Log in to WRAL.com with one click using your favorite social network:
OR
Log in using your WRAL.com account:



Wrong email/password combination.

Forgot password?

Register with WRAL.com using your favorite social network:
OR
Register for a WRAL.com account using our web form.

Login Options

4:06 p.m. • 2-12-12

Weather Forecast for Raleigh

  • Mon: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 50° F
  • Tue: Rain.
    • Hi: 53° F
  • Wed: Partly Cloudy.
    • Hi: 57° F

Other Locations

> 7 Day Forecast

Doppler Image

Marketplace Links

Social Links

Main Menu

New Trial Delayed for Durham Murder Suspect


e-mail print friendly
Todd Boggess in court
Todd Boggess in court

The trial for one of Durham's most notorious murder suspects has been delayed until Tuesday.

Jury selection for Todd Boggess' new trial was supposed to start Monday, but it has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict.

His new trial comes 10 years after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for the slaying of Danny Pence.

Pence, 16, was found beaten to death in a wooded area of northern Durham County in 1995. Investigators believe Boggess and Melanie Gray kidnapped Pence from, Wilmington, brought him to Durham and killed him before stealing his car.

Gray, who was 14 years old at the time, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was set free in 2005.

Boggess was sentenced to die for the killing in 1997. Even through police claim Boggess confessed to Pence's slaying several times, his death sentence was overturned on a technicality, and he was granted a new trial.

"It's very difficult, you know. It was one of the worst times in my life, and to have to go back and repeat it, it's tough," said Sharlene Pence, Danny's mother. "It's very difficult, very difficult to be in the same room as the man who killed your son.

"He was a perfect child. I loved him very much, and I miss him very much."

Pence said her faith and her friends have helped her through the long legal process.

"Half my church came up front and prayed for me (Sunday). It was overwhelming," she said.

Prosecutors aren't seeking the death penalty in the case. If convicted on the first-degree murder charge, Boggess would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"I want to remember all the good things about him. I don't want to remember how he died. So I pray, after the next few weeks, I won't have to do that again."

RELATED TOPICS: Durham County, Durham, Death Penalty, Supreme Court

e-mail print friendly

46 Comments


WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

View Comments VIEW ALL 46 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments
No death Penalty? spend the rest of his life in prison? Sorry, but If I had to spend the rest of my life in prison, think I would shoot for the Death Penalty.

Why can't they just change the sentence from death to life without parole and spare the expense of another trial. He killed someone and after he drove him from wilmington (stealing victim' car) to durham, it seems he could have left him beside road. To kill him means he planned it, thus lst degree. I can't believe no one knew this woman was such good friends. This was a ploy to do just what they are doing now. Stalling for time, costing taxpayers money...

Crone said: "Why aren't they going for the death penalty this time you ask? Probably because he's white."

That is the kind of childish racist remark one would have expected from Al Sharpton. Thanks for you racist gibberish.

first of all what does color have to do with a loss of a mother's child,, people get with it. There will all ways be tension in the air till the earth is here no more on the white/black thing, Get Real and grow up!!!

God Bless the family who have lost there son,

The stupidity of our judicial system will be the death of us yet. The lawyers, judges, and clowns have turned it into more of a circus than a system of justice. Now a days something may be "legal" but it goes against common sense and decency. They play games, spend tax money, waste time and all the while crime goes up and gangs and hoods laugh at us all.

View Comments VIEW ALL 46 COMMENTS
Report It

Multimedia

Click Here