The Nation - News from Sept. 23, 1988

The Pensacola, Fla., jury that convicted a security guard of murder in the courthouse slaying last year of a judge, a lawyer and his ex-wife’s sister will recommend today whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison. Clyde M. Melvin, 63, of Port St. Joe, Fla., was found guilty of one count of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Judge Wilson Lamar Bailey during the July, 1987, rampage in Bailey’s chambers following an alimony hearing. The jury of nine women and three men also convicted Melvin of second-degree murder in the deaths of Panama City attorney Tom Ingles, who represented Melvin’s former wife, and Peggy White Paulk, his wife’s sister. In addition, Melvin was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder for shooting and wounding his ex-wife, Eleanor Inez Huckeba, 60, in the head. Under Florida law, first-degree murder is punishable by either death in the electric chair or by a life prison sentence without eligibility for parole for 25 years.