Convicted 'Creighton killer' Dr. Anthony Garcia gets the death sentence

To no one's surprise, the pronouncement was 'death' by the Nebraska 3-judge panel

A three-judge panel today sentenced convicted quadruple murderer, Dr. Anthony Garcia, to death for his actions in the killings of Thomas Hunter, 11, and the family housekeeper Shirlee Sherman, 57, in March 2008 and Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife Mary, both 65, in May 2013.

  

The hangman awaits Dr. Anthony Garcia as a 3-judge panel today recommended
the death sentence for the convicted and now condemned quadruple murderer

Both sets of double murders, which took place a little more than five years apart in the quiet heartland town of Omaha, NE, were thought to be motivated by Dr. Garcia's festering desire for revenge after he was unceremoniously fired from the Creighton University Medical School in 2001.

Garcia was fired from the Creighton University pathology residency training program back in the summer of 2001 by the two then-heads of the pathology department, Drs. William Hunter (the residency director) and Roger Brumback (the department chairman) for what was characterized as unprofessional conduct.

Prosecutors from the Douglas County Attorney's Office contend that Garcia held a simmering and fomenting grudge against Drs. Hunter and Brumback for smearing his professional reputation with a devastating and stigmatic firing which stuck with the troubled doctor throughout his medical career.

Defense argues Dr. Anthony Garcia should be spared the death penalty because of severe mental illness and 'profound burden of failure' in death penalty sentencing hearing

Douglas County Sheriff's deputies wheel in Anthony Garcia, who doesn't
seem to be faking having mental illness, for his death penalty hearing

The much-anticipated and long-delayed death penalty phase for convicted "Creighton killer" Dr. Anthony Garcia finally began Wednesday morning to determine whether he will get the death penalty or spend the rest of his natural life in prison.

Garcia was convicted for two sets of double murders last October with aggravating circumstances that qualified for death penalty consideration under Nebraska law.

In 2008, he broke into the Dundee home of his former boss, then Creighton University Medical Center pathology residency director Dr. William Hunter, and stabbed to death Dr. Hunter's 11-year-old son, Thomas, and the family's housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, while Dr. Hunter was still at work.

Then in 2013 five years later, he broke into his other former boss' home, then Creighton University Medical Center pathology department chairman Dr. Roger Brumback, and stabbed to death Dr. Brumback and his wife Mary.

All four murders were thought to be motivated by revenge for Dr. Garcia's dismissal from the Creighton University Medical Center pathology residency program back in 2001.