unlike in the trial, prosecutors were now able to disclose to jurors that hilton murdered meredith emerson on blood mountain and state s attorney willie megs did just that, calling to the stand georgia bureau of investigation agents who had worked on the emerson case. you indicated it that ms. emerson s body was nude. did gary michael hilton tell you why it was nude? he did. he basically stated that he had removed the head and stripped the clothing for forensic purposes. megz was able to introduce portions of those chilling interviews that hilton gave the authorities in georgia. once you ve taken someone, you re either going to kill them or you re going to get caught. it s as simple as that. that s where you started getting the information about emerson that s the first time the georgia information was allowed in. correct. that s when you really start seeing the jurors taking in the enormity. then you really see the impact of all of this coming through.
i dare you to shoot me. gary shot him. in the legs or the lower part of his stomach. a junior high girlfriend testified that gary wasn t a bad guy back in the day. he was funny anoutgoing and smart. the defense rests. once the defense rested, willie megs called his rebuttal witness, a clinical psychologist to revisit the essential issues. did mr. gary hilton know right from wrong? my opinion is, yes, he clearly knew right from wrong and clearly he knew the criminal nature of conduct. in my opinion, he is a psychopath. that s what generated the murders and nothing else. the attorneys made their final appeal to the jurors. i m going to ask every one of you individually to go back in that jury room and vote to recommend that gary hilton be put to it death. on behalf of mr. hilton, i m asking all of you collectively and individually to recommend a life sentence in this case.
there were different rulz in this it the penalty phase. unlike in the trial, prosecutors were now able to disclose to jurors that hilton murdered meredith emerson on blood mountain and state s attorney willie megs did just that, calling to the stand georgia bureau of investigation agents who had worked on the emerson case. you indicated it that ms. emerson s body was nude. did gary michael hilton tell you why it was nude? he did. he basically stated that he had removed the head and stripped the clothing for forensic purposes. megz was able to introduce portions of those chilling interviews that hilton gave the authorities in georgia. once you ve taken someone, you re either going to kill them or you re going to get caught. it s as simple as that. that s where you started getting the information about emerson that s the first time the georgia information was allowed in. correct. that s when you really start
had wounded his stepfather. he said, shoot me, shoot me! go ahead, shoot me! i dare you to shoot me. gary shot him. in the legs or the lower part of his stomach. a junior high girlfriend testified that gary wasn t a bad guy back in the day. he was funny and outgoing and smart. the defense rests. once the defense rested, willie megs called his rebuttal witness, a clinical psychologist to revisit the essential issues. did mr. gary hilton know right from wrong? my opinion is, yes, he clearly knew right from wrong and clearly he knew the criminal nature of conduct. in my opinion, he is a psychopath. that s what generated the murders and nothing else. the attorneys made their final appeal to the jurors. i m going to ask every one of you individually to go back in that jury room and vote to recommend that gary hilton be put to it death.
certain that gary hilton was their prime suspect. hilton dared florida authorities to spend the time and money to come after him, and they did. here again is dennis murphy. suspected serial killer gary hilton had already pleaded guilty to the murder of meredith emerson in the georgia mountains. but he cheated the executioner there with a plea deal that led police to his victim s body. to the south, authorities in florida were convinced he had murdered nurse and mother cheryl dunlap, whose partial remains had been recovered two weeks before meredith emerson went missing. hilton was defying the authorities in florida to make the charges stick. if they want to spend a million dollars, 2 million to convict me, and then, then another 2 million to get death, hey, they can do it. willie, then leon county florida states attorney had heard enough and indicted hilton for the murder of cheryl dunlap.