Gaston prosecutor refuses confessed killer’s request for fast trial

A confessed killer says he only has four months to live and wants to be tried in a Gaston County murder case before he dies.

But a prosecutor told The Gaston Gazette that 58-year-old Jerry Case is already serving a 30-year sentence in an unrelated kidnapping case, and he sees no reason to waste taxpayer money.

Case wrote the newspaper a letter recently saying he has lung cancer and will die in months. He is awaiting trial in the 1985 killing of 17-year-old Chris Farmer. He was charged after writing a letter confessing.

But Case says he will only plead guilty if he can get the death penalty. Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell says that isn’t possible and Case is just playing games with the legal system. Associated Press

This story was originally published September 6, 2015 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Gaston prosecutor refuses confessed killer’s request for fast trial."