Apr. 9
OHIO:
Trial begins in Youngstown death penalty case
The trial against a Youngstown man accused of killing a woman and attempting to
kill 2 others began Wednesday in Mahoning County Court.
Willie Wilks Jr. is charged with aggravated murder in the May 21 shooting death
of Orora Wilkins, 20, of Youngstown.
Wilks pleads not guilty
Wilks is also accused of shooting Alex Morales in the back as he sat on the
porch with Wilkins at a house on Park Avenue.
Prosecutors painted Wilks as an enraged man looking for revenge when he went to
the house that Tuesday afternoon.
Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor Becky Doherty said Wilks was looking for
Orora Wilkins' brother William "Mister" Wilkins when he went to house because
Wilkins had allegedly accused him of stealing money from a family member.
"You walk up to a porch with an AK-47, a big gun, and you shoot her in the
head. That is the purpose. The purpose is to kill her," said Doherty.
According to Doherty, Alex Morales and Orora Wilkins were sitting on the porch
when Wilks walked up and asked, "Where the (expletive) is he?"
Morales got up to go inside the house and Wilks allegedly shot him in the back.
Morales was holding a baby at the time and fell on top of the child. Orora
Wilkins got up to go to the baby and was shot in the head and killed.
Doherty said that Wilkins also fired shots at an upstairs window in an attempt
to hit William "Mister" Wilkins.
Most of the testimony Wednesday centered on the shooting scene. Doherty
questioned Patrolman Melvin Johnson, who was one of the first officers to
respond. She specifically asked him about radio traffic and what was reported
at the scene, specifically if a Be On The Lookout (BOLO) had been issued for
Wilks.
"I heard radio from other officers when I mentioned the name Wilks that was
given to me as a potential suspect. I heard radio traffic from other officers
in reference to a Wilks based on things they were familiar with about vehicles
and license plates," said Johnson. "I am listening to this but not directly
because I know these officers are speaking to one another in reference to my
initial announcement that Wilks was mentioned."
The jury has been to the crime scene where bullet holes can still be seen near
an upstairs window and on the porch.
Several witnesses are scheduled to testify, including Orora Wilkins' sister.
(source: WKBN news)
******************
Attorney: Death Too Harsh for Man Who Killed Officer Miktarian
An attorney for Ashford Thompson, 29, argued before justices of the Ohio
Supreme Court on Tuesday that the death penalty he is serving for the
aggravated murder of Twinsburg police officer Josh Miktarian is too harsh.
Miktarian, 33, pulled Thompson over in the early morning hours of July 13, 2008
for playing music too loud in his car.
In the minutes after, a traffic stop escalated until Thompson drew a gun and
fired multiple times, killing Miktarian.
His attorney, Rachel Troutman, argued on Tuesday that Thompson was under duress
at the time and as things escalated, believed that his own life was being
threatened.
"Ashford Thompson made a very bad judgement call on July 13, 2008." said
Troutman, adding, "He was a man who identified as a nurse, a caretaker,
somebody who only had a concealed carry, a license to concealed carry so he
could bring his gun with him when he took care, when he did home health care in
bad neighborhoods."
Troutman used the case of Quisi Bryan, convicted of killing Cleveland police
officer Wayne Leon in 2000, to illustrate that the death penalty is appropriate
in cases where the defendant had a criminal history.
She argued that Thompson's record included only traffic violations until that
night and that he was not a violent person.
"This was not a man who had been convicted of anything violent. He was deeply
religious and he was young and again he was a nurse, somebody who had dedicated
himself to taking care of others," said Troutman.
When asked whether her argument had any difficulty with the fact that Officer
Miktarian had been shot 4 times in the head, Troutman said that only
demonstrated the amount of panic Ashford Thompson had.
"This was not a cold, calculated pull the trigger once and walk away. This was
a man who unloaded his gun and then took off. This was not somebody who, again,
had done something violent in the past this was somebody who panicked and then
everything went wrong, but because of the man that he is, because of the man
that he was the day before that he does not warrant the death sentence," argued
Troutman.
Appeals attorney Richard Kasay of the Summit County Prosecutor's Office argued
that the trial court got it right.
Kasay said the only time the court heard that Thompson was under duress was
from the explanation Thompson himself gave during an unsworn statement at his
trial.
"The function of this court, my understanding is that you consider it but you
don't have to accept it," said Kasay, adding, "just because a defendant says
something, how much credibility does this court have to give it? Well, that's
up to this court."
