Billy Ray Hamilton (a.k.a. "Country") (1950–October 22, 2007) was an American convicted

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

er who conspired with

Clarence Ray Allen Clarence Ray Allen (January 16, 1930 – January 17, 2006) was an American criminal and proxy murder, proxy killer who was executed in 2006 at the age of 76 by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California for the murders of three pe ...

to murder eight

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

es to a crime committed by Allen in 1974. Hamilton met Allen in

Folsom Prison Folsom State Prison (FSP) is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, U.S., approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabil ...

in 1979. Allen befriended Hamilton and allegedly offered to pay him $25,000 to carry out the murders. At Folsom Prison, Allen used to refer to Hamilton as his "good dog", though at the time of Allen's trial, he claimed to only have met Hamilton three or four times. After Hamilton was

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

d from Folsom Prison, Kenneth Allen, one of Allen's sons supplied Hamilton with $100. Hamilton and his girlfriend Connie Barbo went to Fran's Market in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

where one of the witnesses, Bryon Schletewitz worked. On September 5, 1980, Hamilton murdered Schletewitz and fellow employees Josephine Rocha, 17, and Douglas White, 18, with a

sawn-off shotgun A sawed-off shotgun (also called a sawn-off shotgun, short-barreled shotgun, shorty or a boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under —and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, b ...

and wounded two other people, Joe Rios and Jack Abbott. Hamilton shot Schletewitz at near point-blank range in the forehead and murdered Rocha and White after forcing them to lie on the ground within the store. A neighbor, Jack Abbott, who heard the shotgun blasts came to investigate and was shot by Hamilton. Abbott returned fire and wounded Hamilton, who escaped from the scene. Five days after the events at Fran's Market, Hamilton was

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

ed shortly after

robbing Robbing is a term used in beekeeping. Bees from one beehive will try to rob honey from another hive. Occurrence Robbing behavior is especially strong when there is little nectar in the field. Strong colonies with the largest stores are the mos ...

liquor store A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

, California. Hamilton carried a list with the names and addresses of the witnesses who

testified In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. La ...

against Allen at the Kitts trial, including the name of Schletewitz. Hamilton was tried in

Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

, California. The jury convicted Hamilton of three counts of murder, one count of attempted robbery and two counts of

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

with a

deadly weapon A deadly weapon, sometimes dangerous weapon (although some jurisdictions differentiate between the two) or lethal weapon, is an item that can inflict mortal or great bodily harm. By statutory definition, certain items, especially firearms, are de ...

. As special circumstances making Hamilton eligible for the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, the jury found that Hamilton had committed murder-robbery, and multiple murders predicated on the killing of other victims. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of death, and the Contra Costa County Superior Court sentenced Hamilton on March 2, 1981. Hamilton was on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

in California where he died from cancer on October 22, 2007 at the age of 58.

External links

* * * American people convicted of murder 2007 deaths American prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by California People convicted of murder by California Prisoners who died in California detention American people who died in prison custody Year of birth missing {{Crime-bio-stub

See also

External links