Joseph Ernest Atkins

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Joseph Ernest Atkins (1947 – January 23, 1999) was an American serial killer and Vietnam War veteran who murdered three people in South Carolina. He murdered his half-brother in 1969 and received a life sentence. After Atkins's adoptive father pleaded for his release, he was released on parole in 1980. In 1985, Atkins murdered a 13-year-old neighbor girl and his adoptive father. Atkins was convicted of these two murders, sentenced to death, and executed in 1999. Atkins's lawyers unsuccessfully argued for leniency, saying he was suffering a flashback from Vietnam at the time of the murders. Atkins had armed himself with a machete and was dressed in military fatigues when he committed the murders.

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