Rickey Nolen McGinn

Case record: Rickey Nolen McGinn

Overview

Ricky Nolen McGinn was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die for the May 1993 rape and murder of his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Stephanie Rae Flanary.

McGinn was executed by lethal injection in Texas on September 27, 2000.

Timeline

• May 22, 1993 — Janet McGinn left her home in Brownwood, Texas for a trip to Arlington, leaving 12-year-old Stephanie Flanary in the care of McGinn; McGinn and Stephanie spent the day alone together.
• May 25, 1993 — Stephanie Flanary’s body was found in a culvert about one mile north of Brownwood; she had been raped and killed by ax blows to the head.
• May 26, 1993 — The bloody ax used to bludgeon Flanary was found in one of McGinn’s vehicles, according to court testimony.
• Three days later (after May 22, 1993) — Stephanie’s battered body was found in a culvert along a farm-to-market road near McGinn’s residence in Brown County.
• Aug. 1, 1986 — Evidence was introduced that McGinn threatened Pamela Adams with a knife and forced her into sexual acts with him.
• April 1985 — Evidence was introduced that McGinn assaulted Sonya Vaughn, a sophomore at Abilene Christian University, when she refused to have sex with McGinn.
• 1987 — Latasha McGinn testified that McGinn sexually assaulted her when she was three or four years old.
• June 7, 1995 — McGinn was sentenced to death for the murder committed in the course of an aggravated sexual assault of the victim on May 22, 1993.
• July 8, 1997 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied habeas corpus relief.
• Jan. 21, 1998 — The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed McGinn’s conviction and death sentence.
• July 8, 1998 — The Court of Criminal Appeals denied McGinn habeas corpus relief.
• Nov. 2, 1998 — McGinn’s petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Jan. 20, 1999 — District Court denied habeas relief.
• Oct. 22, 1999 — 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied permission to appeal.
• Feb. 22, 2000 — U.S. Supreme Court denied McGinn’s petition for writ of certiorari.
• Mar. 29, 2000 — McGinn’s second state application for habeas relief was dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeals.
• April 27, 2000 — Execution date was set; a rescheduling to June 1, 2000 was consented to so counsel’s records scattered by a tornado in Fort Worth could be accommodated.
• May 26, 2000 — McGinn filed a “Memorandum of Law in Support of Subsequent Application.”
• May 30, 2000 — The Court of Criminal Appeals denied an application for a stay to allow additional DNA testing, finding it was an abuse of the writ.
• June 1, 2000 — McGinn was scheduled to be executed; his final appeals had failed; the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his request for a reprieve.
• June 14, 2000 — The Court of Criminal Appeals delivered its en banc decision.
• Aug. 15, 2000 — DNA test results were released and confirmed that McGinn was the person who raped and murdered 12-year-old Stephanie Flanary.
• Sept. 27, 2000 — McGinn was executed by lethal injection.

Background

On the morning of May 22, 1993, Janet McGinn, McGinn’s wife, left her home in Brownwood, Texas, for a trip to Arlington and left her 12-year-old daughter, Stephanie Flanary, in McGinn’s care.

The offence

McGinn and Stephanie spent the day alone together. Stephanie Flanary was sexually assaulted by McGinn. She was then beaten in the head with the blunt side of an ax. She died of multiple head injuries and a fractured skull.

Investigation

Police found Stephanie’s body three days later in a culvert along a farm-to-market road near McGinn’s residence in Brown County. Investigators found blood in the trunk of McGinn’s car and a bloody ax under the seat of a broken truck in his yard.

Police searched McGinn’s car the next day using trained search dogs. Police discovered numerous blood splatters in McGinn’s car. Blood testing identified the blood as human, and the blood splatters matched Stephanie’s blood type. Blood from clothes McGinn had been wearing matched Stephanie’s blood type. Hair sticking to a blood stain in the car had the same microscopic characteristics as Stephanie’s.

Arrest

McGinn was arrested after testing identified the blood as human and matched Stephanie’s blood type, and after further evidence connected him to the ax and the crime scene materials.

