Gussie Vann, TN DR to Get New Trial in 1992 Rape/Murder of His 8yr Old Daughter

[Jeff1857]

Death row inmate, convicted in daughter's rape and death, to get new trial


A McMinn County father, sentenced to die for the rape and murder of his young daughter in 1992, will receive a new trial.

Gussie Vann is currently on Tennessee's death row, but a judge has now ordered the 57-year-old should be retried, because his original defense attorneys did not hire forensic experts to refute the state's claims of rape.

During the trial, experts called by the state testified the body of Vann's 8-year-old daughter Necia showed signs of repeated sexual abuse.

Vann and his wife Bernice denied their daughter was sexually abused. At one point, they also claimed Necia hanged herself by accident.

Bernice Vann later pled guilty in the case and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Gussie Vann's attorneys listed several reasons why their client should receive a new trial. The special prosecutors handling the trial plan to appeal the judge's ruling.
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Hopefully the appeals court will overturn this judge's ruling. 

[nats]

yuk what discusting parents!

[Jeff1857]

yuk what discusting parents!

Disgusting? I think rape and murder of their daughter qualifies a lot of other terms besides that.

[Michael]

I got truly angry after reading this. 

Not just raping, nit just killing her, at least they offend the girl. And accident led to her death. And even if she commited suicide it´sno question taht the parents are responsible - living under these conditions?

Michael

[fearinggirl]

look im Bernice other child me and my brothers dont like what u people are saying . yes i was 3 when i was taken away i dont reamber what truly happen . but i do know this if u was not there then u should not talk bad about them . i meet my mother shes a nice lady i never meet my dad but one day i hope i well . my mother just died of cancer Oct 24 210 she was bared next to my sister  . and she lived with my sisters death hanging over her head . no her name was never cleared . she did her time and she did regret all the shit that happen .she grow up with abuse and never new what it was like to be loved . so did my dad  they where young and dumm and in love . and they are living with there regrets so what more do u people want from them. its already hard enough . i dont know how this is going to playout its in gods hands now .but  i dont think u could punsh them as much as they have punshed them self's . im 20 years old now be 21 in Dec 29 1989 i was just a child but i do know my parents did love us aND I GOT PICS TO PROVE IT . I LOVE MY PARENTS AND NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID OR DID NOT DO THERE STEAL MY FAMILY .   

[JeffB]

look im Bernice other child me and my brothers dont like what u people are saying . yes i was 3 when i was taken away i dont reamber what truly happen . but i do know this if u was not there then u should not talk bad about them . i meet my mother shes a nice lady i never meet my dad but one day i hope i well . my mother just died of cancer Oct 24 210 she was bared next to my sister  . and she lived with my sisters death hanging over her head . no her name was never cleared . she did her time and she did regret all the shit that happen .she grow up with abuse and never new what it was like to be loved . so did my dad  they where young and dumm and in love . and they are living with there regrets so what more do u people want from them. its already hard enough . i dont know how this is going to playout its in gods hands now .but  i dont think u could punsh them as much as they have punshed them self's . im 20 years old now be 21 in Dec 29 1989 i was just a child but i do know my parents did love us aND I GOT PICS TO PROVE IT . I LOVE MY PARENTS AND NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID OR DID NOT DO THERE STEAL MY FAMILY .

Is this for real?

[Granny B]

My sympathies to you Bernice.

But my sympathies also go out to your sister who is dead and buried.  A young girl, who will never get to do any of the things you will do.

It is good that you were able to forgive your mother after she plead guilty in helping with the murder of your sister.  Of course, she would not have made that plea, unless it was true and she knew she would get the death penalty otherwise.

Your father would not have been convicted unless the prosecution had met their burden of proof.  Which of course is how he wound up on death row.

The fact that you are alive and unharmed by them is most likely that with them going to prison, they could not do the same things to you, they did to your innocent sister.  I know this is a hard thing to hear, but you were protected from further harm by them.

Pictures of your family hugging you or kissing you, does not a loving family make.  Your dead sister is proof positive of that.  And yes, they are still your family.  Very good of you to love them and forgive them for what they did to your sister.  But I cannot help wondering how she felt about your father as he was so often raping her or when he murdered her with the help of your mother and her assistance in covering for him in her death?

Living in a rose colored world is nice, but someday reality takes a big bite out of your life, then the rose colored glasses will be gone and you will see the world like it really is, I am sorry to say.  So live your idealism of your parents while you can, it won't last forever.

I wish you well, and hope that you get an education to further your life.  It is obvious that part of your life has been sorely neglected by whoever raised you. 

[Gregg Fisher]

The mother is a piece of crap:

Applying those rules to the facts of this case, we conclude that the Court of Criminal Appeals properly affirmed the trial court's judgment denying the defendant's motion to suppress. Approximately two weeks after the murder, a warrant to search the Vann residence issued. Several items seized pursuant to the warrant were admitted into evidence at trial. The affidavit in support of the warrant stated that the victim had been chronically sexually abused anally and vaginally; that the pathologist who examined the victim had determined that sexual penetration of the victim had occurred within forty-eight hours of death; that another child had provided a sworn statement that Bernice Vann had solicited her to have sexual relations with the defendant, and when the child refused, Bernice Vann had procured a vibrator from the bathroom and solicited the child to use the vibrator; that the defendant had told several people that no semen would be found on the victim, indicating condoms may have been used to perpetrate the abuse; and that Bernice Vann had told authorities the victim was found with a rope around her neck, thus necessitating a search for the rope or another object that served as the murder weapon. Furthermore, the affidavit stated that "[t]he mobile home of Gussie Willis Vann and Bernice Vann is equipped with a satellite dish which provides access" to adult television programming. The affidavit referred to the premises as the "death scene," and stated that photographs of the "death scene" had shown videotapes which appeared to have been non-commercially copied, an open jar of vaseline, and a booklet titled "How to Help Your Kids Say No To Sex." With respect to the time frame during which the facts in question had occurred, the affidavit stated that within the previous five days the affiant and another officer had observed the certain enumerated items related to sexual abuse and bondage in the named premises.