Thompson's attorneys argued that he drew his gun because he believed Officer
Miktarian was reaching for his.
Kasay countered that no one will really know exactly what happened.
"He (Miktarian) was reaching for his gun. That's what Mr. Thompson's attorneys
would want you to believe. We don't know that. The officer had another set of
handcuffs and could just as easily been reaching for those. We don't know that
and we never will," said Kasay.
"To jump to the conclusion that the officer was reaching for his gun is
speculative and not something that requires, the evidence is not such that this
court is required to believe that," he added.
As for the weight the court should give to Thompson's past when considering
their ruling, Kasay said that would have to be left up to each individual
Justice.
The Supreme Court will take all of the arguments into consideration before
issuing its ruling.
(source: Fox8 news)
************
Defense tells Ohio Supreme Court that death penalty imposed improperly in case
of slain Twinsburg police officer
In 7 minutes, Ashford Thompson's life got out of control and he murdered
Twinsburg Police Officer Joshua Miktarian.
That was the central argument to the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday as
Thompson's attorney asked the justices to vacate his 2010 aggravated murder
conviction and death sentence.
On a hot summer night in July 2008, Thompson acted under duress, fearing for
his own life, during a struggle with Miktarian after the officer stopped
Thompson's car for loud music, attorney Rachel Troutman told the high court.
She said Thompson had a professional career, was only 23 years old at the time
of the crime and had no criminal record before the night he shot and killed
Miktarian a few minutes after the traffic stop.
"Ashford Thompson made a very bad judgment call on July 13, 2008. He was a man
who was identified as a nurse, a caretaker and somebody who only had a
concealed-carry license so he could bring his gun with him when he did home
health care in bad neighborhoods," Troutman said.
"In 7 minutes," she stressed, "his life got out of control, and Officer
Miktarian was murdered."
Moreover, in the sentencing phase of Thompson's trial in Summit County Common
Pleas Court, Troutman said the court's findings established that the shooting
was not done with prior calculation and design - an essential element of
aggravated murder.
"This court can find that Ashford Thompson, being the person he was before, the
person he was inside, despite the fact that he made a horrible mistake, is
still worthy of living," Troutman said at the conclusion of her remarks.
No timetable for decision
Following arguments that took more than an hour for both sides to present their
cases, Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor said the court would take the matter
under advisement. No timetable was given for a decision.
The foundation for Thompson's appeal is that the aggravating factors of the
crime did not carry more weight than the mitigating factors in sparing his
life. Defense briefs, totaling 148 pages, cited 18 legal and procedural errors
at his trial as jurisdictional grounds for the high court to hear the case.
Justice Paul E. Pfeifer said nothing during much of the prosecution's argument
to uphold Thompson's death sentence, but when he did speak, he departed from
legal jargon with a personal recollection of such debates with the late Chief
Justice Thomas Moyer.
Stopping Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Richard Kasay in the middle of his
remarks, Pfeifer said he had "personally struggled" with mitigating factors in
other capital cases before the court, pointing out that Thompson lacked any
previous criminal history, served in the military and had an honorable
profession as a nurse.
Then, posing a question that Pfeifer said he and Moyer often struggled over in
their discussions, he asked Kasay if "those kinds of things don't count for
much in mitigation?"
Kasay responded by saying he had no "categorical answer" for the question and
that, ultimately, it was up to each justice to arrive at an answer.
The prosecutor also stressed that Miktarian was shot 4 times in the head with a
gun that Thompson had carried in his car that night after he and his girlfriend
had been at a bar.
Taser gun on ground
In what appeared as an attempt to dispel the claim that Thompson feared for his
life, Kasay told the justices there was only 1 thing missing from Miktarian's
duty belt when his body was found.
It was his Taser gun. It was found on the ground, and it had not been fired,
Kasay said.
After Thompson fled from the scene of the shooting, he went to the home of a
relative with one of Miktarian's handcuffs still clasped around his wrist.
Police officers who found him there became involved in a violent struggle in
the kitchen, to the point of the refrigerator door being ripped off "in the
process of subduing him," Kasay argued.
It was unmistakable evidence, the prosecutor argued, that Thompson had no
remorse for what he did.
(source: ohio.com)
TENNESSEE----new execution date
Execution date set for inmate on death row since 1978
Tennessee wants to execute death row's longest-standing resident.