Evidence

Evidence introduced at trial included:

• Blood splatters found in McGinn’s car that matched Stephanie’s blood type.
• Hair sticking to a blood stain in the car had the same microscopic characteristics as Stephanie.
• DNA tests performed by DPS on blood from an ax found under the seat of McGinn’s truck matched the blood on the ax to Stephanie’s blood type.
• Tests performed by DPS on hair found on the ax determined the hair had the same microscopic characteristics as Stephanie’s hair.
• Blood stains found on McGinn’s jeans that matched Stephanie’s blood type.
• Post-conviction DNA testing by prosecution and defense experts that matched sperm and pubic hairs found on Stephanie’s body to McGinn.

Trial

A jury convicted McGinn of capital murder and sentenced him to death.

McGinn told police that he spent the day working on his truck and fishing. He said that he and Stephanie fished and drank beer together. McGinn claimed that Stephanie fell asleep after drinking, woke up, went on a walk, and never returned. He said that after he realized Stephanie was missing late that afternoon, he told a friend of his, but that he did not call the police about Stephanie’s disappearance until 9:30 that night.

Sentencing

On June 7, 1995, McGinn was sentenced to death for a murder committed in the course of an aggravated sexual assault of the victim on May 22, 1993.

Appeals

• **Jan.
• **Nov. Supreme Court.
• **Jan.
• Oct. 22, 1999 — 5th Circuit U.S.
• Feb. 22, 2000 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied McGinn’s petition for writ of certiorari filed on Nov. 2, 1999.
• **Mar.

A state habeas corpus proceeding included a second state application filed February 25, 2000 and dismissed March 29, 2000.

Reprieve and additional DNA testing

McGinn was scheduled to be executed at one point for April 27, 2000 and later for June 1, 2000. A rescheduling occurred after consent because counsel’s records had been scattered by a tornado that struck Fort Worth, Texas.

On June 1, 2000, McGinn received a temporary reprieve of 30 days from Governor George W. Bush so additional DNA tests could be conducted.

The DNA tests results were released on Aug. 15, 2000 and confirmed that McGinn raped and murdered Stephanie Flanary.

McGinn maintained his innocence despite the DNA test results.

Execution

He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.

In the final statement attributed to McGinn:

“Tell everybody I said hi, that I love them, and I will see them on the other side, OK? And now I just pray that if there is anything against me that God takes it home. I don't want nobody to be mad at nobody. I don't want nobody to be bitter. Keep clean hearts and I will see y'all on the other side.”

Before the DNA results, McGinn made a statement in a death-row interview:

“it kind of blew me out of the water” that the DNA test was positive.

He also said:

“I had my stuff ready to be packed to go home,”

and:

“I still want the world to know I'm not guilty. I don't care what the tests show. ... I didn't kill my little girl. I did not have sex with her, I did not rape her. I want the world to know that.”

He further said about evidence proving he raped his stepdaughter:

“somebody else put that there.”

Criminal history and other allegations introduced at trial

Evidence introduced at trial included allegations involving:

• Pamela Adams: McGinn threatened her with a knife and forced her into sexual acts with him on Aug. 1, 1986.
• Sonya Vaughn: McGinn assaulted her when she refused to have sex with him in April 1985 while she was a sophomore at Abilene Christian University.
• Latasha McGinn: she testified that McGinn sexually assaulted her in 1987 when she was three or four years old. McGinn threatened to kill his daughter and her mother if she told anyone about the incident.
• Imogene Bible: McGinn threatened to beat Bible to death when Bible tried to prevent McGinn from visiting his daughter alone.

Authorities also suspected McGinn in other rape/murders that pre-dated the capital murder. The record stated that McGinn was connected to the 1992 rape-murder of 19-year-old Christi Jo Eggers through DNA testing, but that he was not tried for Eggers’ killing because he was already on death row. Brown County officials suspected him in the rape-murder of 12-year-old Sherri Newman. The record stated that authorities hoped DNA testing would help confirm guilt in those cases, for which he had never been tried.

Other details

McGinn’s execution location was Huntsville, Texas. McGinn was described as 43 years old at execution.

McGinn’s lawyers and family maintained he was innocent. Janet McGinn, described as McGinn’s ex-wife and the victim’s mother, believed in McGinn’s guilt and supported his execution.

A federal procedural ruling included analysis of whether leave could be granted to file a successive writ. The application for leave to file a subsequent writ and for stay of execution was denied.

A state concurring opinion in connection with the habeas corpus proceedings addressed Texas statutory requirements and discussed dismissing the application as an abuse of the writ. It included quoted statutory material and procedural reasoning about subsequent applications.