On this page, we will list offenders who are impacted by SB 256. The offenders are listed according to the month their parole hearing will take place. Due to the sheer number of SB 256 beneficiaries, we cannot give detailed information for every offender–we will list information given on the Department of Corrections website, and, for some, information from other sources. Note that this list DOES NOT contain all SB 256 beneficiaries with parole hearings in a given month, only those we identified.
For each offender, you should find the following information: their name, the crime(s) they committed, and the county or counties where they committed those crimes. If the offender committed the same crime multiple times, we will include the number of counts in parenthesis. If the number of counts for an offense is not specified, then the offender was convicted of or pled guilty to one count. We have color coded the various offenses you are likely to see. The key can be found below. Also, names of offenders are in bright yellow if it appears that, due to SB 256, they are up for their first parole hearing earlier than they otherwise would be or if their original sentences did not allow parole eligibility. These offenders, whose sentences are reduced by SB 256, are especially important to consider. We also ask visitors to keep in mind that even if an inmate’s sentence is not reduced by SB 256, they still benefit from the law, as it entitles them to parole hearings every five years and mandates that the parole board consider their age at the time of the offense.
The National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Murderers (NOVJM) website has profiles of juvenile homicide offenders in each state. These profiles give extensive information on each offender. To see NOVJM’s Ohio offender profiles, click here. The NOVJM website also has a page on the consequences of SB 256, in which they list offenders who benefit from it.
Color Coding Key
We have color coded the various crimes to make this page easier to read. The code is as follows.
Murder, aggravated murder, and other homicide offenses—red
Assault, felonious assault, aggravated assault, attempted murder, attempted aggravated murder, menacing by stalking, and any assault or attempted homicide offenses—orange
Rape, attempted rape, and sex offenses—purple
Kidnapping, abduction, attempted kidnapping, and attempted abduction–blue
Robbery, aggravated robbery, attempted robbery, attempted aggravated robbery, and offenses related to theft and fraud—green
Burglary, aggravated burglary, attempted burglary, attempted aggravated burglary, and any related offenses—yellow
Child endangerment, domestic violence, and any offenses against family—pink
Arson, aggravated arson, attempted arson, attempted aggravated arson, and related offenses—burgundy
Abuse of a corpse—light green
Retaliation, intimidation, tampering with evidence, escape, and any offense against justice and public administration—light blue
2021
August
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
FEL SEXUAL PENETRATION
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
Committing County: Montgomery
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2026
Crimes: Aggravated murder, assault, possession of a deadly weapon under detention
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Net Sentence: 20.00- 100.00
Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date 02/01/2022
Maurice Dunklin, an erstwhile associate of Bobo, testified for the state. He related that on October 6, 1987, Dunklin, Bobo and William Harris drove to pick up some “short money”—money due them from the sale of cocaine. Bobo carried an aluminum baseball bat and Harris a .44 magnum revolver, but Dunklin went in empty-handed.
King invited the trio into the apartment. A “fat chick,” later identified as Billie Jean Finklin, and Dennis Yarborough were at the kitchen table “getting high.” Yarborough fled after Bobo struck him on the head with the bat.
Next, while Harris held the gun on King, Bobo rapped him on the legs. When Dunklin finally snatched the bat from Bobo, King escaped to the bedroom. Harris, however, kicked in the bedroom door and fired the gun. Dunklin, now in the kitchen, heard glass breaking, followed by a second shot. It was Bobo who carried the gun as the three ran from the apartment. Harris, Bobo and Dunklin drove to a house at East 55th Street and Hawthorne. While Dunklin remained in the car, Bobo went into the house. At that moment, Cleveland police, who were executing a search warrant at the house, seized Bobo.
Melvin King, the victim’s brother, told the court he saw Bobo at the apartment three to four days before the murder with money in his hands and a “rock” of cocaine “behind him.”
Donald Styles, a maintenance man at the Longwood Apartments, found the victim outside the East 35th Street apartment. Styles swore King told him “the guys with Karlos” shot him.
Billie Jean Finklin’s testimony corroborated Dunklin’s, except that she noticed each of the three visitors had a weapon. Finklin stated the trio demanded money and then started to hit King with “sticks.” Billie Jean fled when she heard gunshots.
STATE v. BOBO
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2026
Crimes: AGG MURDER, KIDNAPPING, AGG ROBBERY, and PETTY THEFT
Committing County: Mahoning
Net Sentence: 15.00- LIFE
RELEASED
Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date 10/01/2021
MURDER
Committing County: Summit
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2026
AGG MURDER
ASSAULT
Committing Counties: Richland & Cuyahoga
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2025
AGG ROBBERY
AGG ARSON
Committing County: Montgomery
RELEASED
ATTEMPTED FEL ASSAULT (3 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
AGG BURGLARY
ATTEMPTED MURDER (3 counts)
AGG ARSON
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Lorain
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2026
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Allen
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2026
RAPE (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Montgomery
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING SEPTEMBER 2026
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Appellant’s convictions stem from an incident which occurred on the night of Sunday, July 9, 1995 in Lakewood, Ohio. Appellant, aged 17 at the time, had spent the evening at his friend Antonio Davis’ house located at 1604 Newman Avenue. Davis was 18 years old. Also in the house on that evening were Davis’ cousin Lawrence, aged 17, Davis’ friend Avery Holland, aged 17, and a friend of Davis’s younger sister, Kevin Williams, aged 15.
The young people spent most of their time that evening in Davis’ bedroom, listening to rap music tapes and having conversation.1 One of the tapes featured lyrics which acknowledged a practice called creepin’ on ah come up. Several of those present in the room understood the phrase to mean sneaking up on somebody in order to obtain by any means available whatever they have.
At some point during the evening, Holland was playing with a knife he had in his possession, i.e., he was flipping it and tossing it. The knife had a folding blade; when extended, the blade and its handle measured over six inches in length. Holland stated he needed some money. Lawrence Davis heard appellant suggest, Let’s go out and creep on a[h] come up.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m., the three older young men left the bedroom with the two younger ones following. They exited the house and proceeded to walk south on Newman Avenue toward Madison Avenue. As they approached the intersection, appellant retrieved a tree branch from the ground. Holland was carrying his knife with the blade open.
The group reached Madison Avenue and turned west. At that point, the young men noticed a lone male, later identified as Vincent Drost, walking on the sidewalk two blocks away. Drost was proceeding toward them on the opposite side of Madison near Magee Avenue. The young men separated. Davis, Holland and appellant walked across Madison to the south side where Drost was located while Lawrence Davis and Kevin Williams remained on the north side.
Drost apparently noticed the three young men approaching him on the sidewalk. He attempted to avoid them by walking across Madison to the north side. This placed him close to Lawrence Davis and Kevin Williams. However, Davis, Holland and appellant tracked Drost by recrossing Madison. Soon Drost was surrounded by the youths at the intersection of Hopkins Avenue and Madison.
When Holland came near Drost, he asked if he had change for a ten. Before Drost could react, however, the youths attacked. Davis seized Drost from behind. Holland punched at Drost with the knife he held, striking Drost in the chest. As Drost collapsed, Davis released his hold. Holland swung his arm again, grazing Drost in the back with the knife. Then appellant began striking Drost in the head and shoulder area with the tree branch he held. As he struck at Drost, appellant shouted profanities at him.
During the attack, motorist Joseph Falat was driving on Magee Avenue, reached Madison and turned eastbound. He observed on the corner of Hopkins Avenue what appeared to be a fight going on. Falat soon noticed the victim was outnumbered by his assailants. Falat stopped his vehicle in the street opposite the affray opened the driver’s side door and shouted at the youths to let the fella go.
When the youths became aware the attack had drawn attention, they ceased it. Four of them, Kevin Williams leading them, fled northward on Hopkins Avenue. One, however, either Holland or appellant, paused to retrieve Drost’s wallet from his pant pocket before following the others.
