Elrod faces death penalty in Peach deputy slayings

The Byron man charged with murder in the Nov. 6 fatal shooting of two Peach County deputies could face the death penalty if he’s convicted, District Attorney David Cooke announced Thursday.

Peach County grand jurors indicted Ralph Stanley Elrod Jr. this week in the fatal shooting of deputy Daryl Smallwood and Sgt. Patrick Sondron.

“Those who intentionally take the lives of law enforcement officers who are peaceably and lawfully carrying out their sworn duty to protect the public should expect to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and to face the ultimate penalty,” Cooke said during a news conference. “The district attorney’s office is fully committed to achieving justice for these men and the community.”

The deputies were called to Elrod’s Hardison Road home, on the west side of Byron, about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 6 after a neighbor complained that Elrod had pointed a rifle at one of his nephews and threatened them both. The 20-year-olds had been riding a four-wheeler and a motorcycle in front of Elrod’s house.

A few seconds into a conversation with Smallwood and Sondron, the 57-year-old Elrod pulled a handgun from his waistband and shot them, authorities have said.

When more officers arrived, Elrod emerged from his garage wearing a bulletproof vest, carrying a rifle. He was wounded in a shootout with police, shot in the stomach.

Smallwood and Sondron died of their wounds.

Cooke said Elrod’s next court hearing is set for Jan. 23. He is being held without bond at the Bibb County jail.

In order for jurors to sentence someone to death, they must find that certain aggravating circumstances set out in the law apply.

In prosecutors’ notice to seek the death penalty, filed Thursday, they allege four aggravating circumstances:

▪  The offense of murder relating to Sondron’s death was “committed against a peace officer while engaged in the performance of his official duties.”

▪ The offense of murder relating to Smallwood’s death was “committed against a peace officer while engaged in the performance of his official duties.”

▪ The offense of murder relating to Sondron’s death was “committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing a lawful arrest of himself.”

▪ The offense of murder relating to Smallwood’s death was “committed for the purpose of avoiding, interfering with, or preventing a lawful arrest of himself.”

It’s been nearly four years since the Macon Judicial Circuit filed a notice to seek the death penalty. The circuit includes Bibb, Crawford and Peach counties.

In 2013, Cooke sought the death penalty against Michael Brett Kelly and Tracy Michelle Jones in the 2012 embezzlement scheme murder of legal secretary Gail Spencer. Kelly and Jones later took plea bargains and were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Keith Patillo was the last person prosecuted in the circuit to receive a death sentence. Patillo was sentenced to die in 1987 for the February 1987 Bibb County rape and beating death of Stephanie McLamb. Patillo’s sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

The last Peach County death penalty case was filed in 2010 against Lillian Walker in the 2009 stabbing deaths of her 85-year-old aunt, Lillian Graves, and her 65-year-old cousin, Agnes Stewart, both of Fort Valley. Walker later pleaded guilty to two counts of malice murder and one count of armed robbery and was sentenced to life in prison.

The last known execution of a convicted murderer in Peach County was in October 1932. Albert Jackson, 28, was put to death in the state’s electric chair for the fatal clubbings of Green Hartley, an elderly Confederate veteran, and his wife in January 1930.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Elrod faces death penalty in Peach deputy slayings."