Robert Dale Conklin
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Robert Dale Conklin (February 16, 1961 – July 12, 2005) was executed by the state of Georgia for stabbing his gay lover, George Crooks, with a screwdriver and dismembering his body.
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[edit] The murder
Robert Conklin, a 23 year old McDonalds manager, first met George Crooks at a rest stop. The two men established a sexual relationship over a period of time. On the night of Monday, March 26, 1984, Crooks went to Conklin's apartment in Atlanta, Georgia. Conklin told Crooks that he wished to end their relationship, at which point Crooks became upset. Later that evening, the two smoked marijuana. Crooks also took several codeine pills.
Conklin claims that when he attempted to go to bed later that night, Crooks would not let him go to sleep. Crooks kept messing with Conklin and it turned into a wrestling match. Crooks was getting tired of it but Conklin thought it was all a big joke.
Conklin testified that the events escalated when Crooks told Conklin that he wanted to have anal sex with him against his will. At this point, Conklin attempted to force Crooks to leave his apartment. Eventually Conklin hit him and Crooks hit him back. The two men were struggling when Conklin grabbed a screwdriver. He swung it and it stuck into him. Crooks rolled off the bed and Conklin followed him with the screwdriver in hand. Conklin testified that he became afraid for his own life. Conklin held Crooks down and stuck the screwdriver in his ear.
[edit] After the murder
Conklin, who had been released on parole after serving a period of incarceration in Illinois, decided not to call the police. He panicked and decided to dispose of the body. Because the body was too heavy, Conklin dragged Crooks's body to the bathtub and attempted to lighten it by draining it of blood.
Leaving Crooks's body in the bathtub, Conklin went to Crooks's apartment to destroy any evidence connecting the two. He replaced the cassette tape in Crooks's answering machine. Conklin then took Crooks's checkbook and drove Crooks's car to a grocery store, where he purchased cleaning supplies and knives. Conklin abandoned Crooks's car and returned to his apartment. Conklin went to work cutting Crook's body in half. Conklin decided he would put some of the body down the garbage disposal. He then cut the rest of the body in small enough pieces to put in bags.
During the next twenty-four hours, Conklin tried to maintain normalcy. Conklin went to a meeting at work and had friends over that evening while Crooks's body was still in his bathroom. That night, Conklin placed Crooks's body in several trash bags and disposed of them in the dumpster outside of his apartment. He got up to go to work the next day, but took a bus to Florida when he discovered that the police had found Crooks's body. Conklin returned to Georgia a few days later and was caught by the police.
[edit] Evidence
Police recovered a great deal of evidence from the dumpster where Crooks's body was found, including several knives, five screwdrivers, a length of rope, bloody clothes, and credit cards belonging to Crooks. Crooks's body itself was separated into nine separate garbage bags.
In addition to the items found in the dumpster, the police recovered a great amount of evidence linking Conklin to the murder. Police recovered carpet fibers that matched fibers from the clothing that had been found in the dumpster. The police also found blood spots on Conklin's bed and on the carpet beside the bed, recovered body parts from the garbage disposal, and found a forged birth certificate in the name of "Robert Allan King". Conklin later admitted that, before he was caught by the police, he planned to obtain a social security card and a driver's license in that name. A book on how to gut an animal was also found in Conklin's bedroom by police.
[edit] Sentencing and conviction
Conklin was sentenced to die for killing Crooks, a 28-year-old lawyer, on March 26, 1984.
In a hearing before the pardons board, defense lawyers argued that Conklin had acted in self-defense to prevent Crooks from raping him. Prosecutors insisted Conklin, who was on parole for burglary and armed robbery at the time of the killing, intentionally killed Crooks and then tried to cover up the murder.
[edit] Final meal
Conklin requested the following as his last meal: filet mignon wrapped with bacon, de-veined shrimp sauteed in garlic butter with lemon, a baked potato, corn on the cob, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, French bread, goat cheese, cantaloupe, apple pie, vanilla bean ice cream, and iced tea.
[edit] The execution
Robert Dale Conklin, 44, was put to death by lethal injection at a state prison in Jackson, 50 miles south of Atlanta. He died at 7:44 p.m. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the execution. Conklin declined to make a final statement.
Conklin was the third person put to death in Georgia this year and the 39th in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
