Despite his mother’s plea for leniency, James Claiborne Magee was sentenced to death twice Monday night – once for the first-degree murder of his wife Adrienne and once for the first-degree murder of his 5-year old son Ashton Zachary.

When the second sentence was read, he collapsed where he stood, defense counsel helping him to sit for the remainder of the sentencing. It was the only emotion showed during the sentencing phase.

The courtroom of State Judge William “Rusty” Knight was still and quiet except for the gentle sobs of Magee’s mother, Bonnie Cooper. Other relatives shed silent tears. Magee had confessed to the crimes and was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder by the seven-man, five-woman jury on Saturday.

The jury deliberated for three and a half hours on the capital crime sentences, finally returning the death penalty verdicts at about 6:30 p.m. Monday. Aggravating factors of the crime that led to the death sentence were risk of death to more than one person in the case of the murder of Adrienne Magee and risk of death to more than one person and under the age of 12 years in the case of Ashton Zachary.

Sentencing on the other charges will take place Nov. 30.

April 18, 2007, Magee ran the car with his estranged wife Adrienne, 28, his son Ashton Zachary, 5, and his daughters Ashleigh, 8 and Aleisha, 7, off the road and into a tree at the corner of Nestor and Thackery streets in Tall Timbers subdivision in Mandeville. Adrienne was on her way home where she was living with her boss from Child Chalet, Tracey Delatte. It was about 5 p.m.

He walked to the car with the loaded 12-gauge shotgun and held it to Adrienne’s head as she pleaded for him to not do it in front of the kids.

Ignoring her pleas, he pulled the trigger at point blank range on her left temple.

Zack got out of the car and ran. He was shot from behind and fell. Magee followed him and then shot him in the face. He returned to the car and fired again, hitting Ashleigh in the shoulder. He had no bullets left and heard sirens approaching, so he returned to his vehicle.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Ken Dohre said Magee reloaded the weapon and drove to the Child Chalet where Adrienne worked as a teacher, allegedly intending to kill her friends there. He was recognized and fled in his 2006 GMC pick-up truck to Alabama, where he was apprehended without incident and extradited to St. Tammany Parish.

Adrienne had been granted a restraining order against Magee just 28 hours before the murder, citing a history of physical and verbal abuse toward her and was granted her temporary custody of their three children.

According to the restraining order, Magee also had a history of violence toward others and of drug and alcohol abuse. It also warned that he carried a weapon.

In the restraining order filing, Adrienne wrote that she felt her life was in danger due to Magee’s mental state as a result of the couple’s separation. In testimony for the sentencing, the judge allowed his mother (Bonnie Cooper) to address the jury. “I love my son—please don’t send him to death,” she sobbed. “The girls will want to talk to him one day, for closure, and they won’t be able to.”

Cooper said when she and Magee’s father, also named James Magee, divorced, they split up the two brothers, Jason Matthew and James Claiborne. James went with his father to live in Bogalusa.

“If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t let him live with his father,” she said, adding that the decision was a mistake.

She also said she had hoped Magee and Adrienne would reconcile and get back together.

Both Tommy and Bonnie Cooper said they have not been allowed to see the surviving children, Ashleigh and Aleisha since the murders, despite repeated attempts and phone calls. They had a good relationship with the grandchildren before the murders.

Magee did not take the stand in the sentencing phase and had not testified in the trial, either.

In closing arguments, defense attorney Bill Alford told the jury that sometimes statements are made to incite you, zeroing in on narrow issues.

Alford said that there were no plans to get away—Magee had no passport. He added that the question before the jury was not whether Magee was going to die in Angola, but a question of when—earlier by execution, or later through a life sentence.

He added that the well-being of Magee’s daughters should be taken into consideration. “They can’t change who their father was,” said Alford. He asked, “Would the state killing (Magee) be in their best interest, or would it be better for them to confront him someday and demand answers?”

He added, “Do you want the state to make them orphans?”

An attempt by the defense earlier to include the use of prescription drugs for a foot ailment by Magee was met by resistance from the prosecution that stated the drugs used as painkillers would have had the opposite effect and would have sedated him, not agitate him.

Lead prosecutors Scott Gardner and Ken Dohre addressed the jury, giving them a timeline of the planning and premeditation that entered into the murders. He told someone he was going to “kill them all.”

At 1 p.m., he went to the daycare center to see that everything was normal.

At 2 p.m., he purchased 100 rounds of live ammo.

At 3:30 p.m., he calls to see if the kids are at the day care yet.

At 5 p.m. he waits for the car on their normal route home. He then gets behind the car and begins to ram it from behind. Adrienne loses control of the car, it crashes in to a tree.

Then Magee continues his plan.

The graphic planning of the crimes and his neglect of assisting to his children’s medical needs before he left were both cited by Dohre as reasons he deserved the death penalty.

He had 125 rounds of live ammo in his truck when stopped.

“The only remorse was he didn’t get away with it,” said Dohre. “It was a planned, orchestrated event. James Claiborne Magee elevated his event to a planned massacre.”

As the prosecution gave their closing arguments, Bonnie Carter sat still with her eyes closed as if shutting out the world.

Gardner asked the jury, “Is this the type of crime that merits the death penalty?” He ended by stating, “Anything less than the death penalty undershoots the savagery of this case.”

In his instruction to the jury, Knight told them if they decided on the death penalty, they had to list the aggravated factors and/or mitigating circumstances used to direct the verdict. If a unanimous verdict of death cannot be reached, an automatic verdict of life without benefit of parole or pardon would be given.

Upon reaching a verdict, Knight instructed the onlookers that in such a proceeding, professional conduct is necessary. He added that if anyone felt they could not hear the verdict without showing emotion, please step out of the courtroom.

No one did.

Instead, a mostly emotionless courtroom received the sentence of James Magee’s death with silence, seriousness and a dignity not allowed to his victims.