Donald Wayne Strouth, 55, has been on death row since 1978 for the murder of a
second-hand store owner in Kingsport. He's accused of knocking out and slashing
the throat of Jimmy Keegan in a robbery, leaving his body behind in his store,
where his wife later found him.
Strouth, who was known to carry a hawkbill knife, was seen by witnesses
afterward with blood still on his hands.
He outlived the man who was convicted alongside him, Jeffrey Dicks. Dicks, like
most death row inmates over the past decade or so, died not by execution but by
natural causes when he suffered a heart attack in 1999.
But Tuesday, Tennessee's Supreme Court set a date for Strouth's execution:
March 15, 2016.
It may seem far off, but the justices built in time for an ongoing lawsuit
dealing with the secrecy of Tennessee's death penalty to run its course. Eleven
death row inmates are suing the state to turn over details about how it plans
to perform its lethal injection, trying to overcome a 2013 law that sealed many
of those details behind a veil of secrecy. They argue that if they don't know
what the state is using to kill them and where it came from, there's no way to
know whether the execution meets constitutional safeguards against "cruel and
unusual punishment."
That lawsuit, which is ongoing, has pushed back at least one execution date.
Strouth has argued that he suffers from brain damage and mental illness, but
the state's Supreme Court was unswayed.
He is at least the 10th death row inmate to have an execution date. Billy Ray
Irick, who raped and murdered a 7-year-old Knoxville girl in 1985, is scheduled
to die first, on Oct. 7. The state is awaiting an execution date for an 11th
inmate.
Tennessee has not executed a prisoner since 2009.
(source: The Tennessean)
MISSOURI----new execution date
Missouri sets execution date for Russell Bucklew
The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday set a May execution date for convicted
killer Russell Bucklew, continuing a trend of scheduling 1 execution per month.
Bucklew is set to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. May 21 for killing a man in
Cape Girardeau County in 1996.
"We are litigating this in the courts and we are pursuing executive clemency,"
Bucklew's attorney, John William Simon of St. Louis, said.
Missouri has executed 5 men since November - 1 each month through March. A
sixth, William Rousan, is scheduled to be put to death April 23 for killing a
St. Francois County couple in 1993.
Missouri executed 2 men between 2005 and November. Executions slowed because
the U.S. Supreme Court was considering whether lethal injection was
constitutional. A 2008 ruling cleared the way for lethal injection, but major
drugmakers about that time stopped selling drugs for use in executions, citing
ethical concerns.
Late last year, Missouri switched to a single-drug method, using pentobarbital
made by an unidentified compounding agency. All 5 men put to death at the state
prison in Bonne Terre, Mo., over the past 6 months - Joseph Paul Franklin in
November, Allen Nicklasson in December, Herbert Smulls in January, Michael
Taylor in February and Jeffrey Ferguson in March - were executed with
pentobarbital.
Bucklew, 45, was convicted in the fatal shooting of Michael Sanders. Sanders
was killed on March 21, 1996, about a month after Bucklew and his girlfriend
broke up. Bucklew had determined that Sanders was a romantic rival. Authorities
said he went to Sanders' mobile home and shot him while his ex-girlfriend and
Sanders' 6-year-old son were also inside the home.
Bucklew abducted his ex-girlfriend and raped her before driving north on
Interstate 55. A trooper spotted the car and apprehended Bucklew after a
gunfight. Both the trooper and Bucklew were wounded.
Buckley briefly escaped from the Cape Girardeau County jail before he went to
trial in 1997 but was quickly recaptured.
(source: Associated Press)
****************
Death penalty hearing delayed for terminally ill man linked to Belleville
murders
A hearing to determine whether convicted murderer Gregory A. Bowman would once
again face the death penalty has been delayed for a year because he has a
terminal illness.
Bowman, 62, is facing sentencing for a murder 35 years ago in St. Louis County.
Circuit Judge David Vincent, the judge presiding in Bowman's case, set the
hearing for April 27, 2015.
Bowman was convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of
16-year-old Velda Rumfelt who was abducted from a busy Brentwood, Mo.,
intersection. DNA found in Rumfelt's underwear was a 1 in 459 trillion match to
Bowman.
Bowman, who also was convicted of killing two young women from Belleville,
denied his guilt in the Rumfelt case from the witness stand to then-St. Louis
County prosecutor Joe Dueker at the first sentencing hearing in 2009.
