A Greenwood man sentenced to life in prison for an execution-style shooting death in 1987 has died.
Randy Corley died of cancer in prison Friday at the age of 58.
Corley was charged with capital murder in the killing of Robert Eugene Parkerson. The incident took place on Dec. 2, 1987, behind Prince’s Drive-In on Mississippi 7 north of Greenwood.
Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks said Corley forced Parkerson to kneel and then shot him in the back of the head. Corley and another man, Roger T. White, who drove the getaway vehicle, were later charged with Parkerson’s murder, Banks said.
The sheriff said the department had an eyewitness to the shooting that Corley never knew about.
When deputies later arrived at White’s home, Corley drove up and refused to stop. Deputies fired in an attempt to prevent Corley from escaping. The weapon used was never recovered, Banks said.
In June 1988, Corley entered a plea deal with prosecutors in order to reduce his charges from capital murder to murder.
An appeal to vacate his conviction was rejected by the state Supreme Court in 1990.
Corley was eventually paroled, but he was arrested again in 2008 for receiving stolen property and returned to prison for violating the terms of his release.
Banks said he recalls that Corley stole some furniture out of the home of the late state Sen. Bunky Huggins and later resold it.
The sheriff said Corley had “been in trouble all his life.”
Banks said Corley’s older brother, Wilton Wade “Bubba” Corley, who died a few years ago of a drug overdose, also lived on the wrong side of the law.
Robert Parkerson, the son of the victim, who lost his father at the age of 17, had a Facebook posting on Corley’s death Friday.
“WE WON! The person who murdered my father when I was a child, died a painful and very dishonorable death, in prison,” he wrote. “His judgement I am glad I do not have to face, but I would be lying if I said I am not glad that he does. Justice is finally served.”
