Where to Listen

The Case of Billy Bailey

Childhood and Upbringing

Billy Bailey was born in 1945 in South Carolina, and he was the 19th of 23 children. His father never abandoned any of the children, and he had kids with four different women throughout his life. When Billy was born, his father was with the 3rd woman but unfortunately when Billy was less than a year old his mother passed away, leaving Billy with his father, new stepmom and his seven brothers and sisters who were around at the time. Their upbringing from a very young age was described as “udder filth and poverty.” The father couldn’t provide more than a two room shack with no plumbing to shelter his children and his stepmom would beat Billy and call him worthless according to social workers. This was normal living until Billy turned 10 years old and in this year his father passed away, and quickly after this, the stepmom abandoned the children, giving them away to other family members, or the foster care system. Billy was placed in several different foster homes from ages 10-14. At some point in this time Billy went to live with one of his half-brothers and his wife in Wilmington Delaware, but this wasn't much better for Billy. At least there was more space and plumbing though. The household was very disciplined. Billy would get beaten for the smallest things and he was deprived of food. During this time, when Billy was around 12 years old, he developed a severe drinking problem. The couple got tired of dealing with Billy and he was eventually sent to the Governor Bacon Health Center. A psychologists said that Billy was basically way to fucked up physically and mentally to consider putting him in a foster home however, here they would throw Billy in a locked room and feed him quote “yellow gunky stuff and medicine.” Billy later stated that when he asked for help with his seizures the counselors would call them temper tantrums. Overall, a traumatic and cruel childhood for Billy so far. He was released from the Health Center assumingly when he was 18 and he was quickly known to the police as a thief and a fighter. In 1966 when Billy was 21 years old, he was arrested for disorderly conduct because he was running around the main streets of Dover Delaware with a rifle which severely disturbed traffic. He was arrested again the next year for grand larceny for committing a theft in a Dover restaurant. He was then arrested for the burglary of a Dover home in 1968 and he’s clearly escalating his crimes.

Billy’s Family

In 1970 he met and married Susan Hues. She was 19 years old, and Billy was then 25 years old, and she somehow stayed with Billy until 1989 after he was later convicted. They had an infant daughter who was 3 months old, and Billy was excessively drinking more and more. His small family was living in a mobile home and one day a fire somehow broke out and Billy managed to save their daughter and get her out of the home, but unfortunately her hand was so badly burned that it had to be amputated. Bailey’s In-Laws blamed him for the fire and the injuries the child had sustained, Billy descripting it by saying they “put the bad mouth on me.” They prevented him from seeing his own daughter and his drinking only increased. At this same time Billy had a brother who he was very close to, and he unfortunately passed away. Billy described it “one day he drank himself a pint of whiskey straight down and his heart just blew up.”

The Escalation

In 1974 Billy was arrested for stealing 1500 dollars' worth of tools from an industrial plant and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was paroled after 3 years but was arrested again in 1979 for violating parole. Along with the parole violation he was also charged with forgery which got him an additional 18 months in prison. At one point Billy was in a work release program where he was on a revolving 72-hour cycle. One of the officers in this said that he still had emotional and drinking problems. He was taken out of this work program after some time because he showed back up to prison extremely intoxicated. Because of this he attempted to slit his wrists in prison, but it was unsuccessful. During his imprisonment his wife Susan took off with the kids and Billy responded by threating to kill his daughter, wife and her parents. He was then put back in prison because of the violation and the forgery charge, however the forgery charge wasn’t processed properly on the computer which in turn put Billy back into another work release program. If it was a simple parole violation this would be okay, but the extra charge caused some issues. The officer who realized this later said it “popped up.” He was then pulled from the program and was put back in the Plumber Center in Wilmington Delaware and he was later put back onto work release and he had a job opportunity lined up with his brother-in-law Charles Coker who sold live stalk. He would live with Charles and his wife Sue Ann Coker and Billy would again return every 72 hours.

