Spears Becomes Eighth Georgian Executed in 2016

JACKSON, GA — Steven Frederick Spears on Wednesday night became the eighth Georgian put to death by lethal injection in 2016.

Spears, 54, had been convicted of murder in the 2001 strangling death of his ex-girlfriend in Lumpkin County.

His death penalty sentence was carried out at 7:30 p.m. at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Spears refused a final prayer and declined to make a final statement, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Earlier in the day, Spears had been denied clemency by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. He had waived appeals of his conviction and sentence.

On March 21, 2007, Spears was convicted of one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault one count of kidnapping with bodily injury and two counts of burglary in the death of Sherri Holland.

According to evidence at his trial, including Spears' audio-recorded confession to sheriff's deputies, Spears and Holland had dated, then broken up.

"I told her when we started dating a long time ago, if I caught her or found out she was screwin' somebody else, I'd choke her ass to death," Spears was recorded as saying.

Suspecting Holland was dating someone else, Spears made four separate plans for her murder.
They included rigging her shower to shock her to death, beating her to death with a hand-carved bat, and using a shotgun that Holland owned.

His fourth plan was to choke her, bind her in duct tape that he had hidden in her house and suffocate her with a plastic bag. For this plan, he hid duct tape under a canoe Holland owned.

He entered her home on August 25, 2001, when her son was away, and hid in a closet from about 10 p.m. to about 2:30-3 a.m. when he was sure Holland was asleep.

Spears entered her bedroom and told her to roll over so he could bind her hands and feet with duct tape. When she struggled, he struck her in the head with his fist.

The fight moved into a hallway and lasted 5-10 minutes, until Spears was able to choke her until she was unconscious.

He dragged her back into the bedroom, bound her hands and feet with tape, wrapped her face and mouth with tape and placed a plastic bag over her head.

He then robbed her, taking her purse and even returning to the home when he realized he hadn't taken her cigarette case, in which she typically kept money.

Spears later bought fishing supplies and went into the woods, where he lived for 10 days, sleeping in a deer stand.

In his confession, Spears said he considered killing several other people with a shotgun he took, including hunters he thought were following him once, but never actually did.

The investigation began the day after the murder, when Holland's ex-husband and son began searching for her when she failed to pick up her son.

Police eventually found her body in the bedroom, which Spears had padlocked.

They also found a flashlight and a light bulb in a crawlspace. The light bulb and flashlight were connected to Spears through a receipt found in his car.

A search of his home revealed Holland's purse and a wrapper from a roll of duct tape. A search of his car revealed a roll of duct tape with cut marks.

A warrant was obtained for Spears' arrest and, 10 days after the murder, an officer spotted him walking along a highway and arrested him.

He claimed he was walking back to Lumpkin County to turn himself in and gave a detailed confession at the county sheriff's office.

Near the end of that confession, he is recorded saying: "I loved her that much. I told her I wasn't letting her go, and I didn't. If I had to do it again, I'd do it."

There have now been 67 men and one woman executed in Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Spears was the 45th inmate put to death by lethal injection. There are presently 60 men under death sentence in Georgia.

Photo courtesy Georgia Department of Corrections