The Missouri Supreme Court overturned his death sentence in 2011. The court
ruled that during the sentencing phase of the trial, the judge erred when he
allowed testimony regarding Bowman's conviction of the murders of 14-year-old
Elizabeth West and 21-year-old Ruth Ann Jany, both of Belleville.
"It would be hollow if he passes away in prison but as long as he doesn't hurt
any other women, we can live with that," said Teresa Rumfelt, Velda Rumfeldt's
friend and sister-in-law. "He's the lowest of the low. We would rather see him
executed, but, at this point, we will take what we can get."
"We were aggravated about what happened with the (Missouri) Supreme Court,"
Teresa Rumfelt said. "We followed the rules and we did what we were supposed to
do and he still slipped out just like he did over there."
West was abducted from West Main Street in Belleville. Her body was found in a
small creek near Millstadt on May 5, 1978. 2 months later, Jany was abducted
from a Belleville bank's parking lot. Her skeletal remains were found a year
later in a field near Hecker.
Both the St. Clair County convictions were overturned after St. Louis
Post-Dispatch reporters questioned the manner in which his confession was
obtained.
The newspaper reported that Bowman was "tricked" into confessing by former
investigator Robert Miller, who got jail prisoner Danny Stark to plot an escape
with Bowman, who confessed to delay his transfer to Menard Correction Center
where he was to serve a sentence for abducting another Belleville woman from a
laundromat.
Associate Judge Richard Aguirre found the confession to Miller was not given
freely and gave Bowman a new trial. Bowman posted bond and was released from
jail for the 1st time in 29 years.
His freedom didn't last long.
Former Belleville Police Chief James Rokita, then retired, took a DNA profile
offered by Bowman in the Belleville cases to Missouri and urged investigators
there to compare it to their cold cases.
Scientists were able to discover the semen in Rumfelt's underpants. Prosecutors
said Bowman allowed Rumfelt to dress after her rape, preserving the DNA that
would eventually be matched to Bowman's DNA profile.
Bowman was free just over a week before he was arrested for the Rumfelt murder.
This time the trial would be in St. Louis County, where Bowman would face a
capital murder case.
Steve Evans, Bowman's defense attorney, argued that Bowman's conviction was the
only one in the state based solely on DNA evidence. Evans argued further that
the DNA evidence should have never been sent to Missouri for comparisons to
cold cases there.
Jurors voted to convicted Bowman of Rumfelt's murder. Her body was discovered
June 6, 1977, in a field near the Six Flags amusement park in Eureka, Mo. She
had been raped and strangled with a shoestring, and her throat had been
slashed.
After Bowman received the death sentence in Missouri, then St. Clair County
State's Attorney Robert Haida dismissed the West and Jany murder charges.
Bowman remains in the Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri.
(source: bnd.com)
NEBRASKA:
Judge refuses to accept no-contest plea from Nikko Jenkins during hearing full
of 'theatrics'
Of late, the widower of Andrea Kruger has purposely avoided the Douglas County
Courthouse.
First and foremost, Michael Ryan Kruger takes care of the couple's young
daughters, who are not in school, during the day.
Second, he has no interest in giving an audience to his wife's accused killer,
Nikko Jenkins, or Jenkins' courtroom actions as he represents himself on
charges that he killed 4 Omahans - Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and Juan Uribe-Pena on
Aug. 11, Curtis Bradford on Aug. 19 and Andrea Kruger on Aug. 21.
After days like Tuesday, Kruger says, he has no regrets about that decision.
Jenkins' "theatrics" - as one attorney called them - were in high-definition
mode.
In the morning and afternoon sessions in the Douglas County District courtroom,
he created a buzz when he repeatedly claimed he wanted to change his not-guilty
plea and plead no contest to all charges against him.
The reason he gave: Because he is being detained on "illegal" evidence and
wants to be convicted, so that he can expedite a civil rights lawsuit he has
filed that claims he is being illegally held.
After District Judge Peter Bataillon refused to accept Jenkins' no-contest plea
- telling him he could plead "guilty" instead - Jenkins' voice rose.
He warned that he would continue to plead "no contest" at every hearing.
That wasn't all.
When the judge questioned Jenkins' "competency to be (his) own attorney,"
Jenkins let out a loud, incredulous laugh.
He spoke over the judge. He called Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine "Donny."