After the youths’ departure, Falat quickly went to Drost’s aid. Falat could see Drost’s injuries were severe; Drost was struggling to catch a breath and blood was flowing all over. without leaving, Falat used a nearby outdoor telephone to summon emergency assistance. Lakewood police officers therefore arrived within moments to begin an investigation. Although Drost was transported to the hospital immediately, he died at 12:01 a.m. on July 10, 1995 of the wounds he had suffered in the attack.
After the attack, although Lawrence Davis had separated from the others by continuing to flee northward on Hopkins Avenue, appellant and his companions cut through a yard on Hopkins Avenue in order to return to Newman Avenue. Appellant abandoned the tree branch he had been carrying during his flight from the scene. investigating police officers later retrieved a tree branch along appellant’s route in the rear yard at 1624 Newman Avenue which Williams and Davis identified at trial as the one appellant had used in the attack on Drost.
Appellant and his remaining companions paused at an apartment building just north of Davis’ home long enough to examine the contents of Drost’s wallet. They found only a dollar bill and some bus tickets. The wallet was discarded; the youths withdrew to Davis’ home. Within a short while, however, they returned to Madison Avenue. There they were questioned by police officers and quickly became a focus of the investigation. Appellant subsequently gave several contradictory statements to police detectives. investigators also seized the clothing appellant was wearing on the night of the attack.
State v. Wilson
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JUNE 2024
September
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2026
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2026
AGG MURDER
KIDNAPPING
RAPE
AGG ROBBERY
PETTY THEFT
Committing County: Franklin
In the early morning hours of May 9, 1974, at a vacant lot near Maryland Ave. and Sunbury Road in the city of Columbus, Jeannette Nichols died after being shot in the head at close range with a .20 gauge shotgun. She had been abducted a few hours earlier from the parking lot at St. Anthony’s hospital by four men, including John Harris, appellant herein. These men and one other, Baxter Martin, raped her and otherwise sexually abused her in and near the home of the appellant, robbed her and stole her automobile. She was killed by Harris in the presence of Jerome Royster, another of the men, who first acted as a lookout and then assisted Harris in covering the body with a discarded couch.
Although apparently directed not to take Mrs. Nichols’ credit cards, Martin did so and his indiscreet use of one of them led to the identification of all the assailants. Upon the discovery that the police authorities had recovered the victim’s body and had knowledge of their criminal involvement, the original four fled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The appellant and Royster contacted their Columbus lawyer who advised them to surrender and say nothing. For whatever reason, they did not surrender, but were apprehended by the Philadelphia police on information relayed to them by Columbus police whose source was the driver of the automobile that transported them to Philadelphia.
Appellant was returned to Columbus where he was placed in the custody of the juvenile authorities, being of age 17 years and 9 months at the time. After an investigation and hearing, his matter was transferred for criminal prosecution as an adult.
State v. Harris, 48 Ohio St. 2d 351, (Ohio 1976)
MURDER
Committing County: Allen
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2023
MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Richland
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2025
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Trumbull
Joseph and Fellows, both drug informants, ambushed and murdered Officer Utlak during an undercover narcotics investigation. During a meeting with Officer Utlak, the drug informants shot him, robbed him, and left him to die. Joseph was denied parole in 2016. His next parole hearing was set for 2022. However, because of SB 256, his parole hearing was moved to 2021.
Fred Joseph Jr. (NOVJM)
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2026
MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2024
ABUSE OF CORPSE
RAPE
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Montgomery
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING JULY 2026
October
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
RSP
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Summit
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING IN AUGUST 2026
MURDER
Committing County: Mahoning
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING IN AUGUST 2023
RAPE (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED RAPE
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Montgomery, Scioto, Pickaway, and Richland
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2026
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Hamilton
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2025
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2025
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
VOL MANSLAUGHTER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2023
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Miami
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2026
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2026
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
ILLEGAL CONVEYANCE TO DETENTION FACILITY (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Greene and Lorain
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2026
AGG MURDER
COMPLICITY MURDER
ABUSE OF CORPSE (2 counts)
THEFT
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE (2 counts)
ARSON
OBSTRUCT JUSTICE (2 counts)
Committing County: Fairfield
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING AUGUST 2026
November
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
New Ohio law allows 2 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes as juveniles chance at parole
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING IN AUGUST 2026
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Allen
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Stark
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING IN SEPTEMBER 2026
KIDNAPPING
RAPE
Committing County: Lucas
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING IN SEPTEMBER 2026
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG MURDER
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
PAROLE DENIED–NEXT HEARING IN SEPTEMBER 2026
December
POSS. OF DRUGS
AGG MURDER
BURGLARY
Committing Counties: Hamilton and Clermont
ESCAPE
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Marion and Tuscarawas
MURDER
Committing County: Lake
MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Hamilton
MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG MURDER (3 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Hamilton
MURDER
Committing County: Montgomery
MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
GSI
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING
RETALIATION, R.C. (3 counts)
Committing County: Wayne
Maynard Nuckols Jr. will spend an additional 12 years behind bars for threatening the family of a boy he was imprisoned for assaulting in a darkened Gault Recreation Center restroom on March 9, 1997.
Five deputies wrestled with Nuckols, handcuffed him and hauled him from court after Wayne County Common Pleas Judge Robert J. Brown passed sentence on the 19-year-old Mansfield Correctional inmate this morning.
Brown earlier had evicted Nuckols’ mother, Pamela Nuckols, from his first-floor courtroom when she rose to interrupt pre-sentencing statements from the victim’s mother and father.
Five uniformed deputies and a plainclothes officer were in the courtroom for security, three times the number normally present.
Public defender John Leonard had asked Brown to consider four psychiatric reports showing that Nuckols has a low IQ and needs mental health counseling.
Leonard said that Nuckols may not be getting such counseling or the medication necessary to control his mental problems, but Brown said that the criminal justice system “is ill-equipped to deal with (Nuckols) mental health.”
“Something happened in your life to turn you in a very dark direction,” Brown said before ordering Nuckols to serve four years each on three counts of retaliation, consecutive to his original 23-year sentence for the March 1997 assault against the boy, who was 9 at the time.
“I think the public needs to be protected,” Brown said.
“I hope for your sake and everybody else’s, it stops,” the judge said, referring to Nuckols’ written threats from prison, addressed to his victim, the boy’s family, judges, prosecutors and others.
Brown asked Nuckols if he had anything to say before sentencing, but after the defendant muttered an inaudible response the judge refused requests from Nuckols’ family members to make a brief statement.
Brown did allow the parents of the boy victimized in March 1997 to make statements before sentencing.
“Your mission to try to scare a little boy did not succeed,” the victim’s mother said to Nuckols.
“We would ask at this point that there be no mercy,” she said to Brown, asking him for a sentence that would help her family to resume the healing process that should have begun after Nuckols’ original sentencing.
“I trust the court system. (It has) worked for us,” the boy’s father said, going on to note that, “No one should have to go through what we’ve gone through the past 2 1/2 years,” including the threats from Nuckols that began in January of 1998.
“There’s a twisted little man inside that body,” the boy’s father said, noting Nuckols’ lack of remorse and warning that when Nuckols does get out of prison, “perhaps someone else won’t survive” as well as his family has managed to cope with Nuckols intrusion into their lives.
“We still fight the demons every day,” the boy’s father said. He said that his son “will always remain a hero to me because he took the steps to protect himself” by keeping his head and screaming for help when he was assaulted in the recreation center restroom.
Threats To Boy And Family Get Nuckols 12 More Years
FEL ASSAULT
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (4 counts)
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
BURGLARY
MURDER
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Montgomery
Summary
During the Christmas season of 1992, Laura Taylor, 16, DeMarcus Smith, 17, Marvallous Keene, 19, and Heather Matthews, 20, went on a crime rampage that left six people dead and two others injured. The motive of the so-called “Downtown Posse” was joy.
The posse’s ringleader, Marvellous Keene, was executed in 2009. Taylor and Smith were sentenced to 133 years to life and 186 years to life, respectively. According to Doyle Burke, a Dayton homicide detective who worked the case, Taylor was “tough as nails” and the intellectual leader of the group.
Senate Bill 256 has slashed Taylor and Smith’s sentences, making Taylor eligible for parole after 30 years and Smith eligible for parole after 25 years.
