Guy Heinze Jr
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To get this episode of Forensic Tales ad-free, check us out at patreon.com slash Forensic Tales. Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. In August 2009, Georgia police accused a 22-year-old man of murdering eight members of his very own family.

The case quickly gained national media attention for being the worst mass murder in Glenn County history. But the man accused claims he's innocent. He's even got an alibi. With little forensic evidence collected at the crime scene, do police have enough evidence to put a man behind bars for the rest of his life? This is Forensic Tales, episode number 113, The Guy Hines Jr. Story.

Welcome to Forensic Tales. I'm your host, Courtney Fretwell-Ariola.

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The city of Brunswick is the county seat for Glynn County, Georgia. It's the state's second largest urban area on the Georgia coast and is known for its Brunswick stew, a tomato and vegetable based stew. Brunswick is central to Georgia's economy.

The city is the center of Georgia's shipping industry. It's also a place you might not know even existed until August of 2009 when the entire country knew about Brunswick. Around 8.15 a.m. on August 29, 2009, the police received a disturbing 911 call.

Margaret Orlinsky told the police dispatcher that her neighbor had just knocked on her front door and he was hysterical. He said to her that his entire family was dead. He said someone had beaten them to death. Here's a short clip of that chilling 911 call.

911, where's your emergency? New Hope Plantation, Highway 17 North. Okay, by New Hope? What's going on, ma'am? There's a kid that I just gave home, and his whole family is dead. He's kind of hysterical. I can't understand. I haven't gone over there yet. Okay, tell me what the address is. Try and get that address for me. 145-146-1. It's around to the back side. New Hope Plantation? Yes, ma'am.

He just came screaming over up to my dog. My dog's a bite. He's got a dog out there too that on the porch that may bite. I'm going to have to try to contain him. This is Guy. I don't know what his last name is. He said his dad is dead. Rusty's dead. He said everybody's dead. I know there's a house full of people that live there. What's his name? He's freaking out. It's Guy.

What's his last name? Guy, what's your last name? What's your last name, honey? Huh? Yeah, here, talk to him. I just got home. My whole family's dead. Okay, tell me what's going on, Sarah. I just got home from, I was at a restaurant. I got home just now, and everybody's dead. I was at my dad's dead. How many people are there?

That's my whole family's dead. It looks like they've been beaten to death. I don't know, but I'm in hell here. Okay. I can see your breath. They've got them coming for you. Just stay on the line with me, okay? They're coming for you. My family's dead. How many people are there? Your dad? Who else is there? My dad, my uncle, my cousins.

He's on the porch right now. He's on the porch? Uh-huh. I'm still right on the line. I haven't gotten off the phone with him. I'm going to say, is it okay if I stay on the line with you, ma'am, until they get there? Okay, here's our manager. My name's Mike. I'm the maintenance out here. Okay, what's going on, Mike? The guy who lives two doors out from me, his name is Guy Junior. I don't know his last name.

She said his whole family's dead in here in the trailer. I'm standing right here in front of the trailer. I'm afraid to go in there. Yeah, no one should go in right now. Okay, I called the manager. She's supposed to be over here in a minute. Okay, yeah, we have everyone in route for you. We've got fire, EMS, and police coming to you. But I do want to stay on the line with everybody. Yeah, Tom, in a hurry. Do you think Michael's still alive? Someone's still alive? Is Mike still breathing? I can't go in there.

The first voice you hear on the phone call is the neighbor Margaret, and the hysterical person is 22-year-old Guy Hines Jr. I know some of the audio is a little hard to understand, but what he says is this. His entire family is dead. He just got home and found his entire family dead inside of the family's trailer.

He says he thinks they may have been beaten to death. Now, this is a key detail that I want you to remember. He says he thinks they're beaten to death. A few moments later, the property maintenance manager gets on the line. He says that someone might still be alive, a guy named Michael.

The police are on their way to the trailer, but their first priority is to preserve the crime scene. So the 911 dispatcher tells them, do not touch anything. Don't touch any doorknobs. Don't go back inside. Do not touch anything. A few minutes later, police and paramedics arrived at New Hope Mobile Home Park. When they got inside the tiny trailer home, they found seven people dead and two others critically wounded.

