Justice Nels Peterson, Georgia Supreme Court (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

The Georgia Supreme Court turned down a novel defense theory Monday and unanimously upheld the malice murder conviction and life-without-parole prison sentence for the murder of a Jesup municipal court judge and longtime district attorney of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

“Bobby Rex Stribling, Jr. appeals his convictions for malice murder and other crimes arising from the fatal beating of William Glenn Thomas, Jr.,” Justice Nels Peterson wrote. “Thomas was placed in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator as a result of the beating, but was taken off the ventilator when his condition failed to improve. On appeal, Stribling's sole argument is that the evidence was insufficient to convict him, because there was evidence that Thomas might have survived had life support not been withdrawn.”

Stribling's attorney, Richard O. Allen of Atlantic Beach, Florida, asserted that the withdrawal of life support was the “intervening and ultimate cause of Thomas's death.”

Allen did not return calls for comment. Neither did Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson.

Despite the defense, Peterson, affirming the court below, said “the trial evidence authorized the jury to conclude that Thomas did not have a realistic chance of survival and that Stribling's actions were the proximate cause of Thomas's death.”

Although neither side requested it, the court did vacate several sentences on convictions that should have merged. Still, Stribling is subject to life behind bars without parole.

Thomas had lunch with his two daughters on June 25, 2007, then returned to his office and met with a client, Peterson said. The client would later report to police that he saw a man outside the office before he went in, and again when he left. The man, later identified as Stribling, asked “whether anyone else was inside the building,” and the client “replied that Thomas was alone,” according to the court.

“Sometime later, George Cappleman, who shared the office building with Thomas, arrived at the building,” Peterson continued. “When Capplemen entered the office, he saw Thomas sitting at his desk, bleeding from his head with a large bruise under his left eye. Thomas was talking, but was very confused. Cappleman called 911.”

Thomas was hospitalized locally with swelling of the brain and later airlifted to Savannah, but his condition never improved. After two weeks, Thomas's family was told he was brain dead, and would develop pneumonia. The family directed doctors to remove him from the ventilator, soon after which he died, on July 9, 2007, the court said.

“An autopsy revealed that Thomas had suffered at least 15 separate blows resulting in 38 different injuries, including a fractured skull. The cause of death was identified as multiple blunt force injuries,” Peterson wrote.

On July 20, 2007, a Wayne County grand jury indicted Stribling. After he was arrested, he confessed to going to see Thomas, his former lawyer, to ask for money. He said he “snapped,” then hit Thomas with an object from the desk and stole $1,000 and the keys to a truck, Peterson said.

The charges were: malice murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault with intent to rob, armed robbery, burglary and theft by taking. The trial started Aug. 16, 2010, and lasted until that Sept. 4. The jury found Stribling guilty of all charges. The trial court sentenced Stribling to life without parole for malice murder, consecutive 20-year terms for aggravated battery and aggravated assault, a consecutive life sentence for armed robbery, a 20-year term for burglary consecutive to the armed robbery sentence and a consecutive 10-year term for theft by taking, Peterson said.

“There is no evidence that the aggravated battery occurred independently from the act that caused Thomas's death, and so this count should have merged with the malice murder conviction,” Peterson said. “And the aggravated assault with intent to rob should have merged with armed robbery.” So the court vacated those two sentences.

But the one argument the defense did make didn't sway the court.

“Stribling argues that the medical examiner's testimony established the possibility that Thomas could have survived had life support continued, although perhaps not with the same quality of life, and that the removal of Thomas from life support was the intervening and ultimate cause of his death,” Peterson said. “We disagree.”

The case is Stribling v. State, No. S18A0595.