“Let’s get some drama in our lives!”
Laura Taylor
Timeline
December 24
The posse robbed and murdered Taylor’s acquaintance, 34-year-old Joseph Wilkerson. Keene, Taylor, and Matthews lured their way into his Dayton home with the promise of sex. They then bound him to the headboard in his bedroom with electrical cords and scoured the house for valuables. They found a .32 caliber Derringer handgun which Keene used to shoot Wilkerson in the heart. Matthews would later testify that Taylor used a .25 caliber weapon to shoot Joseph in the head after Keene had shot him. The three ransacked their murder victim’s house, taking a small TV, microwave oven, phone, curling iron, and blow dryer, along with Joseph’s car, which they used to hunt for more victims. For the next three days, they would party in his house, eating his food and driving in his cars, all while he lay dead in a bedroom.
The next victim was Danita Gullette, an 18-year-old mother. Taylor, Keene, and Smith attacked Danita as she made a call at a phone booth. They robbed her of her coat, shoes, and backpack, and shot her nine times as she begged for her life. During the attack, Keene told her “Merry Christmas, bitch.”
Later on, Smith shot Matthews’ ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Wright, four times in the legs outside the Yuma Place house. Jeffrey survived.
December 25
Taylor coaxed 19-year-old Richmond Maddox, her old boyfriend, from his parents’ home. The two left in Richmond’s car, while Keene, Smith, and Matthews followed. Richmond noticed the trailing car, became suspicious, and gunned the accelerator. Taylor used a Derringer to shoot Richmond in the right temple and murdered him.
December 26
The gang robbed the Short Stop Mini Market, murdering counterwoman Sarah Abraham after she gave them the 44 dollars that were left in the till. Not only did Keene shoot the 38-year-old mother twice in the head, resulting in her death five days later, but Smith shot customer and witness Jones Pettus in the hand and stomach. Smith also shot at customer Edward Thompson but missed.
Finally, the gang decided to murder Marvin Washington, 19, and Wendy Cottrill, 16– the two had witnessed the shooting of Jeffrey Wright and the posse believed they would snitch. The gang picked up Wendy and Marvin and bought some wine and beer. Keene claimed he had to urinate, and pulled into a gravel yard. Smith and Keene ordered Wendy and Marvin out of the car, marched them behind a large pile of dirt, and murdered them execution-style, with Keene shooting Wendy and Smith shooting Marvin. They made off with Wendy’s shoes.
ESCAPE
AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
RAPE (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Allen & Auglaize
2022
January
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
Committing County: Montgomery
KIDNAPPING
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Carroll
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
MURDER
Committing County: Mahoning
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
RAPE (4 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Summit
As Dawn and Wendy were driving to an inn after finishing their waitressing shifts, their car was struck by a large chunk of concrete, which had been thrown by Dickens from an overpass. Dickens, Cooey, and one other man were throwing objects off the overpass to amuse themselves. The three men drove Dawn and Wendy to a shopping mall where Wendy called her mother using a payphone. At the mall, Dickens suggested to the other men that they rob the girls. The men left the mall with Dawn and Wendy, only instead of taking them to the scene of the crash, they kidnapped and robbed them. Cooey and Dickens took the girls to an isolated wooded area while the other assailant demanded to be let out and left. Dickens and Cooey raped both women. Dickens decided that the girls needed to die, as they had heard his first name. The two rapists beat and strangled the women and hid their bodies. They were later apprehended. Cooey received the death penalty and was later executed while Dickens received 95 years to life in prison. Dickens’s sentence was reduced by SB 256.
Clinton Dickens (NOVJM)
Learn more about Dawn and Wendy’s Story.
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Clinton
UNLAW POSS DANGER ORDINANCE
ESCAPE
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Sandusky
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
DRUG ABUSE
Committing Counties: Montgomery and Preble
ATTEMPTED UNAUTHOR USE OF VEHICLE
ATTEMPTED RSP
RSP (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
ABUSE OF A CORPSE
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
RAPE (2 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
RAPE
Committing County: Lucas
Calling himself “very sick in the head,” Tyler Kimble, who at age 17 was certified to face sexual-assault charges as an adult, apologized in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday for raping a 9-year-old girl. Judge Myron Duhart sentenced him to 10 years to life in prison.
Kimble, 18, pleaded guilty last month to rape for the November, 2011, assault. Because the victim was under 13, the rape count is punishable by a mandatory life sentence with possibility of parole after 10 years.
Judge Duhart classified Kimble of 721 Raymer Blvd. a sex offender.
Kimble was convicted in 2006 in Lucas County Juvenile Court of sexual contact with a 5-year-old boy.
Toledo teen gets 10 years to life for rape
AGG MURDER
Committing Counties: Cuyahoga
AGG ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
FEL ASSAULT (3 counts)
THEFT (2 counts)
Committing County: Summit
AGG MURDER (4 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
MURDER
KIDNAPPING
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Jefferson
That fateful night, killers went on a hunt for a specific black man. When they failed to find that specific person, they set their sights on Kevin, who was staying at his grandmother’s house. The killers told Kevin that a friend was in need and lured him to his death in a remote Brush Creek Township location. Smith and his co-defendants drove Kevin to the remote area where they proceeded to torture, stab, and shoot Kevin and slit his throat.
Smith, who was less than two months away from turning 18, was sentenced to life with parole eligibility after 59 years. His parole date was set for 2051. However, SB 256 mandates that juveniles who murder one person be up for parole after no more than 25 years. The murderer’s parole date is now set for 2022.
Billy Wayne Smith (NOVJM)
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Trumbull
Substantive Fact and Procedural History
{¶2}In the early morning of September 4, 1992, Anthony Borden was found shot to death next to his vehicle in the parking lot of the Niles Road Fruit Market in Howland Township. Mr. Alexander and Leon Stubbs were indicted and eventually convicted for the crime after separate jury trials. Mr. Alexander was found guilty in August 1993 and given a life sentence with 30 years of actual incarceration on the aggravated murder charge, consecutive to a 10-to 25-year sentence on the aggravated robbery charge, and a three-year sentence on a firearm specification, also to run consecutively.
State v. Alexander, 2012-Ohio-4468
AGG MURDER (4 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
FEL ASSAULT
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
ENGAGE CORRUPT ACTS
AGG MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
RAPE
Committing County: Franklin
February
Crimes: Murder
Committing Counties: Cuyahoga, Lucas, and Warren
AGG ROBBERY
RAPE (3 counts)
COMPLICITY RAPE (3 counts)
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Mahoning
See Brandon Moore (also up for parole in February of 2022) for details
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
AGG BURGLARY
ESCAPE
Committing County: Mahoning
THEFT
RAPE (10 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (9 counts)
AGG BURGLARY (9 counts)
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Summit
FEL ASSAULT
AGG ROBBERY
MURDER
ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION
Committing County: Cuyahoga
RAPE (3 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
AGG ARSON
Committing County: Lucas
MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
RSP
POSS CRIMINAL TOOLS (2 counts)
PERMIT DRUG ABUSE
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
POSS. OF DRUGS (3 counts)
DRUG TRAFFICKING
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
COMPLICITY ILLEGAL CONVEYANCE TO DETENTION FACILITY
Committing Counties: Clark and Fairfield
RAPE (2 counts)
GSI (4 counts)
AGG MENACING
Committing County: Champaign
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
KIDNAPPING
RAPE (3 counts)
COMPLICITY RAPE (3 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
Committing County: Mahoning
{¶ 2} The facts of this case do not engender a sense of sympathy for
State v. Moore, 149 Ohio St.3d 557, 2016-Ohio-8288
appellant, Brandon Moore. Moore embarked on a criminal rampage of escalating
depravity on the evening of August 21, 2001, in Youngstown. He was then 15
years old. Early that evening, Moore robbed at gunpoint Jason Cosa and Christine
Hammond in the driveway of Cosa’s home. Cosa and Hammond saw Moore get
into an awaiting dark, older automobile as he fled the scene.