http://goo.gl/5qDuo

[Gregg Fisher]

Additionally:

Applying these factors, we note that the proof reflects that the helpless, eight-year-old victim was strangled to death by her own father. The strangulation was violent, which is evidenced by the torn muscles in the victim's neck. There is no apparent motive for the killing. It is simply a senseless murder perpetrated by the defendant while he anally and vaginally raped his own daughter. The victim was murdered in her own home, the place in which citizens of our society ordinarily feel most secure. There is certainly no proof that the killing was provoked or justified. The defendant had a criminal record. He had been previously convicted of two counts of aggravated rape. There is no proof that the defendant suffered any mental or emotional defect at the time the crime was committed, although he had apparently been addicted to prescription drugs in the past. There is also no proof that the defendant was intoxicated at the time of the killing. In fact, the State introduced evidence to show that the blood samples taken from the defendant on the morning after the murder indicated that he had no alcohol or drugs in his system. According to the proof in this trial, the defendant was completely involved in the offense and was the actual perpetrator of the offense of murder during the course of rape. Witnesses testified that he showed little emotion at the hospital after the victim's death, though a witness for the defense testified that when he arrived at the Vann home, the defendant was doing everything he could to revive the victim. When the defendant testified during penalty phase of the trial of this case, he showed no remorse. The defendant cooperated with the authorities to a certain extent, by giving them verbal consent to search his residence on the morning after the murder, but, when his alibi was refuted, he did not offer any other insight on the events of the evening of the murder. There is nothing in the record to indicate the defendant's capacity for rehabilitation. Finally, the defendant had particular knowledge of the helplessness of the victim because he is her father. Considering the nature of the crime and the defendant, we conclude that imposition of the death penalty for the cruel killing of this young child is not disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, and that this murder places Vann into the class of defendants for whom the death penalty is an appropriate punishment.

[fearinggirl]

look i dont know what happen i was tooken away from my mom and dad when i was 3 years old. when i turned 18 i looked up my mom and went to see her in prison . she told me her sided of the story i dont know the truth on what happen .but i know shes my mother and my dad and i steal love them no mater what they did or did not do . i been looking for a way to get a hold of my dads info so i can ask hem face to face what happen .only they know what truly happen my brothers want tell me what happen .but i know they have forgave my mother on her death bed .    

[fearinggirl]

im sorry im new to the posting thing

[fearinggirl]

buy the way there was profe that she was not raped

[Granny B]

buy the way there was profe that she was not raped

Bernice,

Gregg just posted from court transcripts for you to read what really happened to your sister.  He is trying to help you to understand what went on in that home.  Most people in prison will not tell you the real truth.  They want to protect themselves from your wrath and they want your goodwill or love or forgiveness.  In your brother's case they want to protect you from the truth, probably because they do not like to talk about it and want to forget it, or they feel you cannot handle the truth yet.  You are obviously not really ready to hear the truth, but you did come searching for it.

All you will find on this site is the truth from the court transcripts, courts appeals of the cases, and the motto "Execute the Guilty, Honor the Victims, Educate the Uninformed."  You my dear, are not only a murder family victim, but you are part of the uninformed.   The truth has been kept from you for your own sake.

Gregg is giving you the information he has found for you to help you to understand what went on.  At this point in your life, you really need to know before you do go see your father.  It is better to be armed with the truth than the lies.  People in prison are really good at manipulating and lying to their family and to other members of society.  We as people want to see the good in whoever we talk to and we WANT to believe everything they say.  They can be very persuasive in what they tell you, thus manipulating you into their side, so that you will put money into their prison accounts and write to them and do other things for them.  Not that any of it is the truth, but they are really good at twisting things to make them seem true.  Like your mother did when you saw her.  If she denied she did any of those things, she is lying to you.

You being 3 years old at the time, means he had not started in on you yet, but if he had not been caught you would have been on his list of victims eventually.  Think about what that means and how repulsive that thought is, then think of your poor dead sister having to living through the horror of that.  She deserves your love and support for the hell she was put through while alive.  And she deserves some respect from all of you in her death.

Again, you were fortunate to have been removed from them when you were.  I just wish whoever raised you, had given you a better education so you would be prepared to support and defend yourself from people like your parents in the future.

[Gregg Fisher]

Ugh.

*  Your sister did not commit suicide nor was she hanged. She was violently strangled - so violently, the muscles around her neck were torn. 

*  Your sister had been raped both vaginally and anally - repeatedly and over an extended period of time. 

*  Parents are both legally and morally responsible for protecting their children - including from the other parent.  Not only did your mother not protect your sister,  she participated in the sexual abuse including attempting to lure at least one other child for her and your father to rape. 

*  Your parents were/are sexual sadists. 

*   You sister was 40" and 40 lbs when she was murdered.

*  Your sister's life was a living hell.

[fearinggirl]

TRUE IF THEY DID DO WHAT EVERTHING SAYS THEN DONT U THINK MY DAD HAS PAYED ENOUGH IF U THINK ABOUT IT HE GETS FREE TV, FREE MEALS, A ROOF OVER HES HEAD , AND DON'T HAVE TO PAY TAXS . HOW IS THIS HELPING HEM  PAY SO U WANT HEM ON DEATH ROLE HOW IS THAT DEATH ROLE . SOUNDS LIKE A VACATION