The Day of The Murders

On May 21st, 1979, Billy didn’t show up at the Plumber Center for his scheduled 1pm check in. Billy, instead, showed up at the Coker house with a full bottle of vodka and he told Sue Ann that he wasn't going to work or be an inmate. Billy was clearly distraught, and Charles suggested that Billy should tag along with him to do some errands and Charles could hopefully diffuse the situation. When they were driving Billy told Charles to pull in the liquor store and Charles for some reason agreed to this. At the store, Reba Lovegrove who was the cashier watched as Billy Bailey entered the store crying. He then placed a small bottle of liquor and paid for the bottle. When Reba looked back up to give back the change, Billy was holding a 25-caliber handgun at her, and he told her to give him all the money. Reba reluctantly refused and closed the cash register. Billy got upset and knocked Reba to the ground and proceeded to try and get the cash register open, but he fucked it up and was unsuccessful. After getting angry with this now, Billy pointed the handgun at Reba and pulled the trigger, but it clicked. He then stole spare change and cash laying around and took off. Billy got in the car with Charles with a bottle of liquor in one hand and the 25-Caliber handgun in the other and told Charles “Police are gonna be coming soon.” Billy asked Charles if he would take him to the corner of Lambertson’s Corner which was a 1.5-mile drive away and Charles agreed, not wanting to upset Billy more. Charles watched Billy run into the woods and Charles rushed back to the liquor store to see what happened. He called the police to confirm to them that the store robber was Billy Bailey. After Charles drove away, Billy ran through the woods into a field, and was confronted by Gilbert Lambertson doing farm work.

The Lambertsons and Their Family

Now, Gilbert was an 80-year-old generational farmer who lived with his wife Clara on their large farm property. Clara was 73 years old and the two had been married for 56 years. Gilbert grew up on the farm and worked with his father growing up, teaching him how to be self-sufficient. At this time the couple was leasing out their land to people to garden and they made homemade jams and jellies to give to friends and family as gifts. I think they had 4 children together, Saxton, Delbert, Mary and Betty who all described their parents as good-hearted people, who were trying to settle down. But I think that Mary is Mary-Ann who got married to Saxton Lambertson, making her Gilbert and Clara’s daughter in law.

The Murders and the Arrest

Billy forced Gilbert and himself into the house and after gaining entry the couple still refused to give up their car. Billy forced Gilbert into a chair and Clara into her rocker and grabbed Gilberts 12-gauge shotgun he kept by the front door and shot both of them. He also used the pistol as well which was completely overkill. He shot Clara in the back of the shoulder with the pistol and then when Clara put her hand over her heart he shot her in the chest. The bullet went right through her hand. Billy also shot her in the chest and abdomen with the shot gun. Gilbert was first shot twice in the chest with the pistol and then shot in the head with the shotgun. Almost half of Gilberts head was shot off, and the medical examiner testified that there was still plastic from the shot gun cartridge embedded in his brain. Mary Ann Lambertson, their daughter, was neighbors to her parents and she saw Billy running from the house. She noticed the police helicopter and sirens in the distance, and she thought she heard shots. This was all suspicious and she went over to the house to find the horrifically mutilated bodies of her parents. The police quickly converged on the prime robbery suspect, as they knew, and officer Thomas W. Robins, who was the copilot of the police helicopter, ran after Billy. Robins quickly caught up to Billy and attempted to get him down. They fought and Robins managed to pin the shotgun down with his foot. As this happened, Billy took his handgun out of his waistband, turned around and attempted to shoot Robins and missed. Robins then got Billy into handcuffs and Billy was taken away saying “You boys got me for the store and nothing else.”