{¶ 3} Later that night, at around 10:20, M.K., a 21-year-old student at
Youngstown State University, arrived for her night-shift job at a group home for
mentally handicapped women. While removing some things from the trunk of her
car, she noticed a black car driving up the street and stopping a few houses away.
Moore, wearing a mask, emerged from the vehicle and started running toward her.
When he arrived at her vehicle, he pressed a gun against her and instructed her to
give him all her money and belongings. When a porch light came on at the group
home, Moore ordered M.K. to get into the passenger seat of her car. Moore then
got into the driver’s seat, ordered M.K. to start the car, and drove away with her.
{¶ 4} As they were driving, he ordered her to give him her jewelry. After
they drove a short distance, Moore stopped the car briefly behind the black car.
Chaz Bunch entered the victim’s car through the rear passenger door. Bunch put a
gun to her head and demanded her money.
{¶ 5} Moore continued driving, following the black car, which was being
driven by Andre Bundy. As Moore drove, he inserted his fingers into M.K.’s
vagina. M.K. pleaded for her life. At one point, Moore drove close enough to the
black car that he almost hit it, jerking to a stop; at that point, the cars were so close
that M.K. could make out the black car’s license plate. She memorized the number.
{¶ 6} Eventually, Moore pulled ahead of the black car and drove down a
dead-end street. The black car followed. Both cars parked near a gravel lot, and
Bunch ordered M.K. out of the car. Once outside the car, Moore and Bunch
assaulted M.K., grabbing her by the hair and forcing their penises into her mouth;
one would orally rape her while the other forced her head down. This was repeated
two or three times, at gunpoint.
{¶ 7} Moore and Bunch then directed M.K. to the trunk of her car. At this
point, another man, Jamar Callier, exited the black car and went through M.K.’s
belongings in the trunk. M.K. was told to pull her pants down and turn around.
M.K. resisted, and in an attempt to avoid any further violence, told the attackers she
was pregnant (she was not, in fact, pregnant). But they showed no mercy; Moore
and Bunch pushed her against the car, and at least one of them anally raped her.
{¶ 8} After the anal rape, Bunch threw M.K. to the ground, and he and
Moore proceeded to vaginally and orally rape her. While one raped her vaginally,
the other would force his penis into her mouth, and they would then switch places.
Both were armed during the rapes.
{¶ 9} The attack finally ended when Callier pushed Bunch off M.K. Bunch
said that he wanted to kill M.K., but Callier would not let him, telling Bunch that
he could not kill a pregnant woman. Moore put his gun into M.K.’s mouth and told
her, “Since you were so good, I won’t kill you.” Moore warned her that they knew
who she was; he threatened to harm her and her family if she told anyone what had
happened.
{¶ 10} Hysterical, M.K. got back into her car and drove immediately to the
home of a relative of her boyfriend, where she had been attending a cookout before
leaving to go to work. She arrived back at the party, got out of her car, and ran
through the yard, screaming for help. When people came to her aid, she
immediately yelled out the license-plate number she had memorized. Based on the
license-plate number, police were eventually able to arrest all four people involved
in the attack on M.K.
{¶ 11} In her testimony at trial, M.K. described the effect of the attack on
her life: “[T]hey killed a part of me. They killed a part of my [soul] that I can never
get back.”
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
B & E
KIDNAPPING
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
Committing County: Stark
RAPE
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Summit
COMPLICITY RAPE
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Montgomery
Jon Saulnier, age seventeen, entered pleas of guilty to charges of complicity to commit rape, aggravated burglary, and aggravated robbery (two counts) in the Common Pleas Court, General Division after the charges had been transferred from the Juvenile Court to the Common Pleas Court. Saulnier was sentenced to an aggregate term of twenty-eight years imprisonment and was determined to be a sexual predator.
State v. Saulnier, C.A. Case No. 18995. T.C. No. 01 CR 445/1, (Ohio Ct. App. Mar. 29, 2002)
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Mahoning
AGG BURGLARY
AGG MURDER
AGG ASSAULT
Committing Counties: Franklin and Scioto
MURDER
Committing County: Lorain
AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED MURDER (2 counts)
AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Lucas
AGG ROBBERY (4 counts)
ESCAPE
ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
March
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
Committing County: Mahoning
Another Mahoning County case involves Chad Barnette and James Goins, who were both 16 when they caused mayhem in their Youngstown neighborhood in January 2001 by attacking an 84-year-old man who had gone out to get his newspaper. The victim suffered spinal cord contusion, fractured vertebrae, a concussion, punctured lung and broken ribs.
Later that night, they kicked their way into the home of a man, 64, who was nearly wheelchair-bound and his wife. They had a sawed-off shotgun and beat the couple. Barnette and Goins were each convicted of attempted aggravated murder, and multiple counts of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and felonious assault, and each was sentenced to about 80 years in prison.
Under the new sentencing law, each is eligible for a parole hearing after serving 18 years, Rivera said. Both were sentenced in March 2002, meaning they have served just over 18 years already. Eighteen years is the start of parole eligibility for juvenile offenders who commit non-homicide offenses, Rivera said.
Earlier sentences affected by life ban
FEL ASSAULT
AGG ROBBERY (7 counts)
RAPE (4 counts)
COMPLICITY RAPE (2 counts)
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
ATTEMPTED MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Montgomery
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
MURDER
Committing County: Clark
RSP
ESCAPE (2 counts)
B & E
AGG BURGLARY (4 counts)
ATTEMPTED AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
RAPE (2 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
ROBBERY
THEFT (2 counts)
Committing County: Summit
AGG ROBBERY (6 counts)
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
B & E
Committing County: Hamilton
RAPE (3 counts)
Committing County: Lucas
MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
Committing County: Mahoning
For details, see Chad Barnette, who is also up for parole in March of 2022
MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Lucas
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
INVOL MANSLAUGHTER
Committing County: Franklin
ATTEMPTED MURDER (2 counts)
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
COMPLICITY ROBBERY
ESCAPE
ASSAULT (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Summit and Madison
The Akron teen wore handcuffs and wielded a knife when he knocked on the door of an elderly couple’s home on Halloween 18 years ago.
Breland Johnson, 17, attacked the couple, then stole their car and fled.
Robert Richardson, 83, suffered a lacerated liver, while his 72-year-old wife had cuts to her face and neck. Richardson said he thought the fact that Johnson was wearing handcuffs — after escaping from police following a fight at Firestone High School — likely stopped him from killing them.
“What you did was random and cruel,” Summit County Judge Patricia Cosgrove told Johnson during his sentencing in May 2003.
Cosgrove sentenced Johnson to 30 years in prison, but he is scheduled to have a parole hearing in March because of Senate Bill 256, a new state law. The law requires parole hearings for those incarcerated as juveniles based on what crimes they were convicted of and how much time they’ve served.
Johnson is among five people convicted of crimes as juveniles in Summit County who have had or will have parole hearings in the next six months because of the new law.
These prisoners committed serious crimes as kids. A new state law could set them free
RAPE (3 counts)
ATTEMPTED FEL ASSAULT
BURGLARY
ATTEMPTED POSSESS. OF DEADLY WEAPON UNDER DTENTION
Committing Counties: Huron, Cuyahoga, and Allen
¶2} Appellant Delayn Kessler (“Kessler”) appeals from the decision of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to sentence him to maximum consecutive terms of imprisonment. For the reasons adduced below, we affirm. {¶3} The following facts give rise to this appeal. Kessler was indicted by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury on six counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02, and six counts of kidnapping in violation of R.C. 2905.01, all counts having a sexually violent predator specification. The victims were a four-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.
…
“THE COURT: For a young man, you’ve reeked terrible havoc on the lives of other people in a short period of time, committing some of the most heinous types of crimes that can be committed against children.
“Now, not only the factor of – you know, my understanding is that this is a young man, young boy and a young girl. “MR. CORRIGAN: Yes, they were four-years old, Judge.
“THE COURT: That we typically see abuse of one sex, but when you start crossing, you know, and you’re using both sexes, you know, the boy and girl, that, you know, I think it shows added type of depravity in this type of matter.
