PRESS ADVISORY

Friday, January 13, 2012

Execution Window Set for Nicholas Cody Tate, who Pled Guilty to the Brutal 2001 Murder of a Paulding County Mother and Her Three-Year-Old Child

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens offers the following information in the case against Nicholas Cody Tate, who is currently scheduled to be executed during the execution window starting at noon on January 31, 2012, and ending at noon on February 7, 2012.

Scheduled Execution 

On January 11, 2012, the Superior Court of Paulding County filed an order, setting the seven-day window in which the execution of Nicholas Cody Tate may occur to begin at noon, January 31, 2012, and ending seven days later at noon on February 7, 2012.  The Commissioner of the Department of Corrections has not yet set the specific date and time for the execution.  Tate has concluded his direct appeal proceedings.

Tate’s Crimes (2001)

Around 7:00 a.m. on the morning of December 11, 2001, Katelyn Williams, age three, and Brian Williams, age one, were taken from their grandmother’s residence, with whom they lived, by their aunt to visit their parents, Chrissie and Barry Williams.   Chrissie and Barry did not have full custody of the children, but had recently gained custody of the children during the day.  Each morning the children were taken to their parents’ residence for the day and then returned to their grandmother’s residence at night. 

At the time they arrived at their parents’ residence, their father was leaving for work and their mother, Chrissie, was still sleeping.   Brian, who was wearing one piece zip-up pajamas, was placed in his crib that was located in his parent’s bedroom.  Katelyn went to sleep in the bed with her mother. 

Chrissie’s sister, Kimberly Turpen, went to Chrissie’s home around 1:00 p.m.   She knocked on the front door and did not get an answer.  Kimberly walked to the back door but was unable to enter the residence.  She then heard Brian crying for his mother and decided to break in through the window of Chrissie’s bedroom.  Kimberly stepped through the window, onto Chrissie’s bed, and immediately saw that she was standing in a pool of blood.  In shock, she unknowingly stepped off the bed onto the lifeless, nude body of Katelyn.  Kimberly removed a pillow that had been placed over Katelyn’s head and found her body drenched in blood. 

Kimberly then ran out of the bedroom and across the hallway to the children’s bedroom where she found Chrissie’s body.   Chrissie’s hands were cuffed to the headboard and her feet were bound.  In addition, Kimberly observed that Chrissie’s face was partially covered in duct tape, and she had been shot in the head.  Kimberly ran to the living room where she found Brian crying and then to the kitchen to call 911.  Failing to receive a dial tone and finding that the phone cord had been cut, Kimberly rushed back to her car and drove across the street to a Rite Way Food Store for help.  The store employee called 911.

The record also showed that, on the morning of December 11, 2001, brothers Chad Tate, age 15, Dustin Tate, age 18, and Nicholas Tate, age 21, packed their weapons into their truck and left their mother’s home where they resided.   They drove to Camp’s Sporting Goods store.  Nathaniel and Dustin entered the store and purchased duct tape and ammunition for a Winchester 12 gauge rifle, a 9MM pistol, a revolver, an AR15, a knife, and additional ammunition.  The brothers left the store around 10:50 a.m.

They then drove to the Williams’ home, a five minute drive from Camp’s Sporting Goods store.   The record established that the Tates planned to steal weapons, money, and drugs from the Williams’ home.  The men, who were related to Chrissie by marriage, knew that Chrissie would be at home as she did not work.  In addition to stealing weapons, money and drugs, the Tates planned to rape Chrissie by using a stun gun or taser, believing it would render her unconscious. 

When the men reached the residence, Chad carried a .380 semi-automatic gun and a Braco gun, Dustin carried a Rugger 9MM and .38 Special, and Nicholas carried a Smith and Wesson 9MM and .357 semi-automatic.  When Katelyn opened the front door and began screaming, Nicholas Tate grabbed her and tried to duct tape her mouth but was unable to restrain her.  He then forced three-year-old Katelyn from the living room into her mother’s room, removed her pajamas, and sexually assaulted her.  Chad also sexually assaulted Katelyn. 

In the meantime, Chrissie was found sleeping in her bedroom and was forced into the bedroom across the hallway.   Dustin and Nicholas handcuffed her to the headboard, used camouflage duct tape to secure her feet and taped her mouth.  Chrissie managed, however, to remove the tape from her mouth and began screaming.  Nicholas then told Chrissie that he would beat her if she did not shut up.  He also yelled at Chrissie to tell him if there were drugs in the home.  He and Chad then ransacked the home.

Katelyn began crying again and Nicholas placed her in Brian’s crib.   Still unable to make her stop screaming, Nicholas removed Katelyn from the crib and placed her in the living room.  He then yelled at Katelyn “to shut up,” and ordered Chad to take her back to the bedroom.  Nicholas then cut the phone wire from the telephone in the kitchen, which Chad then used to strangle Katelyn.  Katelyn, however, regained consciousness and began to cry again.  Katelyn’s throat was then cut with Nicholas’s knife.  Nicholas then grabbed Brian out of the crib, and placed him in the living room.  Meanwhile, Dustin tasered Chrissie as part of his plan to rape her, but was unsuccessful in rendering her unconscious and abandoned his crime.  Nicholas then shot Chrissie in the head.