And he declared it "(expletive) great" that he had prosecutors "shaking."
And before he ducked down a hallway on his way to a back elevator, he threw his
head back and howled 4 times.
"It's just a spectacle," Michael-Ryan Kruger said. "That's why we haven't gone
to these things. I think he's hoping for that type of environment, and I really
have no desire to give him the satisfaction.
"There's obviously some more courtroom antics to go. I'm just going to let it
play out and know that the outcome will come."
It seemed close to arriving Tuesday.
Prosecutors had requested the hearing to discuss discovery issues with Jenkins.
Kleine said in court that authorities had some concerns that Jenkins might be
disseminating police reports to news media. (Jenkins countered that he has
offered reporters only his medical records.)
Jenkins complained that he couldn't properly prepare for trial unless he was
able to see more than 25 pages of reports at a time. He also complained that he
wasn't able to make copies of crime-scene photos - photos that he needed to
submit as exhibits at trial.
Then the routine hearing became anything but.
Jenkins started to read from a handwritten motion to plead no contest "to all
felony charges."
Bataillon noted the seeming inconsistency in Jenkins' requests.
"If you intend to enter pleas of no contest," he said, "I'm going to continue
this matter until 1:30. I have a concern of whether you are competent to be
your own attorney."
At that, Jenkins let out a loud, incredulous laugh.
"In one breath," Bataillon said, "you are complaining about the discovery
setup. In the next breath, you are saying you want to plead no contest."
Jenkins interrupted.
"The only thing I'm utilizing is the same dirty tactics that you are allowing
the other side to use."
While making his request to plead no contest, Jenkins also referred to his
federal civil rights lawsuit.
That led legal observers to conclude that Jenkins wants to plead no contest
because he thinks he needs to stop the state from presenting evidence against
him in the criminal case.
Under his logic, the federal judge overseeing his civil action would release
him for lack of evidence.
Such a move would have as little chance of succeeding as Jenkins' previous
attempts to get the case tossed - including an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss
all charges because Kleine had revealed that Jenkins was competent to stand
trial.
Bataillon told Jenkins he wouldn't allow him to plead no contest. Under state
law, the judge said, he doesn't have to accept a no-contest plea.
The reason: Jenkins possibly faces the death penalty, Bataillon noted.
It's too grave a consequence - and too important a matter - to allow Jenkins to
plead no contest, the judge said.
"I will not accept your plea of no contest," Bataillon said. "If you want to
enter a plea of guilty, you can do that."
A no-contest plea, in which a defendant neither admits nor disputes the charge,
typically is treated the same as a guilty plea.
State law gives the judge discretion. A law passed in 1953 says that "the court
may refuse to accept" a no-contest plea.
Only 3 Nebraska death-row inmates - John Joubert, Erick Vela and David Dunster
- are known to have pleaded to murder charges, but they all entered guilty
pleas.
Jenkins said he will continue to try to plead no contest.
"I will not stand trial for these cases, and you cannot refuse me. No legal
proceeding will get to transpire because every time I will stand up and say, 'I
plead no contest.' That is my constitutional right."
Bataillon told Jenkins he does not have a constitutional right to plead "no
contest."
"The case will go to trial," the judge ruled.
Bataillon said Jenkins has a right not to present a defense. However, if
Jenkins goes that route, Bataillon said, he may reconsider his decision to
allow him to represent himself.
Rebuffed, Jenkins went back to the complaint he has been airing for 3 months:
that somehow Kleine violated Jenkins' rights by revealing that he was competent
to stand trial.
Bataillon ended the hearing.
Earlier, Jenkins smirked at Kleine - puffing his chest and smiling broadly over
his plans to plead no contest.
"You didn't think that was coming, did you, Donny?" Jenkins said.
Kleine didn't respond.
As Kleine walked out, Jenkins stared at him.
"He's still shaking," Jenkins said. (Kleine wasn't.)
"Oh my goodness," Jenkins gloated, "that is so (expletive) great."
Moments later, Jenkins left the courtroom. So did about 20 Millard West High
School students who were there as part of a field trip.
Passing from the courtroom to a hallway on his way back to jail, Jenkins struck
a pose. It was intended for the bank of TV cameras that are typically gathered
there.
Instead, only one TV camera and a handful of high school students were in the
hallway.
Jenkins tilted his head back and let loose a howl.
The students giggled. Nervously.
(source: Omaha World-Herald)
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