Court Proceedings and Trial

Billy was taken to court and was given his Miranda Rights and was informed of his charges and possible penalties. These charges included robbery in the first degree, procession of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, 2 charges of procession of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony, 2 charges of first-degree murder. The Justice of the Peace testified at trial that

"During most of the proceeding he was shouting and yelling profanities. The most remarkable was the statement I suppose he said at the end of the proceeding. I believe he first made a remark about, "You're going to put me in jail anyway. I know there is no bail for this." I believe it was just about the time, right after the time I was reading the statute as far as penalty for the charge was concerned. He then made a statement, "Why don't you go ahead and kill me," or, "Why don't you go ahead and hang me." As I recall, he following that with either, "You know I did it," or, "You know I killed them." I'm not sure exactly what his exact words were at this point."
The attorneys then asked,
Q. "You had already read the warrant to him and that he had been charged and arrested for murder of Gilbert and Clara Lambertson; is that correct?"
A. "Yes, sir. That's correct?"
Q. "Then he made that statement?"
A. "Yes, sir. That was after that."

Robert Collison, the Delaware State Police Detective in charge of the investigation gave some more details to this. He testified that while Billy was given his charges by the Justice of the Peace, Billy said “Got ahead and hang me you son of a bitch. I killed Them. Go ahead and kill me,” and then said, “I’m going to make them kill me tomorrow.” When asked why he had committed the murders, Bailey could not give a reason. ''I don't really know,” he said. “I just know that I feel bad about it. It hurts sometimes when I think about it. When I say hurt, I think about the Lambertsons and how much they hate me, and I start to cry and sometimes I cry myself to sleep at night."

It was obvious what happened, and the jury deliberated for a little over two and a half hours and they found Billy guilty of all the charges. Billy at the young age of 33, faced a conviction of the death penalty after the jury thought his crimes to be outrageously inhumane and vile. The defense attorneys argued for mercy. However, at one point during the sentencing Billy stood up and started yelling at the Judge and cursing him out which really damaged his attorneys' pleas. He was removed from the court while his sentence was given, and he was sentenced to be “hanged by the neck until dead”. He was also sentenced to 90 years for the rest of his charges.

Appeals

After being convicted Bailey appealed on the grounds that the trial judge didn't grant a “Change of Venue” before the trial. Billy argued that “because of alleged prejudicial pre-trial publicity and reversible error in the selection and empaneling of the trial jury” he believed the jury was biased due to the news coverage of his own personal case. The evidence cited included **fourteen articles, eight photographs and two editorials appearing in the Delaware State News, a daily newspaper circulated primarily throughout the area of Kent County** The Supreme Court judge assigned to the case trial had taken the motion under advisement. The Trial Judge during the preliminary hearing denied the Motion due to the belief the publicity was not so extensive or inflammatory and prejudicial as to preclude the selection of a fair and impartial trial jury. However, the trial Judge did reserve the right of final decision until the jury selection process was undertaken and concluded. This was denied and on August 23, 1991, The Superior Court denied Bailey’s motion for post-conviction relief.

Delaware Changes its Method of Execution

In 1986 Delaware changed the execution method to lethal injection. However, the state advised that inmates already facing death could choose the new method or hanging. Billy refused to die by lethal injection telling a reporter that “I'm not going to let them put me to sleep.” He continued by saying “I was sentenced to hang. If I'm executed, I should hang according to the paperwork. I didn't choose hanging the state chose it for me. Asking a man to choose how to die is more barbaric than hanging.” The last chance of keeping his life was clemency and, in the papers, it said that Billy was a product of his upbringing and the institutions and that he spiraled out of control until this happened. They argued he should have more time to get better, not get killed. However, guards and prison staff mentioned that Billy has not made any significant improvement in his time in prison.

Preparing to Hang (The Protocol)

Billy’s execution was originally set for January 9th, 1987, and the wooden gallows was built for his hanging on the grounds of the Delaware Correctional Centre in Smyrna in 1986. However, the appeals process would delay this almost another decade. At this point Delaware hasn't carried out a hanging in over 50 years therefore they had to get advice from the Washington State Penitentiary for guidance on what they needed to do. They ended up using a protocol written by Fed Leuchter and this stated specifically that a 30 ft long, ¾ in piece of Menila hemp rope is needed. The rope had to be boiled to remove any stretch and coil. They then needed to lubricate the inside of the knot with Paraffin Wax to help the rope slide freely. They also needed a sandbag to test the trap door and a collapse board which is reserved in case the prisoner won't stay still and is fighting, this would keep them bound enough for the hanging to be executed effectively. A black hood was needed to place over Billy’s head which is a tradition that dates to the 18th and 19h centuries. The drop below would be at least 5 feet.

