Judge to decide whether convicted killer Stephen Stanko gets new trial

After listening to two days of testimony, a circuit court judge now must decide whether death-row murderer Stephen Stanko should get a new trial in the 2005 killing of his live-in girlfriend in their shared Murrells Inlet home.

Testimony concluded Tuesday evening in Stanko’s post-conviction relief hearing where he sought a new trial because he claimed his original attorneys were ineffective during his 2006 trial and several other legal issues.

Circuit Court Judge W. Jeffrey Young will issue his decision later.

The 47-year-old’s trial attorney, Bill Diggs, testified for nearly four hours Tuesday afternoon about his representation of Stanko and his thought process of arriving at the defense that Stanko suffered from a brain defect.

Stanko was sentenced to death after being convicted in 2006 by a Georgetown County jury in the death of his 43-year-old live-in girlfriend, Laura Ling. Stanko also was sentenced to death in the shooting death of 74-year-old Henry Turner of Conway. He also has appealed that decision and is awaiting a judge’s decision.

Stanko’s crime spree took place in April 2005, when Stanko brutally killed Ling in the Murrells Inlet home that he shared with her and Ling’s then-15-year-old daughter, who also was also beaten, raped and left for dead, official said.

On Tuesday, Diggs disputed testimony from the previous day that he used drugs during the time he represented Stanko. Diggs also invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked about why he was suspended in September from practicing law by a state legal disciplinary counsel.

“It has nothing to do with drug use or this case,” Diggs said.

Diggs also disputed claims made by another attorney and specialists, who worked on the case with him, that the group did not agree on the way they were going to defend Stanko during trial. Diggs had previously worked on six death penalty cases and had one acquittal in another Georgetown County case.

“I knew it was going to be difficult to defend. I looked at the case and realized there was no defense in explaining why he did this and the justification,” Diggs said and noted that’s when he realized they needed to look at mental illness and brain issues with Stanko.

“Laura Ling was one of the few people in the world who cared about Stephen. . . .When you meet him in person he comes across as quite normal and a likeable person,” Diggs said. “I came up with the question of what the brain does and I went to a couple of experts and came up with the defense from that.”

Scans of Stanko’s brain and experts said he had brain deficits that impacted his ability to think clearly and so Diggs said he decided on the defense that Stanko was insane at the time he killed Ling.

“No one could look at the facts of this case and come out and not say this man is sick,” Diggs said. “Stephen is very smart, he has a very high IQ. He fully understood what the defense was about. I think he was at peace with it because he understood how it happened and why it happened.”

Stanko’s attorney in the hearing, Stuart Axelrod asked Diggs why he never petitioned for lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter to be presented to the jury during the trial. Axelrod said Stanko told a psychiatrist that Ling slapped his cigarette during an argument and it went into his eye and burnt him. After that Stanko said he didn’t remember the killing or assault until he was in the shower, Axelrod said.

“I never considered presenting that. I didn’t want to be seen as blaming the victim,” Diggs said. “I never took seriously the idea that I could use that as a defense and ask for a lesser charge.”

Stanko became upset and spoke aloud during Tuesday’s hearing when Diggs said he thought Ling was the only person to help Stanko by taking him into her home.

“If Laura hadn’t come along I think Stephen would have been homeless,” Diggs said.

Stanko shook his head and said, “He’s lying.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Judge to decide whether convicted killer Stephen Stanko gets new trial."