Convicted killer calls himself a "man of leisure" in taunting letter to N.C. paper

(CBS) GASTONIA, N.C. - A convicted killer on death row sent a local paper a taunting letter saying that while in prison he is "a gentleman of leisure" who spends his days watching television and taking naps, reports CBS affiliate WRAL.

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr., 50, was sentenced to death after being convicted of suffocating 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009. 

He is also charged with the murders of two more women: Randi Dean Saldana, 30, whose burned remains were found near Blacksburg, S.C. in 2009, and Deborah Ratchford, 30, whose body was found in a Gastonia, N.C. cemetery in 1992, according to WRAL.

He is scheduled to go on trial for Saldana's murder in March.

The Gaston Gazette reports that it received Hembree's letter Monday, Jan. 23. In it, he describes his life behind bars as being pleasant, with days spent reading, eating and napping.

"Is the public aware that the chances of my lawful murder taking place in the next 20 years if ever are very slim?" Hembree wrote. "The state of North Carolina has sentenced me to death, but it's not real."

"Kill me if you can, suckers," he wrote. "Ha! Ha! Ha!"

According to WRAL, the state of North Carolina last executed an inmate in 2006.