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Sex offender pleads guilty to raping, strangling Clemson coed
Inman says he wants death penalty at Sept. 8 sentencing
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Jerry Buck Inman, of Dandridge, Tenn.,right, talks to his attorney Jim Bannister, before pleading guilty in the 2006 death of Clemson University student Tiffany Marie Souers Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008, in Pickens, S.C. The convicted sex offender admitted Tuesday that he strangled the 20-year-old South Carolina college student two years ago, leaving her body in her off-campus apartment with her bikini top still wrapped around her neck.(AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
The Associated Press
Jerry Buck Inman
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PICKENS — A convicted sex offender spotted a college student outside her South Carolina apartment two years ago, then slipped through her patio door and raped and strangled her, leaving the bikini top still wrapped around her neck, according to a confession revealed during his guilty plea Tuesday.
Jerry Buck Inman, 37, admitted to authorities shortly after his June 2006 arrest that he raped and killed 20-year-old Tiffany Marie Souers of Ladue, Mo., but his statements to police were not made public until Tuesday.
Inman could face the death penalty when he is sentenced Sept. 8. A defense psychiatrist testified that's exactly what he wants.
"He wishes to die for what he's done," said Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts, a forensic psychiatrist with the University of South Carolina. "He has consistently stated that."
The psychiatrist said Inman takes medication for a mood disorder, but "he absolutely knows what he's doing."
The Clemson University engineering student's body was discovered May 26, 2006, at her apartment just a few miles from this campus in rural northwestern South Carolina.
Authorities said Inman's DNA matched samples taken from Souers' apartment, and he was arrested during a nationwide manhunt near his mother's home in Dandridge, Tenn., about two weeks after Souers' body was found.
Inman, bald with tattoos on his neck, both arms and chest, still appeared menacing in court despite handcuffs and shackles. He stared straight ahead during much of the court hearing, biting his lip as he answered yes or no to basic questions.
Inman also faces charges in the attempted rape of a 24-year-old woman in Rainsville, Ala., and in the rape of a 28-year-old woman in Sevierville, Tenn.
Authorities have said those crimes occurred in the days leading up to Souers' death.
Inman said everything in handwritten confessions he gave to police shortly after his arrest were true.
"I did not go there to kill her. I don't want to talk about the sex part, but I did have sex with her," he wrote.
Inman wrote that he knew Souers would recognize him, so he killed her. He bound and strangled her with what he found in her room.
"I knew Tiffany was dead because she stopped struggling," he wrote.
Inman spent about 18 years in prison in North Carolina and Florida for rapes committed in those states as a teenager. He was free for about nine months before his June 2006 arrest.
In his confession, Inman wrote he was living with a cousin at the time and "was not adjusting well to being out of jail, so I decided to get away."
Inman, who finished the eighth grade and previously worked construction, wrote that he'd run out of money when he reached Clemson and was "looking for some place to rob." He said he spotted Souers on her front porch earlier in the day, then drove around until nearly 1 a.m., went in through her patio door and woke her up.
Prosecutor Bob Ariail said Inman later tried to use Souer's credit card six times at two different bank ATM machines but didn't enter the correct personal identification number. In his statements, Inman said Souer's had given him her PIN, but he'd forgotten it.
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need to update this story, the hearing has been delayed 3 times since 12;30
I believe in forgivness completly, and he should ask for it before I could get him to the front steps of the Courthouse where we would have SC first public hanging in years. A-MEN
As I have said before, he will sit on death row for 20 years at the expense of taxpayers.
in response to clemson_girl
If you don't like the system do something to change it! Being a sideline Sally accomplishes nothing.
in response to quy
Nothing you can do quy. Why dont you suggest something instead of calling people names.
I got 17 cent's I'd be willing to spare to buy the bullet.
Hell, I'll supply the gun.
And I for one don't believe in forgiveness when it comes to something like this.
I honestly hope this guy rots in hell.
Right or wrong, it's the way I feel.
He want's the death penalty so does an overwhelming majority of the public.
Sure hope some soft judge doesn't give him life in prison.
That guy looks like pure evil.
It is not my place to forgive, nor is it anyone elses but the victims. Since the Tiffany is dead, how can he be forgiven? Anyone? Guess what, he can't.
The victims in TN and AL have a say in what happens...
in response to quy
And just what are you doing to change the system?
This animal, an insult to animals, should never have been walking the streets. The system failed Tiffany. I hope we have an express lane to the death chamber. If I have ever seen a situation that requires immediate execution, this is it! If you want to change the system, quit electing lawyers to the legislature that past the laws and control the courts that oversee these laws. There is no seperation of power from the legislature to the courts. This is why we get no tort reform and have so many frivolous lawsuits. If a person had to pay all court cost, lawyer fees and loss of wages if they lose a lawsuit, there would be a lot less lawsuits.
i still think his lawyers are up to something by him pleading guilty and wants to be executed.some will say he's crazy for asking for that and that might be a loophole for mentally insane plea.
Inman does not deserve another breath of fresh air... I hope the judge will put a quick and fatal end to this foolish waste of time and money.....
He pled guilty, he may get life. The man from Atlanta that killed the two women in their own homes, got life. Last week the man who pled guilty to murder for killing two dope dealers, got life.
I know murder is murder but sometimes it seems odd that the worst killers get the same as others.
in response to The_Sundance_Kid
I agree with you 100%
It's the way I feel too!!
Isn't death an easy way out for him? If he gets life then he will have to think about what he did for the rest of his life.
in response to allforHIM
People like this idiot don't think like that. He has no remorse for what he did. He feels nothing for his victim. He used her as a way to get back to the only life he's known....prison.
I say give him to those guys that were making the beheading videos a few years ago. Tell them he's an important citizen here. Let them take care of him!
I say drop him in the middle of the Atlantic and tell him if he makes it to shore he's free. Let him experience his last moments in terror while he fights to live....just like the girl.
in response to Laughing_Out_Loud
Sounds like a good idea to me!
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