Confessed killer in Lauren Giddings murder may seek long-shot appeal

When Stephen Mark McDaniel became the prime suspect in the dismemberment killing of Lauren Giddings six summers ago, he was on the cusp of becoming a lawyer. He was studying for the state bar exam.

McDaniel never took the exam because he was arrested and jailed, but had he taken it it and had he passed, he would have fulfilled a dream of becoming an attorney. His mother sometimes spoke of his aspirations to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Georgia-born Justice Clarence Thomas was one of his heroes.

In McDaniel’s senior yearbook at Parkview High in Lilburn, McDaniel’s bookworm smarts earned him the title of runner-up “Most Likely to be Famous.” But in August 2011, fewer than three months after graduating from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, McDaniel became famous for something his fellow high schoolers could not have imagined.

He was charged with murdering Giddings, his law school classmate. Giddings had lived next door to him in Macon in a Georgia Avenue apartment across the street from Mercer University’s law school.

In April 2014, on the eve of trial, McDaniel pleaded guilty and confessed to strangling Giddings, cutting up her body and throwing the pieces in the trash. He was sentenced to life, but with a chance for parole.

McDaniel, who will turn 32 next month, will be in his mid-50s before he can be considered for parole. Any hope of a legal career is long gone.

Even so, after three years in prison and facing the very real prospect that he may not ever get out, McDaniel is trying his hand at lawyering.

His client? Himself.

In recent months, McDaniel has begun filing neatly handwritten motions that appear to signal his intention to seek a long-shot appeal. He has little to lose.

Letters McDaniel sent in May to the Macon attorneys who represented him in the Giddings case had not — at least as quickly as he had hoped — had their desired effect.

McDaniel requested all documents and materials related to his case, something he has every right to do. His lawyers began gathering files and sent him copies of several, but he later claimed in more recent motions that his lawyers had not fully complied.

In June, in a second letter, one sent to Macon attorney Franklin J. Hogue, McDaniel more than hinted at his displeasure.

In language that is all but scolding, McDaniel, whose college friends recall him as a smart guy who relished letting people know just how intelligent he was, wrote: “My prior instructions left no room for miscomprehension. I wanted ‘everything.’ I must now make a second demand for the materials. I want everything in your possession or to which you can gain access that is in any way product of representation by you of me in any matter. … I want everything, by which I mean everything.”

Although McDaniel’s motions are filed in Bibb County Superior Court, his habeas corpus petition, a form of an appeal, must be filed in the county where he is incarcerated. Since early this year, after being locked up for more than a year at Valdosta State Prison, he has been held at Augusta State Medical Prison. It isn’t clear what prompted his move to the hospital there, but the 6-foot, 128-pound McDaniel looks gaunt in his most recent prison photo.

The deadline to file such a habeas appeal is four years from conviction. In McDaniel’s case that would be April of next year, but he has already filed a request to stop the clock, to stay the deadline while he fights to get his records.

Floyd Buford, one of the attorneys who represented McDaniel in the Giddings case, said Bibb County judges don’t have jurisdiction to rule on McDaniel’s motions.

Buford said this week that to his knowledge McDaniel hasn’t filed an appeal in Richmond County, where he is being held. It will be up to a judge there to take up any concerns.

Buford, who in the past has represented clients in habeas appeals, is no longer McDaniel’s lawyer.

He said the vast majority of such cases don’t result in new trials.

McDaniel waived nearly all his appellate rights when he accepted a plea bargain.

About all that is left for him to attack is whether his plea was voluntary or if his lawyers somehow failed to provide him effective assistance.

When asked the other day about the Hail Mary nature of McDaniel’s apparent maneuverings, Bibb District Attorney David Cooke, who led the case against McDaniel, said he doesn’t expect McDaniel to be granted a new trial.

“Mr. McDaniel was well represented by excellent attorneys. … I don’t think it’s useful to hypothesize about this unlikely occurrence,” Cooke said.

Buford, meanwhile, said he was “completely committed” to making sure McDaniel receives all the materials he is seeking from his former lawyers.

“I want to make sure he gets his file. ... My files are very voluminous. They’re off-site. I’ve sent for them twice to review them to make sure he has everything he’s supposed to have. He’s entitled to it,” Buford said.

As for what his former client may be up to, Buford said, “I haven’t talked to Stephen in a while, so I don’t know what he’s planning to do.”

This story was originally published August 15, 2017 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Confessed killer in Lauren Giddings murder may seek long-shot appeal."