Maximum Sentence For Man Accused Of Deadly Stabbing

This week, Superior Court Judge Dennis Blackmon sentenced Duane Clough to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the October 2009 murder of Christopher Watkins. The judge added another consecutive 125 years for the burglary, weapons possession, and the aggravated assaults on his estranged wife and mother-in-law arising out of the same event.

Before handing down the sentence, the Court heard from one of the surviving victims still bearing the visible scars of the defendant’s vicious attack. She described the enduring physical and emotional pain she is suffering and informed the Court she has permanent nerve damage. Following her testimony, the defendant presented two witnesses in mitigation before taking the oath himself and expressing remorse for his crimes. His attorney, Mac Pilgrim, then asked the judge to be merciful and requested leniency.

Summing up for the State, Senior Assistant District Attorney David Taylor described this as one of the scariest cases the District Attorney’s office has handled in recent years and requested the maximum punishment available. Judge Blackmon then followed with a graphic and horrific recitation of Clough’s crimes, describing them as cowardly and controlling. He thereon passed the sentence that will imprison the defendant for the rest of his life.

The sentence is the maximum possible under Georgia law and is the first life without parole sentence to be handed down in Carroll County since the punishment was enacted in 2009. District Attorney Pete Skandalakis expressed his profound satisfaction with the sentence and hopes the victims and their families can continue to heal following today’s hearing. “Given the horrible nature of these crimes, I firmly believe this to be a just and good sentence. By his acts of malevolent violence, this defendant has forfeited any claim to live among the civilized members of this community. I only hope and pray that the victims and their families, secure in the knowledge the defendant will spend the remainder of his days behind bars, can put these terrible events behind them.”