The case drew attention after Steven donated one of his kidneys to his ailing mother, Vessa Shelton.

The family suffered from serious financial problems due to the father losing his legs in an industrial accident.

All of Steven's older brothers became involved in criminal activity as juveniles or adults and went to a reform school or prison.

He pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced to five months in jail and a year of probation.

At dusk, after drinking about one and one-half entire cases of beer, the four drove to a local tavern in Nelson's car in Wilmington.

On the way there, they discussed a plan for Gibbons to pretend to be a prostitute to lure men out of the bar so that the rest of the group could rob them.

[3] Afterward, the group went to a different bar, but Nelson and Gibbons continued to argue in the parking lot.

[3] Sometime after midnight, Outten called his girlfriend, Karen Julian, and asked her to pick him up from the bar, saying he didn't want to go with the rest of the group.

It was later discovered that hours after the murder, Nelson went to the house of an 85-year-old woman he knew under the pretense of fixing her car, before attacking her 60-year-old son and tying him up, before trying to rape her.

Gibbons talked to the police, giving multiple, some contradicting, accounts of the events preceding the murder.

[3] In her original account to the police, Gibbons said Steven and Outten had kicked Mannon, but insisted that Nelson didn't hurt him.

Gibbons said she tried to call a friend to tell her what happened, but Nelson caught her, ripped the phone from the wall and struck her.

Nelson's lawyer tried to have Gibbons charged with perjury, and the judge ordered a female police officer to keep watch on her house throughout the duration of the trial.

[13] Gibbons said she initially gave a differing version of events since she had conflicting feelings about the Shelton brothers and both loved and was scared of Nelson.

[14] During the sentencing phase, the prosecution pointed to the brutality of Mannon's murder and the lengthy criminal records of the trio in arguing they deserved to die.

"[15] Nelson refused to present any mitigating evidence, saying he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in prison.

Outten talked about his second child with Julian, and said it hurt that he couldn't hold him and spend time with him, and said he wanted to see them grow.

He asked the jury to "rise above the state's call for death and to "show your loved ones to respect life."

In 1994, Nelson, who said he was planning to waive appeals, drew national attention after offering to donate one of his kidneys to his ailing mother, Vessa.

When Nelson heard of his mother's medical troubles, he immediately offered to give her one of his kidneys.

Vessa asked for a postponement of the operation so she could spend her last day with Nelson, who had now waived all of his appeals and was soon scheduled to die.

In 2006, Outten's sentence was overturned after a federal appellate court ruled that his lawyer had not done a good enough job in defending him and presenting mitigation.

In 2008, his conviction was also overturned after the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that there was not enough evidence to prove that he had murdered Mannon "in furtherance of robbery".

Because this automatically removed one of the statutory aggravating factors against Outten, the court found that this placed his entire conviction and sentence in jeopardy.

Outten said the 12+1⁄2 years he'd spent in solitary confinement while on death row forced him "to reflect on his life and all the people he has let down along the way.

"[34] Mannon's family decried the plea agreements, which the prosecution said had been offered due to questions about the reliability of Gibbons's testimony.

Mannon's wife, Mary Lou Hutchins, said Outten and Steven would face higher justice.

The prosecution pushed for the judge to impose the maximum sentences allowed under the plea agreements, while the defense asked for leniency.

Herlihy decried the fact that Steven and Outten were still not accepting full responsibility for their role in the murder, saying they were now pointing fingers at Nelson, the only person who could no longer speak himself since he was the only was one to "man up" to what he had done.

[34] Steven Shelton and Outten are currently serving their sentences at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, the same prison where Nelson was executed.