Sister tells jurors convicted killer abused, `has a good heart'

<p>The sister of a convicted killer facing the death penalty told jurors Friday her older brother was beaten by their father as a child and, despite his crimes, "he has a good heart."</p><p>A clinical psychologist also testified he believes Stacey Ian Humphreys suffers mental disorders as a result of physical abuse that make him prone to memory lapses and denial.</p><p>Humphreys was convicted Tuesday of murdering Cobb County real estate agents Cyndi Williams, 33, and Lori Brown, 21, at their sales office Nov. 3, 2003. Prosecutors say he made the women strip naked and shot them in the head to steal money for a $565 truck payment.</p><p>Humphreys' sister, Dayna Knowles, testified in the sentencing phase of the trial Friday that she and her brother grew up in fear of their father. While their father would whip her with a belt or stick when they got into trouble, Knowles said, he would beat Humphreys with his fists.</p><p>"I know it's hard for a lot of people to understand, but I feel like my brother and I have survived through sort of a battle and we made it to the other side," Knowles said through tears. "He's like my connection to what was real in my life, as horrible as it was."</p><p>Knowles also told the jury: "I will always love my brother, and he completely loves me. He has a good heart."</p><p>Humphreys, 34, did not testify. He told the judge outside the jury's presence that he was satisfied with his defense.</p><p>The jury of 10 women and two men must decide whether to sentence Humphreys to life in prison or death by lethal injections. Jurors were scheduled to hear closing arguments from attorneys later Friday.</p><p>Superior Court Judge Dorothy Robinson moved Humphreys' trial more than 300 miles from Cobb County to coastal Brunswick because of pretrial publicity.</p><p>Dr. Robert Shaffer, a clinical psychologist, testified that he believes Humphreys shows symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder as well as Asperger's syndrome, often likened to autism. Some of those disorders, he said, are often linked to physical abuse.</p><p>Shaffer said his review of Humphreys' family and medical history showed he suffered cigarette burns on his body as a child as well as a skull fracture when he was 3 years old.</p><p>"There were instances of physical battery of Stacey Humphreys where his father would sit on him and batter his head which, interestingly, Stacey Humphreys seems to have no memory of," Shaffer said.</p><p>He said Humphreys can't seem to recall his abuse _ just as Humphreys told police after his 2003 arrest in Wisconsin that he did not remember killing Williams and Brown, though he suspected he was guilty.</p><p>"He exhibits this kind of denial to avoid re-experiencing the problems and horrors of his life," Shaffer said.</p><p>Humphreys was on parole for a 1993 theft conviction when Williams, 33, and Brown, 21, were killed. He had been released from prison 13 months earlier.</p><p>Humphreys became a suspect after witnesses told police they had seen a man fitting his description at the sales office, as well as a vehicle in the parking lot that matched his black Dodge Durango.</p><p>Humphreys fled when police tried to question him at his Dunwoody home days later. He was arrested in Wisconsin after a high-speed chase with police.</p><p>In the console of the rented Jeep that Humphreys used to flee, police found a Ruger handgun that matched the 9 mm bullets that killed the women. Investigators found blood on the gun that matched Williams' DNA, and blood in his truck matching the DNA of Brown.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/9/89983