Quincy Allen Sentenced to Death

(Columbia) - A Richland County judge sentenced Quincy Allen to death on Friday afternoon in connection with the 2002 deaths of two people in Richland County.Last month, Allen pled guilty to the shotgun deaths of 44-year-old Dale Evonne Hall and 22-year-old Jedediah Harr in the summer of 2002. Allen had earlier pled not guilty by reason of insanity.Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper, Jr., had to choose between a death sentence for Allen or life in prison without parole. Cooper set an execution date of September 18, 2005; although the sentence will be automatically appealed.Allen's attorneys argued that his life should be spared because he had a history of mental illness, but the judge disagreed.Allen's legs shook while Cooper gave his reasoning for the death penalty; he looked down as the sentence was read.Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has said the killings were part of a multistate crime spree.Allen was previously sentenced to life in prison in North Carolina for killing a store clerk and a customer at a convenience store in Dobson, N.C. in August 2002.In North Carolina, Allen also pled guilty as jury selection was starting in a death penalty trial. Allen was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty in February 2004.In interviews with authorities, Allen repeatedly said the killings of convenience store clerk Richard Hawks, 53, of Lowgap and customer Robert Shane Roush, 29, of Lancaster, Ohio, were fate and that he was operating under control of the grim reaper.