Killer says he'd make deal for life sentence

The offer would preclude a new sentencing for a man convicted of murder and first sentenced to death.

By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 11, 2002

DADE CITY -- Death row inmate Edward Eugene Ragsdale is offering to spend the rest of his life in prison to get out from under the death sentence he is awaiting, a prosecutor said in court Thursday.

Ragsdale, 41, formerly of Zephyrhills, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1988 and sentenced to death for his role in the New Year's Day 1986 murder of 70-year-old retired steelworker Ernest Mace in his Zephyrhills mobile home. Ragsdale's cohort, Leon Lee Illig, 33, pleaded no contest in the attack and is serving a life sentence.

After a jury voted 8-4 in favor of the death penalty for Ragsdale, he began appealing, arguing that court-appointed attorney Robert Culpepper didn't tell the jury about his past, including a bad childhood, drug abuse and accidents that may have caused brain damage.

If jurors had known about his damaged brain and psyche, they might have opted for life in prison, Ragsdale's latest attorney, Mark Gruber, argued in 1999.

Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson rejected those arguments, but the Florida Supreme Court in October reversed the judge and ordered a new sentencing hearing where Ragsdale can again argue for a life sentence rather than death.

That might not be necessary, Ragsdale said in court Thursday.

"I want a pretrial conference with the state to see if we can't work something out," Ragsdale told Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb.

Prosecutor Manny Garcia said Ragsdale has agreed to settle the issue and accept a life prison sentence if the state will stop pursuing death.

Garcia said the ultimate decision on Ragsdale's offer rests with State Attorney Bernie McCabe.

In the meantime, Cobb appointed the Public Defender's Office to review the case, and if that office is unable to work the case because of a conflict of interest, he said he would appoint a private attorney.

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