The record showed that the Tates’ truck was seen leaving the victims’ residence at 12:30 p.m.   The following day, the men kidnapped a female victim in Mississippi and threatened to kill her.  They subsequently released the female victim the following morning and took her car.  On December 14, 2001, Tate and his brothers surrendered to authorities in Oklahoma. 

During the investigation, the police located a bag of marijuana and methamphetamines from a hotel room in Mississippi where Nicholas Tate had stayed with the female victim.  The police also retrieved the following guns from Tate’s hotel room: Colt .223; Mossberg 12 Gauge Shotgun; Smith and Wesson 9MM; Ruger P95 9MM; Charter 2000; .38; Ruger .357; and a Bryco Arm gun.  The police also located the following knives: a white tail cutlery with a sheath; a KA-Bar USMC with sheath; a Black Knife Frost Cutlery Surgical Steel with a sheath; a MAC USA butterfly; a Black Scharde mounted on a shoulder holster; a black sidekick; and a black bianchi.  The following ammunition was found: one and a half boxes of Winchester .30 Special 130 bullets; a partial box of Winchester 357 Magnum bullets; a box of Federal .357 bullets; a box of Gold Dot 9MM Luger bullets; a box of Browning Court 9MM .380 Automatic bullets; two boxes of Winchester 9MM Lugers; nine boxes of Super X Rifle 12 Gauge Slugs; one and a half boxes of 66 Super X Magnum Buckshot bullets; and six boxes of Wolf .223 bullets.  Furthermore, a Muscle Man 200,000 volt taser, and a Uniden Bearcut police scanner were retrieved from the hotel room. 

In addition to the items found in the hotel room, the police also found as many as 44 weapons in the brothers’ bedrooms in Dallas, Georgia, which included: five guns; 26 knives; a grenade; 11 swords; and a bladed knuckle.   The majority of the weapons were retrieved from Nicholas’s bedroom.

As to the victims’ injuries, the autopsy report confirmed that Katelyn suffered from a cut wound across the front of her neck that measured four and seven-eight inches in length and was deep enough to puncture vital structures of the neck.   The medical examiner determined that the knife wound punctured Katelyn’s internal jugular vein, cut the entire length and depth of her trachea, and cut her windpipe. He further opined that it could have taken up to 15 minutes, depending on the rate of blood loss, for the wounds to have killed Katelyn.  In addition, Katelyn’s body had petechia, pin point sized hemorrhages, on her face, eyes, mouth and neck, which are indicative of ligature strangulation. Although the strangulation may have played a minor role in the causation of death, the medical examiner reported that the wound to the neck was likely the primary cause of death. 

The autopsy report also showed that Chrissie died from a gun shot wound to the head above the left ear, which traveled through the brain and exited at the upper edge of the right ear.   There was also extensive bruising on the right and left forearm and wrists.  The medical examiner opined that Chrissie could have survived up to a few minutes after receiving the gunshot wound. 

DNA tests were conducted on three pair of blue jeans belonging to the brothers.   The blue jean initialed with the letter “N” tested positive for Katelyn’s blood.  Firearms examiners also determined that Nicholas Tate’s gun was the weapon used to murder Chrissie. 

During his guilty plea on November 15, 2005, Nicholas stated that they went to the victims’ residence to steal money, weapons and drugs.   Nicholas admitted to shooting Chrissie in the head.  Specifically, Nicholas stated that he put a pillow over Chrissie’s head and shot her.  Nicholas also admitted that he removed Katelyn’s clothes and took her into her mother’s room “with the intent on looking at her to get sexually aroused.” 

The Trial (2002-2009)

Tate was indicted in the Superior Court of Paulding County, Georgia on February 20, 2002, for two counts of malice murder, eight counts of felony murder, two counts of kidnapping, five counts of aggravated assault, four counts of burglary, one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, one count of child molestation, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree. 

On November 15, 2005, Tate pled guilty to eight of the twenty-nine charges against him, which included the two counts of malice murder.   Tate subsequently waived his right to a sentencing trial by a jury and a bench trial commenced on November 28, 2005. 

On December 19, 2005, after considering the evidence of statutory aggravating circumstances and mitigating facts and circumstances, the trial court sentenced Petitioner to death for the murders of Chrissie and Katelyn Williams.   Additionally, Tate received life sentences for the kidnapping with bodily injury of both Chrissie and Katelyn Williams, ten years for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, ten years for child molestation, five years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and fifteen years for cruelty to children, all sentences to be served consecutively.   

Tate then filed a motion for a new sentencing trial on January 18, 2006.   However, on June 30, 2009, during a status hearing conference, Tate expressed his desire to waive his motion for new trial stating “you caught me red handed…none of my rights were violated…I choose to waive any and all future appeals….”  The trial court noted Tate was coherent, expressive and very articulate.  Tate’s waiver of a motion for new trial was found to be knowingly and voluntarily made and accepted on July 7, 2009. 

The Direct Appeal (2010-2011)

The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Tate’s convictions and sentence of death on June 1, 2010.   Tate v. State, 287 Ga. 364, 695 S.E.2d 591 (2010).  Tate filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on January 18, 2011.  Tate v. Georgia, U.S. , 131 S. Ct. 1020 (2011).