Man sentenced to death in Gilmer womans stabbing death

<p>A Gilmer County man has been sentenced to death by a federal jury for raping and killing a woman in her north Georgia home, then stealing her car.</p><p>Wednesdays sentence for William LeCroy Jr. was just the second obtained _ out of three sought by the U.S. Attorneys Office in Atlanta since Congress reinstated the death penalty for federal crimes in 1998.</p><p>The jury said LeCroy, 33, should die by lethal injection for the Oct. 7, 2001, stabbing death of 30-year-old Joann Tiesler in Cherrylog, a small town in northern Gilmer County.</p><p>One of LeCroys lawyers, Dan Summer, said the slaying was an incomprehensible act of violence but the case belonged in state Superior Court rather than being tried under the federal carjacking statute.</p><p>Summer said LeCroy had no intention of stealing the car when he was burglarizing her home and Tiesler came home from a shopping trip in Chattanooga, Tenn.</p><p>Prosecutors said evidence showed that stealing the vehicle was on LeCroys mind when he broke into Tieslers home and lay in wait for her to return. After raping her, he slit her throat and stabbed her repeatedly in the back.</p><p>Two days later, LeCroy was arrested driving Tieslers truck after he passed a U.S. checkpoint in Minnesota as he crossed into Canada. LeCroy turned around and attempted to re-enter the United States. Officials ran his license plate number and discovered he was wanted by police.</p><p>LeCroy previously was convicted of firearms and drug offenses, burglary, aggravated assault, statutory rape and child molestation.</p>