An Oktibbeha County jury tonight deliberated for about three hours before returning a decision to put former Mississippi State University student Bobby Batiste to death for the capital murder of his housemate, last year.
The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for about an hour before returning a guilty verdict, Friday.
Circuit Court resumed at 9 a.m. this morning with Judge Jim Kitchens presiding.
Batiste was emotionless when the decision was read.
But tears poured from his eyes when his mother, Annie Batiste, took the stand, as one of 11 witnesses who testified before the jury began sentencing deliberations.
Twenty-nine-year-old Bobby Batiste stood accused of the beating death of 28-year-old Andreas Galanis after an altercation over more than $4,500 missing from Galanis' checking account. He suspected Batiste had used his debit card without his permission.
Jerald Lofton | 10/31/2009 8:18:00 PMmark as inappropriate wonder why the man thatmurdered Harvey Evans 3 years ago has not even been tried in Lowndes county, .Evans was my brother -in-law and never hurt a fly.Criminals have it made.Why has his Killer not been tried yet? our family needs closure.
