Murder trial ends in life sentence

William Gene Mahood is convicted of strangling Panormitis "Michael'' Markonios in 1999.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 6, 2000

LARGO -- Prosecutor Joe Bulone wanted to show that the killer who choked the life out of Panormitis "Michael" Markonios had all the time in the world to think about his act.

So as Bulone demonstrated how he said William Gene Mahood put a choke hold on Markonios, another prosecutor, Rob Dittmer, counted off the time a medical examiner said it took for Markonios to die.

The courtroom was silent for two minutes as Bulone held the pose. Mahood, sitting at a defense table, closed his eyes. Several members of Markonios' family fled the courtroom, unable to bear the moment.

"Two minutes is an eternity," Bulone said.

And jurors apparently agreed with his point. On Thursday, a jury deliberated about 90 minutes before finding Mahood guilty of first-degree murder, deciding the killing of Markonios was not the spur-of-the-moment event the defense portrayed.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Mark Shames immediately sentenced the 28-year-old to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the February 1999 death of Markonios, a 36-year-old hairstylist and fashion designer from Tarpon Springs.

Bulone said Mahood's motive for the killing was greed. He said Mahood, shortly after befriending Markonios, wanted to steal some cash and Markonios' 1985 Porsche 944.

Mahood then took the car and drove to Ohio, where he was captured by police at a rest area along Interstate 70 west of Dayton.

Later, Mahood told detectives investigating the case that he thought he had killed Markonios. Police found Markonios' body in a trash bin near a boatyard on the Anclote River in Tarpon Springs, where it had remained for more than a week after the Feb. 3 killing.

"He told police he was trying to figure out a way to get the car ever since he met Michael Markonios," Bulone said.

Bulone told the judge that Mahood told a cellmate at the Pinellas County Jail that he was responsible for another, unrelated killing in Ohio, which police there now are investigating.

Defense attorney Daniel Hernandez did not deny that his client killed Markonios. But he said his client was "stoned" and didn't realize what he had done. He said his client was guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

One by one, Markonios' family stood before the judge and condemned Mahood.

"What do I say to an evil monster?" said Colleen Markonios, Panormitis Markonios' sister-in-law. "I damn you to hell every time I visit his grave. Mr. Mahood, may you rot in hell."

Then Elizabeth Markonios, a cousin of the victim, stood and told Mahood, "I want to see your hands, I want to see the hands that strangled Mike."

Mahood brought his hands out from under the table and lay them flat on the table before him.

"I hope you live looking at your hands every day," she said. "These hands that could have done such wonderful things have instead taken everything we love away. As long as you live, I want you to remember your hands."

Finally, Markonios asked Mahood what her cousin's last words had been.

"He didn't say nothing," Mahood answered softly before his attorney leaned over and whispered for him to keep quiet.

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