Life sentence ends early for Peachtree City man convicted of killing his wife. At 77, Lewis Joyner paroled
At 77, Lewis Joyner paroled
After almost 30 years in prison for the strangling and beating death of his wife, Lewis Joyner, now 77, was set free Thursday by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. - It’s a tough week for the family of a woman strangled and beaten to death 30 years ago.
The convicted killer, her husband, walked free Thursday, despite a life sentence for murder.
On the same day Lewis Albert Joyner’s parole became effective, the Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed to the FOX 5 I-Team that the now 77-year-old has left state custody.
"When they said it was a life sentence, we assumed it was going to be a life sentence," one of Ruby Joyner’s nieces, Grenda Hemingway, told the I-Team, "that you would never see daylight, see the outside of prison, again."
One of his parole conditions: Complete a domestic violence course.
Two women found dead
The backstory:
Joyner’s alleged crimes – not all of which he was convicted on – shook the metro Atlanta area during the months leading up to the Summer Olympics.
On Nov. 15, 1995, close friends Ruby Joyner, 43, and Halima Jones, 40, went missing during a shopping trip. Six days later, police found them dead in the back of Halima’s minivan parked at Hartsfield Airport.
During the runup to the 1996 Summer Olympics, police found two bodies in the back of this minivan parked at Atlanta’s airport. (FOX 5)
Halima had been shot in the head. Ruby had been strangled and beaten.
Meanwhile, Ruby’s husband, Lewis Joyner, owner of a moving and storage company, left town for New York City during the search for his wife.
Two of his nieces told FOX 5 they still recall their last conversations with him, when he phoned each of them while he was still on the run.
"I’m listening, and I’m trying to put it all together, but it wasn’t making any sense," Coretta Livingston-Byrd, of Charlotte, N.C., said.
After two women went missing from Peachtree City in November 1995, their bodies turned up in a minivan parked at Hartsfield Airport. (FOX 5)
Grenda, of Pompano Beach, Florida, said her uncle told her that while searching for Ruby, he lost his driver’s license, so he had to go back to New York – something she said made no sense.
"I knew something wasn’t right when he told me, ‘Don’t tell the rest of the family,’" Grenda said. "And I did just the opposite. I got them all together and we rallied together."
Within a week of the bodies being found, Joyner was captured in Harlem after a scuffle with a police officer on a rooftop. The officer found a bottle of cocaine on him.
Joyner was charged with murder, drug possession, and resisting arrest, then extradited back to Georgia.
Lewis Joyner was captured in Harlem after scuffling with a police officer on top of a building. (FOX 5)
A lovers’ triangle
The other side:
Authorities searched Joyner’s house and found a large quantity of cocaine, raising suspicions of drug trafficking. Investigators also discovered he had been having an affair with Halima Jones.
At trial, Joyner pointed a finger at his dead wife, calling her a killer.
He claimed he had met the two women in a restaurant parking lot, and that while Ruby went inside to use the restroom, he and Halima embraced and kissed in the car.
When Ruby returned, he claimed, she took the driver’s seat of Halima’s minivan and drove the three of them to a secluded wooded area. Then, he told the jury, she hopped out of the car and opened fire on her friend.
"Ruby shouted … you cheating (expletive). And fired the gun," he said on the witness stand. "I saw the gun pointing at me … I said to myself, ‘This is how I’m going to die.’"
In his account, Ruby chased him into the woods and pounced on him. So he killed her in self-defense.
Grenda said that’s not how her aunt would have handled discovering an affair.
"She’s afraid of weapons. So I know she didn’t have a weapon," Grenda said. "She would have just left him – I know she would have just left him. She wouldn't have jeopardized her life like that."
Lewis Joyner’s defense attorney, Steve Sadow, introduced his client to the jury, saying, "I want you to see him as a human being, not the news reports." (FOX 5)
A jury didn’t buy it
The State's Side:
Fulton County prosecutors argued Joyner wanted his wife out of the way because of financial troubles and his affair with Halima.
Prosecutor Penny Penn said Joyner tried to shoot his wife, but accidentally shot his mistress. Then he chased Ruby down.
"When the defendant caught up to her, either being out of bullets, or because he was actually close to her, he made contact with her," Penn told the jury. "He proceeded to beat her to death and strangle her."
The jury found Joyner guilty of murdering his wife, but with insufficient evidence, acquitted him of Halima’s death.
After the verdict, Penn noted that only Joyner knows what really happened on Nov. 15, 1995.
"There are just a lot of questions that we still have that only Lewis Joyner can answer," the prosecutor told FOX 5 at the time. "And he has not chosen to do that truthfully."
Lewis Albert Joyner, now 77, has been officially paroled, after nearly 30 years served on a life sentence for murder. (Georgia Department of Corrections)
With his release from state custody this week, he remains the only person alive who knows the truth.
A family is devastated
What they're saying:
Coretta Livingston-Byrd, one of his nieces, said she hopes the parole board made the right decision.
"My stance is a little different than probably most of my family," she said. "He was a very special uncle to me. I still have a lot of unanswered questions that I think about every single day, because of mine and his relationship."
But she noted that some of her family members who pushed for justice for Ruby have since died, too, including her mother, grandmother and uncle.
"I know they would really have a problem with this happening," Coretta said.
Grenda said her grandmother, Ruby’s mother, died a few years after the killings.
"It really destroyed our family," she said. "My grandmother went into a depression and she never came out, because she was like, why her daughter? Why Ruby?
"She was a kind, gentle person," Grenda said. "She loved her family. She loved her nieces. She loved her brothers and sisters. And most of all, she loved her mother."
Both nieces said they don’t expect to ever speak to their uncle again. Coretta said she might be open to a conversation, while Grenda said it’s not happening.
"My question to him would be why?" Grenda said. "You could have just left her. She could have just left. She could've just come back home to her family. She could have come to me."
One more criminal case
Big picture view:
The murder trial wasn’t the last for Lewis Joyner. In 1997, he was convicted in Fayette County on separate charges of possession of cocaine and marijuana, receiving 15 years per count.
What's next:
As part of his parole conditions, Joyner must pay $30 per month to Georgia’s crime victim compensation fund, complete a domestic violence course, and undergo substance abuse assessments and cover the costs.
The Source: FOX 5 covered the Joyner case extensively when it happened, and station archives were used extensively for this story. I-Team reporter Johnny Edwards also reviewed documents from the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and spoke with two of Lewis and Ruby Joyner’s nieces about how the family is coping with this week’s parole.