“And for those reasons, the reasons also that you used your position as a relative or closeness with these children to exercise these activities on them, that they’re – that the age of the children, not just [they’re] presexual in almost any concept of anything, you know, you would have had to have lured them in and, you know, curiosity of children at this age, I just can’t imagine being there as to sexual aspects of life.
“And as a result, also, that you have committed other offenses of similar import, I believe this is one of the worst forms of the offense and that you pose a great likelihood of committing future crimes.
“And, therefore, I’m going to impose the longest sentence available to me in each of these counts of ten years. And for some of the reasons I’ve already stated, but also that the harm is so great or unusual that a single term does not adequately reflect the seriousness of the conduct and that your criminal history shows that consecutive terms are needed to protect the public, that these terms would be served consecutively. You have a prior offense of similar import here.
“And I think that when you cross the lines of abusing children of both sexes, then you’re in a situation where there is nothing that can be done to help you in these circumstances, or to protect the public and, therefore those terms will be served consecutive. * * *.”
State v. Kessler, 2003-Ohio-6052
AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED MURDER
Committing County: Clark
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
COMPLICITY RAPE
Committing County: Montgomery
AGG ARSON
AGG ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Jefferson
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
FEL SEXUAL PENETRATION
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Montgomery
AGG ROBBERY
INVOL MANSLAUGHTER
Committing County: Montgomery
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Portage
ESCAPE
AGG ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Jefferson
AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
Committing County: Summit
April
MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
May
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Franklin
ATTEMPTED RAPE (4 counts)
Committing County: Lake
AGG BURGLARY
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
Committing County: Butler
July
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
ROBBERY (3 counts)
ESCAPE
Committing County: Montgomery
September
COMPLICITY AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
COMPLICITY AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Mahoning
¶1} In 1996, Appellant Eugene Foose was involved in the armed robbery and shooting deaths of patrons and a bartender at the Newport Inn in Youngstown. Appellant was a juvenile at the time. In 1997, Appellant, who was to be tried as an adult, was charged with six counts of complicity to commit aggravated murder, complicity to commit attempted aggravated murder with a firearms specification, and complicity to commit aggravated robbery. Appellant entered into a plea agreement with the state and pleaded guilty to an amended indictment. Prior to accepting Appellant’s plea, the court explained the duration of his sentence and reminded him of the rights he would waive by entering a plea. The court sentenced Appellant to a total of 43 years in prison, which is the minimum sentence he could have received based on his plea.
State v. Foose, 2012-Ohio-6273
October
ROBBERY (7 counts)
FEL ASSAULT (3 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Hamilton
November
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
AGG MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Montgomery
AGG MURDER
RAPE
AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Lucas
Harwell pleaded no contest to aggravated murder, rape, and aggravated burglary. He raped Joann Harris on Feb. 3, 2000, in her Navarre Avenue home in Toledo and then shot her under each eye.
A knife-wielding Harwell lashed out at Mrs. Harris after she had stepped out of her home to investigate a dispute he was having with her neighbor. He used her own gun to kill her.
Reinstatement of life term sought for woman’s killer
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
THEFT
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
{¶ 3} Parker’s convictions resulted from an incident that occurred on April 24, 1987, in the vicinity of W. 76th Street and Lorain Road in Cleveland. On that date, a young male assailant shot the victim, Robert Letson (“Letson”), as Letson waited in his car for his two female companions to come out of their sister’s apartment. Letson later died from his wounds.
{¶ 4} Although the assailant had been seen running into a residence located on Lorain Road, no one there whom the police interviewed during the investigation of the murder informed the officers that Parker also lived at that address. Parker’s identity remained unknown until December 1995, when his mother contacted the police and informed them that her son had confessed to her, soon after the incident, that he “robbed a man who was sitting in a car” and then “shot him.” Parker’s mother indicated that she had protected him for almost nine years, but decided to come forward after Parker assaulted her and threatened to kill her. Based on this new information, the detectives were able to assemble other evidence that tied Parker to the shooting.
State v. Parker, No. 109950, 2 (Ohio Ct. App. 2021)
AGG MURDER
KIDNAPPING
BURGLARY
Committing County: Franklin
KIDNAPPING
BURGLARY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
2023
February
RAPE
GSI (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED RAPE
ATTEMPTED GSI
Committing County: Butler
{¶ 2} On September 1, 2010, the Butler County Grand Jury returned an eleven-count indictment against appellant alleging that appellant had committed various sexual offenses against four minor victims: (1) E.S., a girl born May 23, 1993; (2) B.H., a boy born September 18, 1996; (3) H.H., a girl born April 1, 1994; and (4) B.K., a girl born September 19, 1995.1As to B.H., appellant was indicted on one count of rape and one count of attempted gross sexual imposition. As to H.H., appellant was indicted on two counts of gross sexual imposition. As to B.K., appellant was indicted on six counts of rape. At the time of the commission of these acts, appellant was under the age of 18. However, appellant was not indicted until he was over the age of 21.
{¶ 3} A trial by jury was held wherein each victim testified. B.H. testified that in 2004 or 2005, when he was eight or nine years old, appellant began dating his sister, Rachel. During the summer of 2005, appellant would come over to Rachel’s house on a regular basis and Rachel, appellant, B.H., and B.H.’s other sister, H.H., would play hide-and-seek. B.H., H.H., and appellant would go to the basement of the house to “hide” while Rachel waited upstairs. According to the testimony at trial, appellant would sexually assault B.H. and H.H. and then find them locations to hide, at which time appellant would go upstairs and tell Rachel it was time for her to find B.H. and H.H. B.H. testified that, on different occasions, appellant: (1) asked B.H. to pull down his pants; (2) asked H.H. to pull down her pants; (3) forcibly pulled down H.H.’s pants; (4) attempted to forcibly pull down B.H.’s pants; (5) asked B.H. to perform fellatio on him; (6) tried to maneuver B.H.’s hand to touch appellant’s penis; and (7) pulled B.H.’s pants down and tried to penetrate B.H.’s anus with his penis. Appellant was charged with one count of rape and one count of attempted gross sexual imposition as to B.H.
{¶ 4} H.H. also testified about the hide-and-seek games. H.H. stated that she and her friend, B.K., would play hide-and-seek with appellant and Rachel. During these games, H.H. and B.K. would go downstairs with appellant where appellant would have the girls take their clothes off and would “rape” and “abuse” them by putting his hands on their “private parts.” During direct testimony, H.H. stated that appellant only touched the girls with his hands. However, on cross-examination, H.H. also stated that appellant would rape her using his penis. H.H. also testified that, on one occasion, H.H.’s father, Thomas, walked into a bedroom when H.H. had her shirt off and appellant had his pants down. According to H.H., Rachel broke up with appellant soon after this incident. Appellant was charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition as to H.H.
{¶ 5} Thomas, the father of H.H., B.H., and Rachel, also testified at trial, stating that appellant and Rachel began dating around 2004 or 2005. Thomas testified that in the summer of 2006, when H.H. was either eleven or twelve years old, Thomas heard a commotion in an upstairs bedroom of the house and went to investigate. In the bedroom, Thomas found H.H. sitting on the bed and appellant was in the room “zipping up his pants.” Thomas questioned appellant, who stated that he was playing a type of checkers game where each party was required to remove an article of clothing every time their checkers piece was jumped. H.H. told Thomas that appellant had exposed himself to her. Although Thomas was upset about the incident, he did not believe anything “sexual” happened.
{¶ 6} Finally, B.K. testified about the hide-and-seek games. B.K. stated that appellant would have B.K. and H.H. take off their pants and underwear and place their faces into a bed while standing. Appellant would then “place his penis” into B.K.’s anus. B.K. stated that this happened to her at least five times and that she believed appellant also penetrated H.H., although B.K. never saw this occur. B.K. also testified that one time, appellant “stuck his penis in my mouth, and told me to move my head up and down.” B.K. stated that she believed these events took place in the summer of 2003, when she was eight years old. However, on cross-examination, B.K. admitted that the incidences could have occurred in 2004, but that she was sure she was under the age of ten when she was raped by appellant. Appellant was charged with six counts of rape as to B.K.
