JACKSON, Miss. — On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review the cases of a Mississippi man on death row for killing eight people in one night in 2017, including his mother-in-law and a deputy sheriff.

Willie Cory Godbolt wrote a letter to the high court in August asking them to review a decision made by the Mississippi Supreme Court that upheld his convictions and death penalties.

In his plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, he said, among other things, that his defence wasn’t strong enough and that the search was illegal. The judges usually don’t say why they didn’t review a case, but they didn’t say why they didn’t review Godbolt’s case.

Police say the fighting started when Godbolt went to his in-laws’ house on May 27, 2017, and got into a fight with his ex-wife over their kids.

The family called for help, but the constable from Lincoln County who came to help was shot and killed. Three people were killed there, including Godbolt’s mother-in-law. In the early hours of the next morning, two married people were killed in a third house, along with an 18-year-old and an 11-year-old.

Godbolt was found guilty of eight crimes in February 2020. These included four counts of capital murder, eight counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, one count of attempted murder, and one count of armed robbery.

Three people found Godbolt guilty of capital murder and put him to death. Godbolt was given six life sentences and two 20-year terms for the other charges.

The Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman has Godbolt on death row. He is 42 years old now.

He was found guilty and given the death penalty by the Mississippi Supreme Court in March 2024.