2005-01-07 White

Murder of Donald Ray White

The murder of Donald Ray White occurred in January 2005 in Randall County, Texas. White, 28, was abducted, restrained with duct tape, stripped of his clothing and fatally shot. His body was discovered in a roadside drainage ditch outside Amarillo on January 7.

Investigators identified Robert Eugene Jordan and Mark Edward Hanson as the participants. Jordan was convicted of murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Hanson was initially charged with capital murder but was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years. Hanson also received a separate life sentence for attacking a Randall County correctional officer while awaiting prosecution.

Discovery of White

On January 7, 2005, the Amarillo Police Department's Special Crimes Unit responded to a report of a body near Southeast 34th Avenue and Eastern Street. White's body was found in a bar ditch immediately outside the Amarillo city limits in Randall County.

White had been shot to death. His clothing had been removed, and his hands were bound with duct tape. Investigators did not initially disclose these details to the news media.

Investigation

On January 14, 2005, Amarillo police arrested William Sean Gilmore on unrelated drug and weapons charges. Gilmore told officers that he had information about a homicide.

Randall County sheriff's investigator Paul Horn interviewed Gilmore at the Amarillo Police Department. Gilmore provided a sworn statement alleging that Jordan had admitted participating in White's murder with Hanson.

According to Gilmore's statement, Jordan said that he and Hanson took White to a dirt road, assaulted him, stripped off his clothing and restrained him with duct tape before shooting him. The statement included details that had not been released publicly.

Later that day, Horn interviewed Jordan's cousin, Bobbye Marie Eckert, at the Potter County Jail. Eckert initially had been reluctant to cooperate but provided a statement after speaking with Sergeant Kevin Dockery, whom she knew from his work as a school liaison officer.

Eckert said Jordan had admitted that he personally shot "Donny." She also reported that Jordan described forcing White to remove his clothing and restraining him with duct tape. Her statement corroborated details supplied by Gilmore.

The Amarillo Police Department later classified the homicide as cleared

Arrests and confessions

On January 18, 2005, Horn signed a criminal complaint accusing Jordan of White's murder. The complaint relied on the statements provided by Gilmore and Eckert. A judge issued an arrest warrant, and Jordan subsequently gave Horn a written statement admitting his participation in the killing.

Hanson was arrested in northern Amarillo on the same date and charged with capital murder.

Prosecution of Robert Eugene Jordan

Jordan was prosecuted for murder, enhanced by a prior felony conviction. Before trial, he sought to suppress his written confession by challenging the validity of the arrest warrant.

Jordan argued that Horn's warrant affidavit misleadingly described Gilmore as a "reputably employed citizen." Gilmore had an extensive criminal history, was under arrest when interviewed and was allegedly a captain in the Aryan Brotherhood. Evidence also raised questions about whether Gilmore was actually employed by the Big O Tire store, as he had claimed.

The trial court denied Jordan's suppression motion. It found that Horn reasonably believed Gilmore's statement about his employment and had corroborated the information through Eckert before requesting the warrant.

A jury convicted Jordan of murder. During the punishment phase, prosecutors introduced evidence alleging his involvement in a 1998 drive-by shooting. The jury sentenced him to 99 years in prison and imposed a $10,000 fine.

The Seventh Court of Appeals affirmed Jordan's conviction on November 21, 2008. See

Prosecution of Mark Edward Hanson

While awaiting prosecution, Hanson attacked correctional officer James Alex Dachille with an improvised stabbing weapon on October 15, 2005. On October 28, Hanson escaped from the Randall County Jail and remained at large for approximately 12 hours.

Following the assault and escape, Randall County District Attorney James Farren announced that prosecutors would seek the death penalty in the capital-murder case. Hanson was not ultimately sentenced to death.

Hanson received a life sentence on April 6, 2007, for aggravated assault against a public servant. On March 5, 2009, he was sentenced to 30 years for White's murder. His controlling sentence is life imprisonment

Chronological timeline

References

1. Amarillo Police Department, 2005 Annual Report
2. Jordan v. State, no. 07-07-0478-CR, Seventh Court of Appeals of Texas, November 21, 2008.
3. Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Mark Edward Hanson inmate record
4. Archived Amarillo Globe-News editorial concerning Hanson's escape