.

On January 17, 2013, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals approved the death warrant of Thacker, and ordered that his death sentence be carried out on March 12, 2013.

On February 12, 2013, a month before he was due to be executed, Thacker, who was held on death row at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee, was transferred to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in Oklahoma, where his death sentence for the rape and murder of Laci Hill in Oklahoma would be carried out.

Originally, a clemency hearing for Thacker was scheduled on February 22, 2013, so as to decide whether or not to commute his death sentence to life without parole. Thacker, however, voluntarily waived his right to a plea for clemency, and his death sentence was therefore not commuted.

On March 12, 2013, 42-year-old Steven Ray Thacker was put to death by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. In his last words, Thacker asked for forgiveness and expressed remorse for his crimes, and apologized to his friends and the victims' families. Thacker was the first person from Oklahoma to be executed in 2013, as well as the fifth person executed in the U.S. during that same year.

For his last meal, Thacker ordered a large meat lover’s pizza, a small bag of peanut M&Ms and an A&W root beer.

See also

• Capital punishment in Tennessee
• Capital punishment in Oklahoma
• List of people executed in Oklahoma
• List of people executed in the United States in 2013