Execution Day

On January 24th, 1996, Billy would spend his last day alive. On this day he weighed 220lbs and this was also calculated into the hanging. He was moved from his cell into the execution chamber where lethal injections took place. Here he spent his final day talking with staff, eating, watching tv, sleeping, meeting the prison chaplain, his attorneys and his 53 years old sister Betty Odum. Sometime in his final 24 hours he ate his last meal consisting of a well-done steak, a baked potato with butter and sour cream, peas, buttered rolls, and vanilla ice cream. A few minutes before midnight Billy was taken into the yard and was surrounded by guards with dogs. Billy had his glasses taken away, and his denim, prison issued coat was draped over his shoulders and fastened to him with the top two buttons. His arms were also strapped to his sides and the guards said he was very calm, one of the very few times he wasn't freaking out. The two guards wore black jumpsuits and black hoods that were held in place by baseball caps, and they escorted Billy up the 23 stairs to the gallows platform. Here stood the warden Robert Snyder who was the hang man, and he had a direct telephone line connected to Mr. Thomas R. Carper, the Govenor of Delaware, and this line was kept open until the execution was final. Billy stood there for almost 5 minutes, flanked by the two guards as the 40 plus witnesses entered the compound. The one guard held Billy’s left arm and faced the witnesses while the other guard was facing Billy, gripping his shoulder. After all the witnesses were seated Billy was placed onto the trap door and his ankles were bound with a webbing nylon strap. The black hood was placed over his head and upper chest. Next the noose was placed over the hood. Warden Snyder had to check the noose to make sure that the knot was correctly placed behind Billy’s left ear, since this was the best position for the rope to snap the neck. When Billy was all prepared Warden Snyder asked if Billy had any last words. Billy had said something, and Snyder couldn’t hear him, so he said “pardon?” Billy was obviously very confused by this and said “huh...? No sir.” After this mess, Billy was seen squeezing his right hand into a tight ball and at 12:04 am on January 25th, 1996, Hang Man Snyder pulled the wooden lever, instantly releasing the trap door, a sound that pierced the midnight air. Billy’s body followed by 5 feet of Manilla Rope snapped to a halt just above the ground. A witness had described to the Washinton Post that the body was like a ragdoll swinging with its head tilted to the side at a sharp angle. Billy’s body spun around counterclockwise six times and rotated back once. A canvas tarp was put up to hide the body and Billy’s white tennis shoes were still seen swaying underneath, a very morbid scene some described. Billy was pronounced dead at 12:15 am and became the last man hanged in American history. 150 demonstrators for and against the death penalty waited outside the yard. This was a historical moment, the first hanging in 50 years. Only 25 other people had been hanged in Delaware from 1904 to 1946 and fun fact, executions were still carried out in public up until 1935.

The Aftermath

After the hanging the victim's great grandson, Chris Lambertson, age 20, reportedly told people “I'm out here to see that justice is served.” and “Just because Billy Bailey wanted their truck, he killed my Great-Grandparents without a doubt, He should die.” Their grandson Dennis had said “One of them watched the other one get blown away. They were kind, old, feeble people. My grandfather kind of wobbled when he walked.” And Mary-Ann proclaimed “I think it’s really past time this should have come about. It’s been too many years. I happened to be the poor soul who found the bodies, and it was a gruesome sight.”

And finally, Billy’s lawyer, Mr. Lyons, described the hanging method as “medieval” and said “If we are proud of what we’ve done today, ask yourself why we do it in the middle of the night. If we are proud of what we’ve done today, ask yourself why we hood those who are part of the execution.”

And with that Billy’s sentence was served...