Jonathan Binney is a convicted South Carolina murderer who was sentenced to death in 2002 for shooting Judy Lynne Southern during a home burglary in Cherokee County two years earlier. He spent about 16 years on death row before a November 2018 hearing vacated his death sentence and resentenced him to life in prison. By then he had legally changed his name to Taylor Alex Cross.1The Gaffney Ledger. Convicted Murderer Gets Reprieve From Death Sentence
The Murder of Judy Lynne Southern
On June 7, 2000, Binney, then 26, climbed through an unlocked window at the home of Judy Lynne Southern and her husband Allen on Cowpens-Pacolet Highway after the couple left for work. Inside, he cut the phone lines and disabled potential weapons.2FindLaw. State v. Binney, No. 25920 Southern, a 39-year-old mail carrier, came home around 3:30 p.m. and found him hiding in the bathroom. He shot her in the stomach, chased her outside, and fired again before running into the woods.3GoUpstate. Gowdy to Seek Death Penalty Against Binney
Southern got out of the house and used her cell phone to call her husband’s business, Westlane Bowling Alley, to report she had been shot. When Allen Southern arrived, she identified Binney as her attacker. She died that night at Mary Black Memorial Hospital. She was survived by her husband and a young son, Jacob, who was about seven at the time.4GoUpstate. Man Faces Charges of Murder
Binney later told investigators he had never met Southern before that day. He left a suicide note at the scene, signed in his name, expressing remorse.3GoUpstate. Gowdy to Seek Death Penalty Against Binney
Arrest and Confession
Sheriff’s deputies launched a manhunt. The next morning, June 8, 2000, they found Binney hiding in the crawl space beneath his estranged wife’s home on the same highway.3GoUpstate. Gowdy to Seek Death Penalty Against Binney Before officers read him his Miranda rights, Binney asked Deputy Steve Reynolds, “She’s dead, isn’t she?” When Reynolds asked who, he replied, “The woman I shot.”5South Carolina Judicial Department. State v. Binney, Opinion No. 25920
Cherokee County Public Defender Don Thompson was assigned to represent Binney and repeatedly told law enforcement not to interrogate him. On June 14, 2000, SLED agent DeWitt “Spike” McCraw told a jailer that if Binney wanted to talk to a detective, he should put the request in writing. Binney did, stating in his handwritten note that he did not want an attorney present. During the interrogation that followed, he signed a five-page written confession and a waiver of his rights.2FindLaw. State v. Binney, No. 25920 He also led officers into the woods near the victim’s home, where they recovered the murder weapon and his moped. In the confession, Binney wrote that “the crime I committed definitely warrants” the death penalty.5South Carolina Judicial Department. State v. Binney, Opinion No. 25920
The Pending Charge Against His Infant Daughter
When he killed Southern, Binney was free on a $10,000 bond for first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. The charge involved the sexual assault of his three-month-old daughter. Trial testimony described injuries so severe the infant suffered massive internal damage, and Binney told investigators he had penetrated the child with a sexual device. He was convicted of that charge in April 2001 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.6GoUpstate. Jurors Hear Lurid Details in Jonathan Binney Trial By his own account to investigators, anxiety over that pending charge was a driving force behind the events of June 7, 2000.2FindLaw. State v. Binney, No. 25920
The Capital Murder Trial
Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy announced in March 2001 that the State would seek the death penalty.3GoUpstate. Gowdy to Seek Death Penalty Against Binney The trial took place in November 2002 in the Cherokee County courthouse before Circuit Judge Derham Cole, with Gowdy prosecuting alongside Deputy Solicitor Donnie Willingham. Defense attorneys Mitch Slade and Trent Pruett had been appointed to represent Binney at trial.7GoUpstate. Testimony Begins in Death Penalty Trial
The defense did not argue Binney was innocent. Slade and Pruett tried to suppress his incriminating statements, arguing the June 14 confession was obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel because the SLED agent’s instruction to the jailer circumvented the public defender’s repeated warnings not to question him.5South Carolina Judicial Department. State v. Binney, Opinion No. 25920 They also told jurors Binney was suicidal at the time and “would say practically anything.”7GoUpstate. Testimony Begins in Death Penalty Trial
Prosecutors put in the written confession, the suicide note from the scene, Binney’s spontaneous statements to Deputy Reynolds, and the physical evidence recovered from the woods. They acknowledged they lacked a clear motive beyond the letter Binney had left, which expressed desperation over the pending sexual assault charge.7GoUpstate. Testimony Begins in Death Penalty Trial Binney’s own attitude cut against the defense. He had told his public defender and others he wanted the death penalty, and his confession said as much in writing.5South Carolina Judicial Department. State v. Binney, Opinion No. 25920 The jury convicted him of murder and first-degree burglary and sentenced him to death.
The Appeals
On direct appeal, Binney raised a single issue: whether the trial judge should have suppressed the June 14 confession. The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence on January 10, 2005, holding that Binney never asked for a lawyer during his arrest, incarceration, or questioning, and that he knowingly waived his Fifth Amendment rights. The court concluded police did not initiate the interrogation; the SLED agent’s message was an invitation for Binney to initiate contact, which he did, motivated in part by a desire to be taken off suicide watch. A mandatory proportionality review found the death sentence was not excessive compared to similar cases.5South Carolina Judicial Department. State v. Binney, Opinion No. 25920
Binney filed for post-conviction relief on April 7, 2006, alleging his trial attorneys had been ineffective in both the guilt and sentencing phases. He claimed counsel failed to investigate the facts of the victim’s death, failed to develop and present mitigating evidence, and failed to investigate potential defenses.8South Carolina Judicial Department. State v. Binney, Opinion No. 26723 The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court on a petition for certiorari, which was denied on April 18, 2016.9Supreme Court of the United States. Docket No. 15-881, South Carolina v. Binney
Resentencing to Life and Name Change
After roughly 16 years on death row, Binney had his death sentence vacated following a November 2018 hearing and was resentenced to life in prison. He was 44 at the time and had legally changed his name to Taylor Alex Cross.1The Gaffney Ledger. Convicted Murderer Gets Reprieve From Death Sentence Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, who had succeeded Gowdy, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome. The specific legal grounds for the reduction were not detailed in available reporting. He is serving that life sentence in the South Carolina prison system under the name Taylor Alex Cross.