The victims were 45-year-old Guy Hines Sr., 44-year-old Rusty Toler Sr., his three kids, 22-year-old Chrissy Toler, 20-year-old Russell Toler Jr., and 15-year-old Michelle Toler. Also killed were 49-year-old Brenda Gale Flanagan and Joseph West, the 30-year-old boyfriend of Chrissy Toler.

The two victims who were initially found alive were Chrissy's 3-year-old son, Byron Jimerson Jr., and 19-year-old Michael Toller. However, Michael Toller died the following day in the hospital from his injuries, leaving the sole survivor of the 3-year-old. Guy William Hines Sr. was Guy Jr.'s father. He used to work as a truck driver, but moved in with the Toller family when Guy was just a teenager.

Before his murder, he'd recently won a civil lawsuit for a mobile home he owned. But because the case was under appeal, he hadn't received any of the $25,000 payout, so he continued to live with the Tollers while waiting for his payout. Since they all lived together in this tiny trailer home, Guy Jr. considered Rusty Toller to be his uncle, and therefore his four kids were practically his cousins.

44-year-old Rusty Toler Sr. was a simple guy who enjoyed spending his weekends fishing. He worked at a plant next door to the trailer park for the last 20 years and was considered to be a model employee. At the time of his murders, the plant was temporarily shut down. Then there was Rusty's 22-year-old daughter, Chrissy Toler. Chrissy had a rough start in life that started in middle school.

She'd been arrested countless times after dropping out of high school at 16 years old. She was currently serving a 10-year probation sentence for pleading guilty to a conspiracy to commit armed robbery charge. She had a three-year-old son, Byron Jimerson, found a previous relationship. Her son's father was actually her co-conspirator in the armed robbery case and was currently serving 20 years in prison.

Rusty's three other children were also murdered. Michael, Russell Jr., and Michelle. Unlike their older sister Chrissy, they were pretty good kids with only a few minor run-ins with the police. In fact, classmates of 15-year-old Michelle described her as a good person who was always happy and she always had a smile on her face. She didn't follow in her older sister's footsteps.

Also living in the trailer was Rusty Toller's older sister, Brenda Flanagan. Brenda was in a wheelchair following a stroke she had suffered several years earlier. After the stroke, she moved in with Rusty because she wasn't able to live on her own. The other person living there was Chrissy Toller's boyfriend, Joseph West. Joseph West spent a lot of time with Chrissy and her son.

Although he wasn't the father of Byron, you couldn't really tell. Joseph looked like he could be the father, but more importantly, he also acted like it. He took care of and looked after Chrissy as well as her son. But he also had a criminal record and had been arrested several times over the years.

Now, just in case you've lost track, you've got 10 people living inside of this tiny 900 square foot trailer home. Guy Hines Sr., Guy Jr., Rusty Toler Sr., and his four children, Michael, Chrissy, Russell Jr., and Michelle. And then you've got Rusty's sister, Brenda, and Chrissy's boyfriend, Joseph West.

So the only two people left alive were Guy Hines Jr., the person that you heard on the 911 call, and then Chrissy's three-year-old son, Byron. Naturally, the first person the police wanted to speak to was Guy Jr. He was the only family member who lived in the trailer left unharmed, and he was the person who discovered the bodies.

When the detectives approached Guy Jr., he was hysterical. He was physically shaking. He looked like someone who just found out that someone had murdered his entire family. Now, the first question the police asked Guy Jr. was this. Are there any weapons inside of the trailer?

Because everyone inside the trailer was killed, they want to see if this was a murder-suicide. And if that's the case, then the murder weapon was still going to be inside. Guy says yes, that there are two shotguns inside the trailer. One 20-gauge shotgun and one 16-gauge shotgun. But that's not all he had to say.

He admitted to detectives that he had taken the 20-gauge shotgun from the trailer and hid it inside the trunk of his car just moments before they arrived. Guy Jr.'s explanation for moving the shotgun was because he had recently paid someone $25 for it, and when he paid this person for it, he knew that the gun was stolen.

