www.goupstate.com/news/20021115/jury-says-murderer-should-die
' Binney was convicted on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor because he sexually assaulted his infant daughter so forcefully that she suffered massive internal injuries. In closing arguments Thursday afternoon, Gowdy showed jurors a graphic color photograph of the damage Binney had done to his daughter. He reminded the panel that Binney had told investigators he killed Southern because he didn’t want to go to prison as a child molester and suffer sexual abuse by other inmates. “Child molesters are weak in prison,” Gowdy said. ”(Binney) wanted to go out with a bigger bang. He wanted to go as a murderer or a rapist because they’re strong in prison.”
Prosecutors also told the jury that Binney was obsessed with child pornography and dark sexual fantasies involving children and adults. Amanda Simmons, a State Law Enforcement Division agent who conducts forensic examinations of computers, testified that she had found more than 20,000 images of adult and child pornography in Binney’s computer.'
www.sccourts.org/opinions/advSheets/no22005.pdf
'After hearing of Binney’s arrest, Don Thompson (Thompson), Public
Defender for Cherokee County, went to the jail to talk to Binney. Binney told Thompson that he wanted the death penalty, and Thompson told Binney not to talk to the police. Thompson met with Binney again a few days later, and Binney was still determined to get the death penalty '
'He explained that before he was tried for the CSC charge, Bannister, Binney’s lawyer at the time, told him that, if convicted, he would be sentenced to ten years, at the very least. The potential for substantial, future jail time made Binney very anxious. He went to a local shopping center and found a friend who sold him a handgun. He then went to the victim’s house and hid just off the property line and watched the house and looked for activity. Binney never met the victim before the day of the murder. He stayed in the surrounding woods overnight thinking about whether he should just go into the house “to commit suicide or rape someone, or to just shoot all of them and kill [himself].”
'The next morning, he waited until the victim and her husband left the
house and then entered the house through an unlocked window. He cut all the phone lines in the house and put kitchen knives and other possible weapons out of reach. Late that afternoon, the victim came home and found Binney in her bathroom. The victim startled Binney because he did not hear her enter the house. Binney fired the gun in her direction and then chased her out of the house. Once outside, he shot in her direction again to “keep her scared and running” and then ran in the opposite direction into the woods. He ran home and hid under his house, where he was later found by police. In his June 14 statement, Binney requested that he be given the death penalty: “the crime I committed definitely warrants it.”
Anyway, suffice to say after raping his daughter & murdering a woman with the intent to be executed, he's had a change of heart and is now a transwoman called Taylor Alex Cross, and has won a reprieve from the death penalty.
www.gaffneyledger.com/articles/convicted-murderer-gets-reprieve-from-death-sentence/
'Through a written contract signed by multiple parties, Binney/Cross agreed to never again appeal the 2002 murder conviction or punishment if sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Binney/Cross also agreed never to seek parole, even if state law is later changed.'
'Reflecting that Binney/Cross identifies as transgender and given the legal name change, defense attorneys used ink pens to correct the typed legal contract between “The State of South Carolina and Taylor Alex Cross, aka Jonathan Kyle Binney” to change all references of “he” to “she.”'