Gregory Paul Wilson

Background

Gregory Paul Wilson was born on 5/10/67. Wilson maintained his innocence.

The offence

The victim, Misty Largo, was a homeless teenager who had been living in Portland for 6 to 12 months at the time of her death.

On July 25, 1992, Gregory Paul Wilson, along with Greg Wilson and two other men, drove to an area under the Marquam Bridge where Largo then was living. Wilson and Greg Wilson were concerned that Largo was spreading rumors about Greg Wilson having stabbed someone. The group found Largo and escorted her back to their vehicle at knifepoint. They drove to Wilson’s house. Wilson took Largo into the house, also at knifepoint. Many people were there. Largo was taken into a back room.

Wilson instructed several of the people present to hit Largo in the face, and they did. Largo was kept in the back room, where she was repeatedly interrogated and slapped.

The next day, Wilson and Greg Wilson left the house and told others in the house to make sure that Largo did not leave. When Wilson and Greg Wilson returned later that day, Largo was interrogated and slapped for several hours. Then she was taken again to the back room.

At some point that evening, Greg Wilson, in Wilson’s presence, decided that he would kill Largo. Largo was tied to a wheelchair. Wilson and Greg Wilson first tried to kill Largo by poisoning her with a glass of water in which they had dissolved a nitroglycerin pill. When that act failed to kill Largo, Wilson found a plastic bag and placed it over Largo’s head. After about five minutes, Largo was still breathing.

Wilson then located a piece of speaker wire and wrapped it around Largo’s neck. Wilson and Greg Wilson took turns choking Largo with the speaker wire for five to ten minutes. Still not convinced that Largo was dead, Greg Wilson hit Largo on the sternum and throat. Largo “gurgled and choked and stopped breathing.”

After Largo died, Wilson said that he would dispose of her body. Wilson and Michael Leon Stanton, another man at Wilson’s house, left with the body. Wilson later said that he had hit Largo twice in the head with a splitting maul and that he and Stanto[n] had stabbed her in the heart.

Trial

The jury heard evidence as set forth in the district court’s opinion.

Sentencing

Gregory Paul Wilson was sentenced to death on February 3, 1994. The death sentence was overturned in 1996. Wilson was serving a 30-year sentence for kidnapping and assault and was awaiting a possible new murder trial.

Outcome

Wilson maintained his innocence and had several appeals pending that could lead to his release from prison in the near future.

Other details

The case involved Greg Wilson and Michael Leon Stanton.