State v. Bokeno, 2012-Ohio-4218
April
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
AGG ARSON
ABUSE OF A CORPSE
BURGLARY
AGG BURGLARY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Crawford
The record herein reflects the following pertinent evidence. At the time the offenses occurred, the decedent, Raymond Campbell, age eighty-one, was living by himself on his one hundred acre farm on State Route 96 in a rural section of Crawford County. Appellant, who was sixteen years old when the offenses occurred, lived with his family on the opposite side of State Route 96 across from the Campbell farm.
During the late hours of May 12, 1998, and the early hours of May 13, 1998, Appellant and an accomplice, Robert Martin, broke into Raymond Campbell’s home armed with a loaded .22 caliber rifle and began searching the home for money and blank checks. As a result of the commotion, Campbell awoke and confronted the two men outside his bedroom. Subsequently, Campbell was shot and killed, his home was ransacked, and a significant number of blank checks were stolen.
For the next two days Appellant and Robert Martin had several conversations regarding the disposal of Campbell’s body. Eventually, the two decided to burn down Appellant’s home to make the incident look like an accident. On May 15, 1998, Robert Martin, Appellant, and Appellant’s younger brother, John, returned to the Campbell farm. The three individuals retrieved gas and oil from Campbell’s garage and then proceeded to spread the gas and oil on Campbell’s body and throughout his home. Additionally, more blank checks were stolen from the home.
Thereafter, Appellant drove Robert Martin home and returned to the Campbell farm. Appellant then ignited the gas and oil and quickly returned home. After discovering that his attempt was unsuccessful, Appellant and his brother returned approximately thirty minutes later to spread more gas and oil throughout Campbell’s home. After Appellant successfully ignited the gas and oil he returned home again. Once the house became visibly engulfed in flames Appellant called 911 emergency services and reported the fire at the Campbell farm. Firefighters responded shortly thereafter and the fire was subsequently extinguished; however, Campbell’s home was completely destroyed. Shortly after the fire was extinguished Campbell’s body was discovered.
Later in the day on May 15, 1998, authorities received a telephone call from Mrs. Carman, the guidance counselor at Colonel Crawford High School. Mrs Carman informed authorities that there were several students at the high school who were upset about rumors they heard regarding the fire at the Campbell farm. Detective Jim Davis of the Crawford County sheriff’s office responded to the high school to investigate the matter.
At that time, detective Davis discovered that Rodney Martin, Jr., Robert Martin’s younger brother, had information regarding Appellant’s involvement in the crime. Rodney Martin, Jr. and his father and grandfather then accompanied detective Davis to the Crawford County sheriff’s office where detective Davis conducted a videotaped interview of Rodney Martin, Jr. Following the interview, detective Davis received permission to conduct a controlled telephone conversation between Rodney Martin Jr. and Appellant. During the telephone conversation, Appellant, who was not aware the police were listening, indicated his involvement in the crime and provided specific details of the offenses with which he was charged.
Two days later, on May 17, 1998, Appellant was located and brought to the Crawford County sheriff’s office for questioning; however, he was not placed under arrest at that time. Appellant’s father was present at the sheriff’s office and consented to the interview of his son. During the interview, Appellant confessed to his involvement in the crimes and provided detective Davis with explicit details of his acts and the acts of Robert Martin. However, Appellant maintained throughout the interview that it was Robert Martin, and not he who shot Raymond. At the completion of the interview Appellant was placed under arrest.
Thereafter, the current action originated in the Crawford County Juvenile Court. However, Appellant was bound over to the Court of Common Pleas to be tried as an adult pursuant to R.C. 2151.26(B)(3)(a) and Juv.R. 30(B). On June 2, 1998, a Crawford County Grand Jury returned a six count indictment against Appellant for one count of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01, a first-degree felony, with a capital offense specification pursuant to R.C. 2929.04(A)(7), and a firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145. Additionally, Appellant was indicted on one count each of aggravated burglary in violation of R.C. 2911.11, a first-degree felony, with a firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145; aggravated arson in violation of R.C. 2909.02, a second-degree felony; burglary in violation of R.C. 2911.12, a third-degree felony; tampering with evidence in violation of 2921.12, a third-degree felony; and abuse of a corpse in violation of R.C. 2927.01, a fifth-degree felony.
Appellant pled not guilty to the charges on June 4, 1998, but changed his plea to guilty on June 15, 1998, in exchange for the State’s agreement to recommend a lesser sentence. The trial court accepted Appellant’s plea and found him guilty on all counts. In a judgment entry dated February 8, 1999, the trial court sentenced Appellant accordingly.
State of Ohio v. William Noggle, Jr.
July
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
THEFT
Committing Counties: Marion and Muskingum
MURDER
Committing County: Allen
AGG ROBBERY (7 counts)
Committing County: Franklin
August
ATTEMPTED MURDER
AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Hamilton
MURDER
Committing County: Mahoning
SODOMY
MURDER
ESCAPE
Committing Counties: Scioto and Ross
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
VOL MANSLAUGHTER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
September
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG ROBBERY (5 counts)
AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Hamilton
ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
Committing Counties: Montgomery and Scioto
October
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Lucas
{¶ 8} On December 11, 1998, Koger was indicted and charged with the aggravated murder of Steven Johns. Attached to that charge were a firearm specification and the specifications that the offense was committed while Koger was committing aggravated robbery and that Koger was the principal offender in the commission of the aggravated murder. The second count of the indictment charged Koger with aggravated robbery. Attached to that count was a second firearm specification. Because Koger was 16 years old at the time of the offenses, he was not eligible to receive the death penalty.
{¶ 9} The indictment was filed as a result of the events that took place in Toledo, Ohio on the evening of November 28, 1998. Appellant, along with his half brother, Shamus Groom, and two acquaintances arrived at Johns’ home at 3544 Elm Street with the expressed intention of purchasing marijuana. Johns was subsequently shot and killed.
{¶ 10} Appellant and Groom were apprehended by police at a home on Summit Street in Toledo early the next morning. Appellant was interviewed twice by detectives during which time he made statements implicating himself in the murder of Johns. Subsequently, appellant filed a motion to suppress the statements he made to detectives during those interviews. Specifically, appellant asserted that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated in that the interviewing officer induced appellant’s statements by threatening to charge appellant with a crime if he did not make a statement. Accordingly, appellant argued that his statement was involuntary and should be suppressed. The lower court denied the motion after a hearing on the matter.
{¶ 11} On June 28, 2005, the case proceeded to a jury trial1 at which the following witnesses and evidence were presented.
{¶ 12} Keith Hubbell had been a friend of Steven Johns for approximately seven years before the night of November 28, 1998. Hubbell testified as to the events of that night as follows. Earlier that evening, appellant and his half-brother, Shamus Groom, met up with Keith Hubbell and Jessie Collins. Hubbell had never met appellant or Groom before but was a friend of Collins. After purchasing alcohol, the foursome returned to a house on Summit Street where Groom lived and appellant had been visiting. After drinking for a while, Shamus said he wanted to get some marijuana. Hubbell indicated that he knew a guy who sold it. Shamus then drove the foursome in a light brown Cadillac to a house at 3544 Elm Street in Toledo, as directed by Hubbell. The group was let into the house by an individual who was leaving. They then sat down and waited for Johns, who was upstairs. After a short time, Johns came downstairs and he and Groom had a conversation about Groom buying some “weed.” Hubbell testified that he heard Johns say that he had to go to the south end and that it would take about one-half hour. Hubbell and another individual who had been at the house, Jeremy Caperton, then began to leave the house. Hubbell testified that while he and Jeremy were still on the porch, he heard someone inside say: “ain’t nobody goin’ nowhere.” He then ran back to the front door, saw Groom pull out a pistol and saw Johns and Groom wrestling. Hubbell then turned and ran. As he neared the house next door, Hubbell heard a gunshot. He continued running, retrieved his coat from the car which was about two houses away from 3544 Elm Street, and then heard three more shots in quick succession. Jessie Collins, who had also run from the house, also ran to the car and he and Hubbell then ran to Hubbell’s brother’s house nearby. From there, Hubbell and Collins went to the home of Collins’ girlfriend, Mindy Milam, who had been with them earlier in the evening. When they arrived at Milam’s house, appellant and Groom were there. Hubbell testified hat at Milam’s house, appellant spun the cylinder of a revolver, said he had three bullets left and said “nobody better not snitch.” Hubbell left and went home.
