TIFTON — An Ashburn man who is a registered sex offender and once lived in Tifton was convicted in Florida Thursday of beating, raping and stabbing to death a Clearwater mother of three.

According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, jurors who found John Lee Hampton, 35, guilty of the crime recommended that he receive the death penalty. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have until Aug. 28 to file sentencing memoranda.

Maj. Bobby Brannen of the Tift County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that Hampton was previously convicted of child molestation in Turner County and sentenced to 10 years probation. Hampton moved to Tifton, Brannen said, and registered his uncle’s address as his residence. When his uncle saw an article in the Tifton Gazette about local registered sex offenders, Brannen said the uncle notified him that Hampton wasn’t living with him. The uncle’s statement led to Hampton being arrested for giving the wrong address.

Brannen said Hampton reported to him that he was moving to a certain address and when Brannen checked, the residence was too close to two churches.

“I told him he couldn’t live there,” Brannen said.

Brannen said he then spoke with a woman who said Hampton could live with her and the address met all of the qualifications. Then, Brannen said, Hampton wanted to transfer his probation on the charge of giving the wrong address to Turner County. Brannen said Ashburn authorities checked that address and discovered there was a child in the home, which meant that address wasn’t compliant with rules for convicted sex offenders.

Hampton then reported back to Brannen and said he had somewhere else in Tifton to stay, but that address also was not compliant. Brannen said he told Hampton to find another address and to get back with him before 5 p.m. that day. Brannen said Hampton never called or returned numerous calls he made to Hampton.

Brannen took out a warrant on Hampton for failing to give a compliant address, but Hampton couldn’t be found.

“The next thing I heard was from a detective at the Ashburn Police Department who told me that they had warrants on him for kidnapping, rape and aggravated assault of a woman there,” Brannen said.

Maj. Desi Tabor of the Ashburn Police Department said Wednesday that Hampton fled to Florida before the three warrants from his agency could be served. He said the alleged assault of the 45-year-old woman occurred between 4 and 5 a.m. on May 12, 2007, behind a vacant house.

According to the article in the St. Petersburg Times, the slaying of Lashonda McKinnes, 25, occurred June 10, 2007. The article stated that Hampton first gave police conflicting accounts of what happened, then said that he killed McKinnes by stabbing her neck and slitting her throat when she came at him while he looked through her things. Police said Hampton’s shorts and shoes were stained with blood and that bloody socks were found in a trash can at McKinnes’ north Clearwater apartment complex.

Testimony also revealed that Hampton had attempted to clean up the scene by dousing McKinnes with lighter fluid and other chemicals.

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.