Is justice served by executing a man with the mind of a 10-year-old?
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At age 23, while still living at home, David was hired as a security guard at Chateau Carolands mansion in Hillsborough, which at the time was vacant. David had an obsession with being a policeman, and being a security guard was a second-best goal, even though he was not psychologically equipped to handle either job.
One day two teenagers, Jeanine Grinsell and Laurie McKenna, came to the mansion and asked for a tour. Tours were forbidden, but local teenagers often asked security guards for private tours, and David and other guards often provided them.
After giving the girls a tour, David heard police outside; he panicked and locked them in a basement vault. Not knowing what to do with them - behavior consistent with his mental deficits - David first sought sexual contact with the girls and then, in frustration, hit and stabbed them. He forced them into the trunk of his car, took them to the garage of the home he shared with his father and sister, and eventually drove them late at night to a remote area where he pushed them down a ravine.
Jeanine died a few hours later while undergoing surgery for her injuries. David was arrested later that day. Displaying extreme distress during the interrogation (also consistent with his autism and mental retardation), David confessed.