{¶ 13} Mindy Milam also testified at the trial below. On the afternoon of November 28, 1998, Groom, appellant, and appellant’s girlfriend, Jessica, picked up Milam and Collins from Milam’s home and drove to a house on Summit Street in Toledo. They spent the afternoon drinking and were then joined by Keith Hubbell. The four boys then left to buy “weed.” Milam testified that about an hour later, appellant and Groom returned, acting “anxious.” Appellant, Groom, Milam and Jessica then got back into the Cadillac and drove into Michigan, with Groom driving and appellant sitting in the front passenger’s seat. Milam testified that she did not know where they were going but that appellant and Groom were talking about an incident in which they were wrestling and someone got shot. In particular, Milam testified that appellant said the person was shot because he did not have any “weed” or money. She also stated that appellant said he initially ran out of the house but then ran back inside. After making a short stop in Michigan, the foursome began to drive back to Toledo, but the Cadillac broke down. Eventually, the foursome got a ride back to Milam’s house and appellant and Groom left in a cab.
{¶ 14} Two witnesses who were at the 3544 Elm Street home the night of the shooting also testified at the trial below. On the evening of November 28, 1998, Sarah Okenka Thompson was visiting her mother, brother and sister at the 3544 Elm Street home. She testified that Johns had been living there with her family, that her sister has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, and that her brother is deaf and autistic. During the evening when she was watching television, four boys came to the house and talked to Johns. Thompson initially heard the boys make introductions to each other and heard one boy ask Johns if he had any weed for sale. She heard Johns answer “no.” Then, as Johns and Jeremy Caperton were about to walk out the front door, one of the boys pulled a gun out of his coat, held it to the right side of Johns’ neck and said “give me your shit.” Thompson quickly grabbed her brother and ran with him into the kitchen to protect her sister. As she entered the kitchen, she heard the first shot. She then called 911, but one of the boys, who she could not identify, grabbed the phone and attempted to pull it out of the wall. She then heard what sounded like two people running up the stairs. As she took off down the street with her siblings, she heard another gun shot.
{¶ 15} Jeremy Caperton testified that Steven Johns had been his best friend and that in November 1998, he was living in the house at 3544 Elm Street. On the evening of November 29, 1998, he and Johns were getting ready to go out when Keith Hubbell and three other guys came to the house. Groom then asked Caperton how much Johns charged for one-half ounce of “weed.” Caperton did not know, but shortly thereafter, Johns came downstairs. Johns then had a short conversation with Hubbell that Caperton could not hear. Johns then indicated that they were getting ready to leave, and Caperton was out the door when he heard one of the individuals say “ain’t nobody going nowhere.” When Caperton looked back into the house, he saw Johns struggling with one of the individuals in a green coat and saw a gun in that guy’s hand. After hearing the gunshot, Caperton took off running and hid in a motor home behind the house. A short time later he heard two or three more shots.
{¶ 16} A number of officers and detectives also testified at the trial below. Through their testimony, the following facts were presented to the jury. When officers arrived at the Elm Street home, they found a trail of blood leading upstairs and found Johns lying in a darkened bedroom. Johns had sustained multiple gun shot wounds but was still alive. The room looked ransacked, the drawers to one of the dressers had been pulled out, and there was blood smeared on the front face of that dresser. When EMTs were administering aid to Johns, they found a baggie of suspected marijuana in his pants and a roll of $632 tucked into his sock. Upon searching the room, officers found a spent nine millimeter shell casing and several baggies of suspected drugs on the floor. In addition, there was a bullet hole in the wall in the living room and a bullet was subsequently removed from that wall.
{¶ 17} Appellant and Groom were apprehended early the next morning at the Summit Street home. Both suspects were awakened by police officers and placed under arrest. When appellant was awakened and removed from his bed, officers noticed the handle of a gun sticking out from under the mattress. The gun, a Dan Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, was loaded, with three bullets remaining in it, and the hammer was pulled back ready to fire. In searching the home, officers also found a Browning nine millimeter pistol in a laundry basket. That gun contained a magazine. A subsequent search of the Cadillac that Groom was driving earlier that evening, and in which appellant was riding, revealed two spent shell casings, one .38 Special and one .357. Both were discovered wedged in the front passenger’s seat. Detective Keefe Snyder testified that although neither a .38 nor a .357 bullet could be fired from a nine millimeter pistol, both could be fired from a .357 Magnum revolver. With regard to these weapons, the parties entered into stipulations at the trial below with regard to the testimony of Edward Joshua Franks, a firearms and tool mark expert. Those stipulations were read to the jury and contain the following facts. Franks received and examined the two handguns, ammunition, shell casings, three bullets removed from Johns, and one bullet removed from the wall of the Elm Street house. Based on his visual and microscopic examinations, Franks concluded to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that the bullets removed from Johns’ body were fired from the Dan Wesson .357 Magnum revolver and that the bullet removed from the wall was fired from the Browning nine millimeter semi-automatic handgun. He also concluded that the shell casings found in the Cadillac were fired from the .357 Magnum.
{¶ 18} After he was arrested, appellant was taken to the police department and interviewed twice by Detective Michael Riddle. A video recording of those interviews was played for the jury at the trial below. During those interviews, appellant made statements that incriminated himself in both the murder and attempted robbery of Johns. Appellant stated that after Groom pulled out a gun and said “no one leave,” he told appellant to watch the door. Appellant also stated that Groom told Johns “I want your shit.” Then, after Groom first shot Johns, Groom told Johns to go upstairs. Appellant told Riddle that he then saw Groom pull the kitchen phone from the wall and follow Johns upstairs. Appellant stated that he initially ran out of the house but then turned around, went back in and went upstairs. There Groom was yelling at Johns to open the dresser drawers and to hurry up. Appellant stated that Groom wanted money and dope. Appellant denied having a gun with him but stated that after Groom and Johns began wrestling, Johns knocked a gun out of Groom’s hand. Appellant then picked up the gun and shot it at Johns.
{¶ 19} Dr. Diane Scala-Barnett performed an autopsy on Johns and testified that he died as a result of multiple gun shot wounds. One bullet grazed the right side of his temple and ran from front to back. A second bullet entered the right side of Johns’ abdomen, penetrated the large intestine, and passed through the lower portion of his spinal cord. A third bullet entered Johns’ buttocks, traveled in a forward direction and then ricocheted off the pelvic bone, coming to rest in the pelvic floor. The last bullet recovered from Johns came over his left shoulder, grazed the shoulder, entered at the base of his neck and traveled across his neck, coming to rest on the right side of his neck. Of the four wounds, the grazing wound on the right side of Johns’ face and the wound at the front of his abdomen contained stippling. Dr. Scala-Barnett testified that such stippling is caused when a gun is discharged within 12 to 24 inches from the victim and partially burned gun powder burns into the skin. She also testified that the wounds all had different trajectories. At the close of the state’s case, appellant moved for an acquittal pursuant to Crim.R. 29. The motion was denied.
