Stephen Stanko, Grand Strand’s notorious double murderer, fights death penalty
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to accurately reflect which lawyers Stephen Stanko says was ineffective.
Lawyers for notorious killer Stephen Stanko described their efforts to keep him off death row, even as they believed he was a brutal murderer.
Two of Stanko’s lawyers from his capital-murder trial took the witness stand Monday in Georgetown Circuit Court. Several people testified as Stanko continues his efforts to get off death row and face a new trial.
“I don’t think there is any question Stephen did it,” said Bill Diggs, who represented Stanko in Horry and Georgetown counties. “I can’t imagine him doing what was done in this case without some reason.”
Diggs said they presented an insanity defense because they didn’t believe Stanko was in his right mind when he killed two people nearly 14 years ago.
In April 2005, Stanko killed his girlfriend, 43-year-old Laura Ling, in a Murrells Inlet home. He then raped and assaulted Ling’s 15-year-old daughter and left her to die. She survived the attack.
Stanko later drove Ling’s car to 74-year-old Henry Turner’s Conway home and killed him. He then stole Turner’s truck and fled to Columbia. There, he claimed to be a New York millionaire and flirted with several women at a restaurant. After he traveled to Augusta, Georgia, he met another woman and spent a weekend with her before he was arrested.
Stanko was sentenced to death for both killings and is on death row at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia.
Stanko was released from prison on kidnapping, assault and other charges a year before he met Ling.
The 50-year-old Stanko had a previous request for a new trial rejected. In this request, a judge found Stanko’s trial lawyers did not meet the qualifications to represent him in his appeal of the capital case. If granted, Stanko could get a new trial.
Stanko, with salt-and-pepper hair and beard, sat handcuffed wearing a green jumpsuit as he listened to the testimony.
Diggs described his client as a “gentle, nice man,” and said there had to be an underlying factor for the crime. The defense presented an insanity defense because Stanko blacked out and didn’t remember the spree. Several doctors testified during the trial that Stanko was insane when committing the crimes.
However, one of Stanko’s other attorneys, Gerald Alan Kelly, said he disagreed with the defense as Stanko did not meet the legal definition.
Stanko also was not forthcoming with attorneys as they worked on his defense, Kelly said.
“There was no doubt in my mind that he committed the crimes,” Kelly said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 11:06 AM.
