A Lincoln County Circuit judge ordered convicted murderer Willie Cory Godbolt to pay $32 million to the parents of Jordan Blackwell and Austin Edwards for causing their deaths during an hours-long shooting spree in 2017 that also claimed the lives of six other people including a Lincoln County deputy.

In a final judgment signed April 15 by Judge Michael Taylor, Shon and Tiffany Blackwell, Jordan’s parents, were awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages, and Shayla Edwards, Austin’s mother, was awarded identical amounts. Tiffany Blackwell and Shayla Edwards are sisters. Their sons died at the Blackwell home.

In the original complaint, filed in May 2018, the Blackwells and Edwards claimed Godbolt “willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, intentionally, broke and entered the home and then and there shot Jordan Blackwell and Austin Edwards, causing them intense physical and mental pain and suffering and ultimately their untimely death” and that Jordan and Austin, who were cousins, “endured immense pain and suffering each minute that they were held against their will and then shot and killed by the defendant Cory Godbolt.”

Goldbolt was convicted in February 2020 of capital murder in the slaying of Austin and Jordan, deputy William Durr, and Sheila Burage; the murders of Ferral Burage, Barbara Mitchell, Brenda May and Toccara May; the attempted murder of deputy Tim Kees, and the kidnappings of Xavier Lilly and LaPeatra Stafford. Godbolt received the death penalty, plus life in prison, plus 40 years.

“It’s established by the jury that he (Godbolt) murdered them, so I could take that finding and find him liable for their death civilly, without a separate trial or a new proceeding,” Judge Taylor said.

Though Blackwell’s and Edwards’ parents were awarded the judgment, Taylor said it is unlikely they will receive monetary compensation.

“This means they’ve been awarded this. But it doesn’t guarantee recovery of that amount or any amount basically,” he said.

If Godbolt, who remains in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, earns any income, or inherits property or assets, “they would be able to go after it,” Taylor said.