CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A Clay County contractor who was convicted Monday of killing his client in 2019 now faces the possibility of being sentenced to death for her murder.
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Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Corey Binderim, who killed Susan Mauldin because of a dispute over the work he was doing on her home.
Jurors will now hear testimony in the penalty phase of the trial before deciding whether to recommend a death sentence for Binderim, 49.
Current Florida law states that the decision does not have to be unanimous; prosecutors only need eight jurors to agree to recommend the death penalty.
Mauldin was reported missing from her Fleming Island home in October 2019. Her remains were found three months later at a landfill in Folkston, Georgia.
Investigators said Binderim was the last person to see her alive.
Court records show Binderim was hired to complete a $12,000 remodel on Mauldin’s home before she disappeared. Documents released by prosecutors say he repeatedly failed to show up for work and finish the job.
In closing arguments Monday morning, the government portrayed Binderim as a man on the brink, afraid of his drug use being exposed and his wife leaving him as a result, and, prosecutors said, he feared Mauldin calling the police on him to try to get her money back, which he couldn’t pay.
“On Oct. 24, 2019, instead of bringing a $12,000 check that he did not have, he brought this sturdy demo contractor bag and after strangling Ms. Mauldin to death, he used that contractor bag as her tomb,” said prosecutor Pamela Hazel.
In December 2019, Binderim, who was a person of interest in Mauldin’s disappearance, was arrested on an unrelated charge. He was charged a couple of months later with Mauldin’s murder.
Last week, a Clay County inmate testified that Binderim confessed to him that he strangled Mauldin, a widow, in a dispute over money and took her body to a dump.
The jailhouse informant, Thomas Smith, said he and Binderim bonded over doing similar work in construction and Binderim told him he went to Mauldin’s house when he was high to collect payment and they got into an argument that escalated.
“He said that she started getting loud and that he was trying to shut her up,” Smith said.
The jury also saw images from the nine-day search for Mauldin in the south Georgia landfill, as well as disturbing images of the remains they found.
Two of Mauldin’s nails were found at the landfill. One was found to have just her DNA on it and one was found to have her DNA and that of one or two unknown males, but not Binderim’s DNA. The prosecution said the nail with other DNA was found outside the bag in which Mauldin’s remains were found, but the defense said the opposite.
The jury asked a little less than two hours into deliberations for the court to clarify, but the judge told them they would need to rely on their own recollection.
Earlier in the trial, the state played surveillance video for the jury showing Binderim’s movements around the time Mauldin went missing.
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Binderim was seen in a surveillance video at Home Depot around 7 a.m. the day after friends said Mauldin was planning to confront him. He was seen buying demolition bags and concrete mix. The prosecution said a bag he bought became her shroud.
Surveillance video showed Binderim’s truck in Mauldin’s driveway a little after 8 a.m. and then around 9 a.m., he checked in at a local landfill where prosecutors say he left Mauldin’s body. He’s accused of dumping 300 pounds of materials at the landfill.
Surveillance video showed Binderim back at Home Depot around 11 a.m. that morning wearing different clothes.
The lead detective in the case also testified that a few weeks after Mauldin went missing, Binderim was the target of an investigation in Jacksonville Beach where he was accused of stealing a $5,000 check from another client.
The detective also testified that Binderim fled to Colorado using a burner phone and eventually turned himself in in December.
Prosecutors said on Oct. 23, a day before her disappearance, Mauldin gave an ultimatum to Binderim due to the unfinished work.
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The state also said Mauldin was strangled and there was a struggle, with scratches seen on Binderim’s arm and hand.
Binderim’s defense called it a “circumstantial case” and said that based on the 37 minutes captured on surveillance video, it was not enough time for Binderim to kill Mauldin and clean up afterward.
The defense claimed Binderim was a hardworking contractor and a father and noted that he goes to Home Depot and buys supplies often because of his line of work and that scratches like the ones on his hand and arm are occupational hazards. They also said he dumps waste at the landfill often for his job and that was nothing unusual.
They also claimed the work at Mauldin’s home was taking so long because she was having trouble making design decisions.
The penalty phase begins Wednesday with opening statements followed by three victim impact statements. Then, the defense will have a chance to present its evidence, which could stretch into Thursday.