So he's thinking that the police, of course, are going to search the entire home. And when they did, they're going to find this stolen shotgun. So to prevent the police from finding it, Guy Jr. said he took it out of the house and decided to hide it in his car.

When the police got their hands on the shotgun, they found dried blood on the wooden stock. And they found blood on the right side of the gun and around the trigger. The police found the other shotgun inside of the trailer. But the only part left of it was the wooden stock. Someone had removed the barrel and only left part of the gun.

Now, the next question the police asked Guy Jr. was this. Where were you when someone murdered your entire family? And this is what he had to say. In his initial statement to the police, Guy Jr. provided an interesting explanation about where he was when the killings took place. He said he was nowhere near the trailer because he had been out all night smoking crack and didn't return home until 8 o'clock that morning.

Okay, let's back up a little bit on this one. The day before the murders, so this is on August 28th, 2009, Guy Jr. hung out with his friend Zachary. Guy Jr. and Zachary both worked for Zachary's father building houses. That day, they carpooled to work together and had lunch together. So everything seemed completely normal up until this point. But then,

When they got off work, Guy Jr. wanted to go buy some cocaine so he could get high. So around 11.30 p.m., they went to a local trap house and bought some cocaine. After scoring the crack, they then went together to Fort Barrington in McIntosh County to smoke. Around 1.30 a.m., he leaves Fort Barrington to go buy some more crack from one of his friends.

By 2 o'clock a.m., he decides to drive back to Barrington to smoke some more. A few hours later, around 5 o'clock in the morning, Guy Jr. headed to a Best Western Hotel on St. Simmons Island to meet up with his younger brother, Tyler Hines. He told his brother that he didn't want to go home because he was high on crack and he didn't want his family to see him like that.

But when he knocked on the hotel door, no one answered. So he walked across the street to use a payphone and called Tyler to let him in. Around 5.30 a.m., a witness at the hotel, Jonathan Carmichael, heard Guy Jr. knocking on the hotel door and let him inside. At 7 a.m., Guy Jr. and Tyler went to go have breakfast together and headed back to the trailer park around 8 a.m.,

It was about a 30-minute drive from the Best Western Hotel on St. Simmons Island and the New Hope Mobile Home Park. And that's when he got home and discovered that someone had murdered his family.

Now, obviously, this isn't a very good first impression. First, you've admitted to removing a stolen shotgun from the trailer home just minutes before the police got there. And then now your alibi is that you were out doing drugs all night when someone supposedly murdered your entire family.

Now, when the police spoke with Guy Jr. that morning, he was wearing a blue striped polo shirt, khaki shorts and a pair of flip flops. He didn't have any blood on his hands or arms, and he didn't look like someone who had recently been in a fight. But detectives found blood smears on his khaki shorts.

They also found blood on the gym shorts he wore underneath the khakis. So just to clarify here, Guy Jr. wore gym shorts like underwear. He would wear these gym shorts underneath his regular shorts. So detectives found blood smears on the khaki shorts on top as well as the gym shorts underneath.

But according to Guy Jr., he has a perfectly good explanation for why he's got blood smears on his shorts. He tells them that he went inside the trailer that morning. He went into every single room of it. And when he found Michael, who appeared to still be alive, he said that he sat down with him inside of the trailer until the police arrived. So that's why he's got blood smears on his shorts.

Remember, we've got eight murder victims inside of this tiny 900 square foot trailer home. So it is reasonable to think that if he did go inside, which we know he did, then he's going to get some sort of blood on him. At first, the police didn't know if the victims inside the trailer home, if they were shot or they had been bludgeoned to death.

But what they did know was that blood was everywhere inside of this trailer. So again, if Guy Jr. went inside and checked on each of the victims, then it's very likely that he's going to get some blood on him. When detectives asked Guy Jr. if he had anything, anything at all to do with the murders, he said no. He said he had absolutely nothing to do with it

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The same day his family is found murdered, the police arrested Guy Jr. on evidence tampering and drug possession charges. He's not arrested on any murder charges. Although they kind of suspect that he probably knew more than what he was saying, that's all they could really arrest him on. So the first charge, evidence tampering, is because he went back inside the trailer and took out that stolen shotgun.

And the drug possession charges are because he had cocaine and marijuana on him. So he's arrested on these two charges and the bail in his case is set at $20,000. After the murders, the police held a press conference to basically address what had become the deadliest mass murder in Glenn County history.

Authorities told the public that Guy Hines Jr. wasn't considered an official suspect in his family's murders, but they hadn't ruled him out either. Based on their initial investigation, they said that they believed three or more people were involved in the murders. At this press conference, they also went into details about the autopsies performed on all eight of the victims.

When first responders arrived at the trailer, they couldn't tell what happened to these people. They couldn't even recognize them. Their faces were so badly beaten that they couldn't tell whether someone had shot them or whether someone had beaten them to death. The medical examiner assigned to the case concluded that each of the victims died from what he described as multiple crushing blows to the head.

They all suffered from significant brain and head injuries. They didn't find any bullets in the victims, so the examiner thought that they were not shot to death. Instead, they had been beaten to death. Across all victims, they suffered more than 220 wounds, which equals about 27 and a half injuries each.

Although investigators didn't recover a murder weapon from the trailer, the medical examiner believed the wounds came from a shotgun barrel. He believed all victims were beaten to death with a shotgun. Authorities have said that they didn't consider Guy Jr. an official suspect, but he remained at the top of their list.

Although he denied any involvement in the murders, detectives assembled a grand jury to review the case. They needed more evidence to indict him. Two weeks after the murders, on September 14, 2009, a grand jury indicted Guy Jr. They indicted him on eight counts of malice murder, one count of aggravated assault for the injuries to three-year-old Byron, the sole survivor,

one count of unlawful possession of narcotics, and one count of possession of marijuana. The drug charges are because the police found painkillers as well as marijuana inside Guy Jr.'s car on the morning of the murders.

So now that he's being indicted on murder charges, the judge revoked his $20,000 bond on the previous charges of evidence tampering and drug possession and now set his new bail as no bail. As soon as the grand jury indictment came down, Glynn County prosecutors vowed to seek the death penalty.

This was the biggest mass murder in the county's history, so they were determined to hold the person responsible accountable. Following his arrest, Guy Jr.'s friends and family were outraged. They couldn't believe someone like him could be capable of something like this. And he had a lot of supporters out there who thought that he was a good guy, not the type of person who could beat eight people to death in cold blood.

His family and friends said that Guy Jr. loved his family. He became incredibly close with his father after his mom passed away from a drug overdose. So why would Guy Jr. kill the very people he loved the most? Yes, he did drugs. Yes, he had a criminal record. But was he a cold-blooded killer?

His supporters pointed to an obvious problem. How could one person murder eight people, most of whom were grown adults? We're not talking about someone murdering eight small children. Six out of the eight victims were adults.

We know the victims weren't shot to death. They were all beaten to death inside a 900 square foot trailer home. A trailer home that was never locked because no one living there had a key. There was no air conditioning and the unit didn't even have windows. Could one person really beat eight people to death and get away with it without a scratch on him?

Then finally, what would the motive be for murdering your entire family? If you asked the police and the prosecution, the motive was simple. Drugs and money. Eight people ended up dead over an argument over painkillers. According to the prosecution's narrative, Guy Jr. smoked crack all night and wanted painkillers prescribed to one of the victims, 19-year-old Michael Toler.

Michael Toller was prescribed particular drugs to help with his Down syndrome. That night, Guy Jr. wanted that bottle of painkillers, but Michael Toller wouldn't give it to him. And that's what set everything into motion. High on crack cocaine, Guy Jr. left in a fit of rage, then returned back to the trailer and murdered everyone inside. How can the prosecution prove this theory?

Well, again, according to them, it was simple. The same painkiller they said Guy Jr. killed for was found in his system when he was arrested. And the only money they found inside the trailer was $61 in cash inside of Russell Toller's pocket. That's it. In 2013, jury selection began, a process known as voir dire.

This process allows the prosecution, as well as the defense, to select who they want to be on the jury and exclude those who they don't. One particular juror stood out, juror 152.

Juror 152 was open and honest about his personal connection to the case during jury selection. He knew Guy Hines Jr. In fact, his daughter even went to school with Guy Jr. when they were younger. Now, usually this would be something that would automatically excuse them. You don't want anyone on the jury to personally know the defendant or give them any reason to be biased.

But that's not what happened here. Instead of excusing Juror 152, the prosecution, as well as the defense, agreed to keep him on. Once the nine-woman and three-man jury were selected, the case was ready for opening statements.

The prosecution stuck to its original narrative, that Guy Jr. murdered his family over drugs and money. They told the jury that he got into a fight with Rusty over painkillers he wanted, painkillers that belonged to Rusty's son Michael with Down syndrome. But Russell, Rusty Sr., wouldn't give them to him. That's when Guy Jr. grabbed his stolen shotgun and beat them to death.

According to the state, this is the timeline of what happened that night. Sometime between 2.30 and 4.30 a.m., he killed his family, likely while they were asleep, and that's why none of them could fight back, and that's why none of them escaped. Evidence suggests that the family was still alive by at least 2.16 a.m.,

Cell phone records showed that one of the victims, Michelle Toler, made a phone call from her cell phone and left a voicemail message to one of her friends at 2.16 a.m. Cell phone records also show a call was made from Michelle's cell phone at 3.45 a.m. that lasted 36 seconds. Then, at 3.48 a.m., there was a call attempt or a misdial made from her phone.

Maybe this was Michelle trying to call for help, or perhaps it was her killer using the phone. Now, we're not sure what these particular phone calls mean. Maybe because they happened during the prosecution's timeline of when the murders took place.

So between 4.30 a.m. and 5.30 a.m., the prosecution said that Guy Jr. cleaned up by taking a shower. He got rid of the stolen shotgun and then drove out to St. Simmons Island. From 5.30 a.m. up until 6 a.m., Guy Jr. is seen on surveillance cameras outside the Best Western Hotel and is seen by a clerk at a grocery store.

From 7.30 to 8 a.m., he then drives back to the New Hope mobile home park from St. Simmons. And then at 8.18 a.m., he flags down the neighbor who calls 911. The prosecution also argued that Guy Jr. killed for money. At the time of the murders, his father, Guy Sr., was awaiting payout on a civil lawsuit.

Now, the payout was supposed to be around $25,000, but Guy Sr. didn't receive the money yet because the lawsuit was on appeal. So according to the prosecution, this gave his son, Guy Jr., a motive for the murders. Because if his father was dead, he would then become the beneficiary of this civil payout of $25,000.

Although this is something I want to mention here. This might be a strong motive for the prosecution, but at trial, they couldn't really prove whether or not Guy Jr. even knew about the lawsuit involving his father. It's unclear whether he knew that his father was going to receive this amount of money or not.

So Guy Jr.'s defense had a much different timeline for the jury, much different than the prosecution's. And at trial, they presented a timeline that was much more detailed than the one that Guy Jr. initially told the police at the scene. According to them, this is Guy Jr.'s defense team. On the day before the murders, Guy Jr. carpooled with his friend Zachary to work around 8 a.m.,

The two of them worked on building a house from about 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. At 11.30 a.m., they met a contractor at a Longhorn Steakhouse to get paid. At 12 noon, the guys are told that they're done with work for the day. Zachary and Guy Jr. hung out at Zachary's apartment for the next few hours until they met up with some friends for lunch at 3.30 a.m.

According to Zachary, Guy Jr. left the restaurant on foot around 5 o'clock. Guy Jr. then met up with a few friends at a friendly express gas station. The friends invited him to hang out later at the Best Western Hotel. While at the gas station, Guy Jr. made a phone call to Chrissy, asking if she and Joe would pick him up and give him a ride.

They agreed, and about 20 to 30 minutes later, they arrived at the gas station. With them was also Michelle and her three-year-old son, Byron. By 7 p.m., they all arrived back at the New Hope Trailer Park. According to the defense, that's when Guy Jr. saw his entire family. He took a shower and then went back out to meet up with some friends.

At 10.30 p.m., he returned back to the trailer and saw his family once again until he decided that he wanted to go out and meet up with a girl. So he asked Russell if he could borrow his car. Russell agreed, and Guy Jr. got in the car and drove out to the Friendly Express once again.

But sometime along the way, Guy Jr. changed his mind. He no longer wanted to go hang out with this girl that he was talking to. Instead of seeing her, he decided he wanted to go buy some cocaine. He then ended up at a local trap house on 4th Street.

Between 11.40 p.m. and 11.45 p.m., Joe West, Michelle Toler, Chrissy Toler, and her son Byron are all captured on surveillance cameras on US 17 near Brunswick. So at this point in the night between 11.40 and 11.45 p.m., they're all still alive and they're all out of the house.

Guy Jr. arrived at Barrington Park slightly after midnight to smoke his crack. He stayed there until about 1.30, then drove to go get more crack. Guy Jr. drove on US 17 North to get the drugs, which would have bypassed the New Hope trailer home. Once he got the drugs, he went back to smoke them at Barrington Park.

According to the defense, from 2.30 a.m. until 4 a.m., Guy Jr. is at Barrington Park smoking crack. This would be the same exact time frame the prosecution said that Guy Jr. was at New Hope Trailer Park murdering his family.

They argue that Guy Jr., well, Guy Jr. can't be in two places at once. He can't be in Barrington Park smoking crack, which is roughly 30 minutes away, while someone is back at the trailer park murdering his family. Then at 5 a.m., Guy Jr. headed to the Best Western Hotel on St. Simmons Island until he returned home just after 8 a.m. and discovered his family.

This might be the defense's story, but this is a hard alibi to prove. You've got a criminal defendant saying that they couldn't have done the crime because they were driving around all night smoking crack inside a park roughly a 30-minute drive away. This isn't the greatest of alibis. How do you prove that he was 30 minutes away smoking crack at the time of the murders?

It wasn't like he stayed at one location all night. He was at multiple locations. We know he was driving around according to his alibi. And the park that he puts himself at, the defense really couldn't

Provide one eyewitness who could say beyond a reasonable doubt that they saw Guy Jr. inside of that park during the time frame that the prosecution said that he was back at the trailer park murdering his family.

So the prosecution and defense presented completely different interpretations of the forensic evidence. So not only do they have different timelines about what happened that night and where Guy Jr. was, they also have a different explanation for the hard physical evidence. I want to dive into the physical and forensic evidence here because so far everything talked about during the trial has been circumstantial.

One of the many reasons this case is popular is because of the forensic evidence, how the police handled it, how it was tested, and what was collected. So let's start with the blood smears the police found on Guy Jr.'s khaki shorts and the gym shorts he wore underneath on the day of the murders.

The prosecution's expert, DNA analyst Kristen O'Malley Fripp, testified that she found blood on four areas of Guy Jr.'s shorts that he wore underneath the khaki shorts. Two of the areas contained Rusty Toller's blood, and the other two were blood from Michael Toller and Chrissy Toller.

She also tested Guy Jr.'s flip-flop sandals that he was wearing on the day of the murders that had blood smears on top of them. In addition, she testified that she found Joseph West and Guy Hines Sr.'s blood after swabbing the sandals. Then there were Guy Jr.'s khaki shorts, the one he wore on top. Investigators found more of Rusty Toller and Guy Sr.'s blood on those.

So between Guy Jr.'s two pairs of shorts and flip-flop sandals, the prosecution said they found blood from five out of the eight victims. The prosecution also testified to blood evidence from the disassembled shotgun found inside the trailer next to Rusty's head. Both the right and left sides of the gunstock had blood spatter. When tested, the blood came back as Rusty's. Let's turn our attention to the knife.

The analyst told the jury that a knife was found with blood on the blade in the living room. The DNA from that blood matched the DNA profile of Russell Toller Jr. Earlier in the trial, the medical examiner who performed the autopsies testified that Russell Toller Jr. had been stabbed after he was beaten to death. Under cross-examination, Guy Jr.'s defense challenged the blood evidence.

Their expert testified that, quote, the blood was smeared, not spattered, indicating it must have gotten on his clothes when he found the bodies hours after the killings rather than as they were being committed, end quote. His defense also argued that they put all of his clothes in the same bag when police collected the evidence, which could have led to cross-contamination.

The defense also raised another interesting point regarding the blood evidence. They argued that no one saw blood on Guy Jr. that day. Not the first responders, not the neighbor who called 911. If this guy had just brutally beaten and stabbed eight people, wouldn't he have more blood on him? Besides the few drops of blood on his shorts and sandals, there wasn't blood anywhere else.

Forensic science and criminology consultant Michael Knox testified in Guy Jr.'s defense. He said, quote, Had Guy killed one or more of the victims, he would have had more blood on him. As much blood spatter as there was at the crime scene, no one could have committed these crimes without having a substantial amount of blood on them that they couldn't scrub off.

Another key piece of forensic evidence at trial was a piece of paper found on a nightstand inside of the trailer.

Albert Rowland, a latent fingerprint examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, testified they found a bloody palm print on the piece of paper that belonged to Guy Jr. There was also blood found on the document that belonged to Rusty Toler. So the prosecution argued that Guy Jr.'s palm print on this document proves that he was present when the murders took place.

You've got Rusty Toler's blood on it, and then you've got Guy Jr.'s palm print on it. When it came time for the defense to talk about this bloody palm print, they had a lot to say about it. Although the police photographed the paper and admitted it into evidence,

It was accidentally destroyed during DNA and fingerprint testing. And because it was damaged during testing, the defense couldn't run their own test on it. This was a huge moment during the trial because the defense argued that because they couldn't have their own experts test the piece of paper, then this evidence should be thrown out. It shouldn't be evidence against Guy Jr.,

But when it came time for the judge to decide on this, he disagreed with the defense and sided with the prosecution. The judge ultimately allowed this document to be used against Guy Jr., even without the defense being allowed to have their own forensic experts look at it.

Throughout the trial, juror 152 kept popping up. The same juror, if you remember, who said during jury selection that he knew Guy Jr. well before the murders. So on day number two of the criminal trial, the deputy in charge of watching over the jury approached the judge about something he overheard.

He told the judge that juror 152 commented that he could, quote, never convict this gentleman. There's just not enough evidence against him, end quote. Keep in mind, this juror allegedly made this comment on day number two. By day number two of a murder trial like this, you probably haven't even heard any evidence yet.

So not only was this concerning that a juror said that he couldn't convict Guy, but it was even more concerning because he said it on day number two. At this point, most people assumed the judge was going to dismiss this juror. He probably shouldn't have been on the jury in the first place. But now he's saying on day number two that there's no way in this world that he could ever convict Guy. So let's just kick him off.

Well, instead of kicking him off, the judge ruled to keep him on. And so he continued to sit on the jury. Later on during the trial, Juror 152 popped up again. This time he told one of the deputies that he was sort of doing his own due diligence in the case.

He said that he's spoken with a homicide detective to get his opinion about Guy Jr.'s case and asked this detective how he should evaluate the evidence in the case.

Now, if you aren't familiar with being a juror on a criminal case, you are not allowed to speak with anyone about the case. You can't speak to your husband. You can't speak to your wife about it. You are not allowed to do your own investigation. You are not allowed to consider any evidence that's not presented in court.

So what juror 152 is doing by speaking with a homicide detective is entirely against juror conduct. So rightfully so, the deputy once again presented this to the judge, but once again, the judge kept him on.

The prosecution summed up their case by saying this. Guy Hines Jr. killed eight members of his own family over drugs and money. He wanted the prescription pill bottle, but they wouldn't give it to him. So Guy Jr. attacked his family in the middle of the night, sometime between 2 and 4 a.m. They believe the murder weapon was likely the barrel of a shotgun.

After the murders, he cleaned up, changed his clothes. But Guy forgot one thing. He forgot to change the bloody gym shorts he wore underneath as underwear.

The defense summed up their case by saying this. Guy Hines Jr. is innocent. Money and drugs aren't enough of a motive to kill your entire family. He was out smoking crack the whole time someone attacked his family. And the bloodstains on his gym shorts exist because he went inside the trailer and discovered the bodies.

The defense argued that the police failed to consider anyone else as a suspect, which limited their ability to investigate properly. After 10 days of testimony, the case was now in the hands of the jury. As soon as they got to the jury room to start deliberations, the jury foreman asked for a vote. He wanted to know how many thought Guy Jr. was guilty and how many thought he could be innocent.

The initial vote came back 9 to 3. Nine people thought he was guilty. Three voted for innocent. Not surprisingly, juror 152 was one of the three who voted innocent.

Juror 152 was quite the troublemaker. He personally knows Guy Jr. He said that right from the get-go that he couldn't convict him. Before hearing any evidence, he tried to do his own research into the case by speaking with a homicide detective. And reports also indicate that he was rude and confrontational to other jurors.

When anyone would explain why they thought Guy Jr. was guilty, he would interrupt them and get in their face about it. So it's unclear if the other two jurors who initially voted innocent voted that way because they honestly thought Guy Jr. was innocent, or maybe they were just intimidated into voting that way because of juror 152.

Regardless, the foreman approached the judge and said that they were helplessly deadlocked on the murder charges. But instead of considering the idea of a hung jury, the judge said, look, if both the state and defense agree, let's just excuse juror 152.

He's told the court numerous times that he couldn't convict Guy Jr. He's hostile towards the other members. Let's just replace him with one of the alternates and see if that helps the jury reach a unanimous verdict.

Now, excusing a juror, especially this late into a trial, is only done under very, very rare circumstances. In any given case, in an ordinary trial, we want the original jury to decide the case most of the time.

But because juror 152 had already caused so much trouble, the judge thought that it was best just to excuse him and to replace him with one of the alternates. But to switch jurors, the prosecution and defense must both agree to this. Now, you're probably wondering this. Why would Guy Jr.'s defense want to excuse 152?

He's one of the ones convinced of his innocence. Well, to get the defense to consider the move, the prosecution said they would take the death penalty off the table. Keep in mind, Guy Jr.'s defense team feels confident. They don't think the state proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

So if they could get the death penalty off the table and still win the case, they're okay with excusing juror 152, which in this case they did. Both the prosecution and defense excused juror 152 and replaced him with an alternate.

After this switch, the jury then went back into the deliberation room. Just like before, the foremen started by taking a vote, guilty or innocent. This time, they voted unanimously. All of them voted guilty. On October 25, 2013, Guy Hines Jr. was convicted of eight counts of malice murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In November 2013, Guy Jr. filed a motion for a new trial. In his appeal, he said the replacement of juror 152 during deliberations denied him his right to a fair trial. But on February 20th of 2014, the court denied his motion for a new trial. And on December 7th, 2020, his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia.

In their ruling, they found Guy Jr., quote, fully understood the agreement reached when prosecutors conceded the death penalty in exchange for Hines agreeing to the questionable juror's removal, end quote. Guy Jr. is currently serving his life without possibility of parole sentence in Georgia. While behind bars, he's maintained his innocence. And he's not alone.

Guy Jr. has many supporters, including the surviving members of his family, who all believe in his innocence. This case has left so many people to wonder. Could a single man beat eight people to death inside a 900-square-foot trailer without raising the alarm with neighbors? Why weren't any of them able to get away? Why didn't any of them fight back? Or did they?

Is it possible that the blood evidence that ultimately convicted him is wrong? Could the blood spatter get on his shorts some other way? To share your thoughts on Guy Hines Jr., be sure to follow the show on Instagram and Facebook. To find out what I think about the case, sign up to become a patron at patreon.com slash forensic tales.

After each episode, I release a bonus episode where I share my personal thoughts and opinions about the case. To check out photos from the case, be sure to head to our website, ForensicTales.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Forensic Tales so you don't miss an episode. We release a new episode every Monday. If you love the show, consider leaving us a positive review or tell friends and family about us. You can also help support the show through Patreon.

Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next week. We'll have a brand new case and a brand new story to talk about. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings. ♪

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