d: 1996
Summary
Name:
Doyle Cecil LucasYears Active:
1983Status:
ExecutedClass:
MurdererVictims:
2Method:
ShootingDeath:
November 15, 1996Nationality:
USAd: 1996
Summary: Murderer
Name:
Doyle Cecil LucasStatus:
ExecutedVictims:
2Method:
ShootingNationality:
USADeath:
November 15, 1996Years Active:
1983Date Convicted:
July 25, 1983“I know that I gave these appeals up on my own, but it doesn’t change the fact that an organized, civilized society has brought itself down to a level of the people who have, themselves, killed.”
— Doyle Cecil Lucas
Doyle Cecil Lucas was born in 1955. Before the murders, Lucas already had a criminal history. He had been released on parole shortly before the killings. The murders of Bill and Evelyn Rayfield happened only two days after his release.
Lucas did not know the Rayfields before the crime. He broke into their Rock Hill home during a burglary and robbery, then shot and killed them. After he was convicted, Lucas spent more than 13 years on death row in South Carolina. Near the end of his case, he stopped further appeals and allowed the execution to proceed.
The murders happened shortly after midnight on May 20, 1983, at the Rock Hill, South Carolina home of Bill and Evelyn Rayfield. Lucas broke into the couple’s home during a burglary and robbery. Court records state that the Rayfields did not know Lucas and that Lucas did not know them.
During the crime, Lucas shot and killed both victims. After the shootings, he took a blood-spattered pillowcase filled with money and costume jewelry and fled in the Rayfields’ car. He was arrested soon afterward after the vehicle was spotted. At the time of arrest, he was wearing a bloodstained shirt and Bill Rayfield’s watch.
Lucas was tried in South Carolina and convicted of the murders of Bill and Evelyn Rayfield. On July 25, 1983, he was sentenced to death. His conviction and death sentence were later affirmed by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Lucas pursued appeals for several years, but later chose to stop fighting his execution. His lawyers said he was remorseful and wanted his death to help the Rayfield family find some form of closure.
Doyle Cecil Lucas was executed by lethal injection in South Carolina on November 15, 1996. He was pronounced dead at 1:28 a.m. His attorney read his final statement, in which he apologized to the victims’ family and to his own mother, thanked his lawyers, and criticized the state for carrying out an execution.
