Steven Lewis Whittaker, 61 of Rossville, Georgia, was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a knife while in commission of a felony after a two day trial in Walker County Georgia. The case involved the murder of Leon “Buddy” Hankins.
Hankins and Whittaker had been friends for many years before the violence that occurred on August 17, 2018. The two men were in Whittaker’s home drinking. A highly intoxicated Whittaker contacted 911 at 10:58 pm reporting that there was a “Dead Man Down” in his home. Walker County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived less than 10 minutes after being dispatched and encountered Whittaker standing in the kitchen and observed the body of Mr. Hankins lying in a massive pool of blood that had already begun to coagulate.
Detective Eddie Hill of the Walker County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case. Whittaker first claimed that Hankins had attacked him and subsequently Whittaker killed him in retaliation. Although he would later tell police that he did not remember what happened but guessed that he just came unglued. Whittaker also told Detective Hill that Hankins generally cowered to him, and his friend “could not fight his way out of a paper bag.”
The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Chris A. Arnt and was tried before Superior Court Judge Hon. Don W. Thompson. During the trial, neighbors who knew both men testified that they had witnessed previous acts of physical violence by Whittaker against Hankins and that Whittaker became particularly cruel and violent when he would drink liquor; with one neighbor saying, “It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when he would get on the liquor, he would get real bad.”
Arnt presented evidence from Dr. Keith Lehman, a medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation State Crime laboratory. Dr. Lehman detailed the extensive and severe injuries inflicted on Hankins including a serious beating and more than 50 stab and cut wounds to the head and neck area. The medical examiner described a blow the head so violent that it had broken Hankins neck and evidence of intense strangulation. Some of the injuries appeared to have been inflicted at the immediate time of death or after Hankins was already dead.
District Attorney Arnt described this as “A horrific and brutal assault. Mr. Hankins would have been utterly defenseless through much of the attack, yet the defendant continued to violently assault him. I am pleased to get this measure of justice for Mr. Hankins and his family and to know that this violent criminal will be off our streets for good.”
During the sentencing hearing the State presented multiple prior felony convictions against Whittaker. Judge Thompson told Whittaker that he was disturbed by the violence and brutality of the assault and said, “If you could do this to your longtime friend, I would hate to see what you would do to someone else.” Whittaker was then sentenced to serve the remainder of his natural life in prison without the possibility of parole as a recidivist. He was also sentenced to an additional five years for possessing a knife during his felonious assault on Hankins
Press Release, Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit.