DALTON, Ga. - "Mr. Burlison, look at me," Conasauga Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Scott Minter said to the defendant during his sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon.
"It would be easy to look at you now," he said, "the way you are, confined to that wheelchair, on oxygen "
"And a catheter," said Jay Thomas Burlison, 75.
"And a catheter," Minter continued. "And to forget who you were, back in 1984...Looking at you now, some folks might forget the man who killed Ernest Griffin, who tried his very best to kill Mary Mealer."
Thirty-four years ago, police say, Burlison stopped in front of Griffin's car at the Golden Gallon convenience store in Rocky Face. Burlison's wife, Mealer, had filed for divorce three weeks earlier. She had started dating Griffin. On this night in November 1984, Mealer later said, Burlison pulled out a handgun and shot Griffin in the head. Mealer said he then shot her four times in the chin and the side before he ran out of bullets.
He then drove away. He was the police's No. 1 suspect from the beginning. But he lived on the run until earlier this year, after he signed up for Social Security benefits. The district attorney's office arrested him in July in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, where he lived with his half-brother. A jury in Whitfield County convicted him of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault last week.
On Tuesday afternoon, Burlison asked for mercy. He told Minter he was in bad health. He said he didn't live on the run - he simply never knew police were looking for him. He said he lived in peace in Virginia for decades, until his new wife died and his own health failed him.
Minter did not buy Burlison's version of events.
"You chose to run away," Minter said. "You can say you didn't know there was a warrant here, but you knew what you did. You knew you ran away from it. You knew they were looking for you. You tried to escape the consequences of your actions. And now, at this late date in your life, it's time to pay those consequences. You will almost certainly live the rest of your life behind bars, Mr. Burlison, and that's exactly how it should be."
Minter sentenced Burlison to the maximum possible punishment for each count: 20 years in prison. He also ruled that Burlison will serve each charge after the other, rather than letting all three punishments run at the same time. The result? A sentence of 60 years in prison.
Eric Griffin, the son of the slain victim in the 1984 slaying, cried Tuesday as he described memories of his father. They worked on cars together, and his father taught him to make biscuits and gravy. He has passed the tradition on to his own children. He still dreams about his dad coming home.
Griffin said he forgave Burlison. But when Burlison's attorney, Micah Gates, asked Griffin if he thought Burlison should be able to live the rest of his life at home, Griffin said no.
"I've suffered a lot," he said. "I've got a 4-year-old that will never know what a fantastic grandfather he had or would have had. Mr. Burlison's had 34 years. He knows what he'd done. He knows the people he hurt. And you know, it's sad. It's horribly sad he's in the shape he is. But it don't change the fact of everything and what he's done and people he's hurt."
Ann Kendall, Mealer's daughter and Burlison's former stepdaughter, testified Tuesday that he beat her when she was 9 years old because neighbors pushed her off her bicycle. She said Burlison wanted to teach her to fight back. Once, she said. she watched Burlison beat Mealer with an ax handle until it broke.
She told Minter that Burlison also sexually abused her.
"I knew it wasn't right," she said. "But I had seen what he would do out of anger to my mom. I didn't know I had another choice. I thought, 'If I do this, he will stop the abuse in our home.' This went on throughout my childhood."
The Times Free Press' policy is to not publish the names of victims of sexual abuse without their permission, but Kendall told the newspaper to identify her. After her testimony, Burlison told Minter, "I'm just beside myself."
"Ann was my favorite kid," he said. "She was my rock. When things go bad, she would always pat me on the shoulder, say, 'It will get better, dad. It will get better.'"
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.