N.C. Supreme Court upholds man’s death sentence in Raleigh motel double murder
The Supreme Court of North Carolina has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a pregnant woman and her boyfriend in a Raleigh motel eight years ago, according to a decision released last week.
Seaga Gillard, 36, was found guilty in 2019 of two counts of first-degree murder in the Dec. 2, 2016, slayings of April Holland, 22, and Dwayne Garvey, 27, The News & Observer previously reported.
Holland was 12 weeks pregnant when she was found fatally shot, naked except for a pair of socks, in a motel room off Blue Ridge Road. Garvey, the father of Holland’s three surviving children and her unborn child, was found dead in the hallway.
Raleigh police released stills from hotel surveillance footage, leading to an anonymous tip identifying Gillard and another man, Brandon Hill, as possible suspects. Gillard was arrested the following day, according to court records.
In challenging the guilty verdict and sentence, Gillard’s defense argued Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul C. Ridgeway allowed for “extensive character evidence, irrelevant victim impact evidence, and repetitive, graphic photo evidence,” provided incomplete instructions to the jury and allowed improper statements to be made during closing arguments.
That evidence included testimony from at least seven women who said Gillard had sexually assaulted them or threatened their lives within a three-year time span leading up to Holland and Garvey’s killings. But in a majority opinion written by Associate Justice Phil Berger Jr., the Supreme Court found that the testimony was permissible because the alleged crimes were so similar to the circumstances surrounding Holland and Garvey’s deaths.
According to text messages, Gillard texted Holland about 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 “seeking sexual services,” the opinion states. Gillard and Hill arrived at the hotel about 4:38 a.m., and the pair could be seen “pacing” in the hallway on surveillance footage in the minutes before Gillard entered Holland’s room.
It’s unclear what exactly happened in Holland’s room, but Garvey was seen on surveillance footage banging on the door to the room about four minutes after Gillard entered, according to the opinion.
“Hill then reentered the hallway carrying a gun and Garvey tried swatting at it before putting his hands in the air,” the opinion states. “The footage showed Hill shoot Garvey several times. [Gillard] exited Holland’s room and fired two shots into the room.”
Three of the women who testified in Gillard’s murder trial were sex workers in the Wake County area who had been similarly solicited by him online, and were then surprised by Gillard arriving at the motel with a pistol and with Hill in tow, the opinion said.
“These facts are sufficient in both temporal proximity and similarity to demonstrate a common plan or scheme to rape and rob Holland on the night she was murdered,” Berger wrote.
Justices Anita Earls and Allison Riggs dissented in an opinion authored by Earls.
“Gillard’s sentencing jury was allowed to consider … unreliable identification, improper and irrelevant victim impact statements, and repetitive photos of Holland’s almost naked body surrounded by blood, which had no probative value,” Earls wrote.
North Carolina has not executed an inmate on death row since 2006. Gillard remains on death row in Central Prison, records show.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 9:22 AM.