¶ 20} Appellant called Shamus Groom and Rachael Stoyk to testify in his defense, and also testified himself. Groom testified that on the night in question, he, appellant, Hubbell, Collins, Mindy and Jessica, were hanging out at the Summit Street home of his girlfriend, Stoyk. After drinking for a while, the boys started talking about buying some “weed.” Hubbell said he knew where they could buy some, so Groom borrowed $60 from Stoyk and agreed to drive the foursome. Stoyk testified that Groom did ask her for some money and that she gave him $60. Groom stated that before leaving, he grabbed a pistol because he was going to a “dope house” with people he did not know. After they arrived at the Elm Street home, Hubbell introduced Groom to Jeremy Caperton and Groom asked Caperton the price for a half ounce of marijuana. Caperton responded that it was $80. Groom said he only had $60, so they sat down until Johns came downstairs. Johns told him that he would sell it for $60, took Groom’s $60 and left the room. Groom testified that when Johns returned he said that he had to go to the south side to get the “weed.” Groom then told Johns that if he had to go get the weed he wanted his money back. After further discussion, Groom became agitated, believed that Johns was trying to rip him off and said nobody was going to leave until he got his $60 back. Groom testified that he and Johns then began to struggle when the gun went off. After Johns ran up the stairs, Groom ran after him to get his money back. Groom stated that he ran into a darkened bedroom, stumbled and dropped the gun. Johns then came at him and the two were wrestling when Groom heard three gunshots in short succession. Groom testified that he then looked up and saw appellant. The two then ran out of the room, but as they were leaving, Groom kicked something on the floor, looked down and saw the Browning nine millimeter pistol. He grabbed the gun and ran out of the house. Groom testified the he took nothing from the house or the victim and never got his $60 back.
{¶ 21} In his defense, appellant gave the following account of the events of November 28, 1998. While hanging out and drinking with Groom, Collins and the girls, the topic of buying weed came up. Collins said Hubbell knew a guy from whom they could buy marijuana so they went to pick up Hubbell, brought him back to the house and “put a little plan together to get some weed.” No one had any money so Groom borrowed money from Racheal Stoyk. Appellant testified that when they got to the Elm Street house, Groom talked to Johns, gave him the money, and that Johns then left the room. When Johns returned, he announced that he had to go to the south side to pick up the weed. Appellant testified that everyone, including himself, started to leave the house when Groom pulled out a gun. Appellant stated that he then ran out of the house and was on the porch when he heard the gun discharge. He continued to run toward the car when he realized that he did not have the car keys and was not familiar with Toledo. He then ran back inside the house, saw the blood trail leading upstairs and followed it. Appellant testified that when he got to the bedroom in which Groom and Johns were fighting, he saw a gun on the floor, picked it up and fired it three times. He stated that all he wanted to do was break up the fight and that he never intended to harm Johns. Appellant also testified that he did not take anything from the house and denied seeing any drawers being opened when he arrived upstairs. He and Groom then ran out of the house. Appellant stated that when he tried to give the gun back to Groom, Groom said that it was not his. Appellant then believed that the gun must have belonged to Johns. When questioned about statements he made to Detective Riddle after his arrest, appellant stated that he lied to the officer and only told him what he thought he wanted to hear because he believed that he could help himself if he agreed with Riddle’s statements.
{¶ 22} Upon considering all of the evidence, the jury found appellant guilty of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B), found that appellant was the principle offender in the commission of that offense, and found that appellant had a firearm on or about his person or under his control while committing that offense. The jury also found appellant guilty of aggravated robbery in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1) and found that appellant had a firearm on or about his person or under his control while committing that offense. After a mitigation hearing, the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years. In a judgment entry of July 18, 2005, the trial court imposed that sentence along with three years actual incarceration on the gun specification. The court further imposed a concurrent term of ten years on the aggravated robbery conviction with three years actual incarceration on the gun specification attached to that conviction. It is from that judgment that appellant now appeals.
State v. Koger, 2007-Ohio-2398
December
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Stark
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Lucas
2024
January
RAPE (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
February
AGG BURGLARY
RAPE
FEL SEXUAL PENETRATION
Committing County: Cuyahoga
March
ATTEMPTED AGG BURGLARY
AGG BURGLARY (3 counts)
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing Counties: Trumbull and Geauga
Christopher Ferrell was the leader of a burglary ring. The group committed a series of armed home invasions, with one of those invasions resulting in a murder. The murder victim was Douglas Lash, 19. As the gang was burglarizing Douglas’s home, he returned and interrupted the crime. Douglas tried to defend his home with a machete. Ferrell, who was one week away from his 18th birthday, forced Douglas into the living room at gun-point, commanded him to kneel and shot him in the head.
Christopher Ferrell (NOVJM)
AGG BURGLARY (8 counts)
RAPE (3 counts)
ATTEMPTED RAPE (3 counts)
ATTEMPTED AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Summit
May
ATTEMPTED RAPE (2 counts)
ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Guernsey
KIDNAPPING
AGG MURDER
AGG ASSAULT
Committing County: Cuyahoga
June
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Appellant’s convictions stem from an incident which occurred on the night of Sunday, July 9, 1995 in Lakewood, Ohio. Appellant, aged 17 at the time, had spent the evening at his friend Antonio Davis’ house located at 1604 Newman Avenue. Davis was 18 years old. Also in the house on that evening were Davis’ cousin Lawrence, aged 17, Davis’ friend Avery Holland, aged 17, and a friend of Davis’s younger sister, Kevin Williams, aged 15.
The young people spent most of their time that evening in Davis’ bedroom, listening to rap music tapes and having conversation.1 One of the tapes featured lyrics which acknowledged a practice called creepin’ on ah come up. Several of those present in the room understood the phrase to mean sneaking up on somebody in order to obtain by any means available whatever they have.
At some point during the evening, Holland was playing with a knife he had in his possession, i.e., he was flipping it and tossing it. The knife had a folding blade; when extended, the blade and its handle measured over six inches in length. Holland stated he needed some money. Lawrence Davis heard appellant suggest, Let’s go out and creep on a[h] come up.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m., the three older young men left the bedroom with the two younger ones following. They exited the house and proceeded to walk south on Newman Avenue toward Madison Avenue. As they approached the intersection, appellant retrieved a tree branch from the ground. Holland was carrying his knife with the blade open.
The group reached Madison Avenue and turned west. At that point, the young men noticed a lone male, later identified as Vincent Drost, walking on the sidewalk two blocks away. Drost was proceeding toward them on the opposite side of Madison near Magee Avenue. The young men separated. Davis, Holland and appellant walked across Madison to the south side where Drost was located while Lawrence Davis and Kevin Williams remained on the north side.
Drost apparently noticed the three young men approaching him on the sidewalk. He attempted to avoid them by walking across Madison to the north side. This placed him close to Lawrence Davis and Kevin Williams. However, Davis, Holland and appellant tracked Drost by recrossing Madison. Soon Drost was surrounded by the youths at the intersection of Hopkins Avenue and Madison.
When Holland came near Drost, he asked if he had change for a ten. Before Drost could react, however, the youths attacked. Davis seized Drost from behind. Holland punched at Drost with the knife he held, striking Drost in the chest. As Drost collapsed, Davis released his hold. Holland swung his arm again, grazing Drost in the back with the knife. Then appellant began striking Drost in the head and shoulder area with the tree branch he held. As he struck at Drost, appellant shouted profanities at him.
During the attack, motorist Joseph Falat was driving on Magee Avenue, reached Madison and turned eastbound. He observed on the corner of Hopkins Avenue what appeared to be a fight going on. Falat soon noticed the victim was outnumbered by his assailants. Falat stopped his vehicle in the street opposite the affray opened the driver’s side door and shouted at the youths to let the fella go.
When the youths became aware the attack had drawn attention, they ceased it. Four of them, Kevin Williams leading them, fled northward on Hopkins Avenue. One, however, either Holland or appellant, paused to retrieve Drost’s wallet from his pant pocket before following the others.
After the youths’ departure, Falat quickly went to Drost’s aid. Falat could see Drost’s injuries were severe; Drost was struggling to catch a breath and blood was flowing all over. without leaving, Falat used a nearby outdoor telephone to summon emergency assistance. Lakewood police officers therefore arrived within moments to begin an investigation. Although Drost was transported to the hospital immediately, he died at 12:01 a.m. on July 10, 1995 of the wounds he had suffered in the attack.
After the attack, although Lawrence Davis had separated from the others by continuing to flee northward on Hopkins Avenue, appellant and his companions cut through a yard on Hopkins Avenue in order to return to Newman Avenue. Appellant abandoned the tree branch he had been carrying during his flight from the scene. investigating police officers later retrieved a tree branch along appellant’s route in the rear yard at 1624 Newman Avenue which Williams and Davis identified at trial as the one appellant had used in the attack on Drost.
Appellant and his remaining companions paused at an apartment building just north of Davis’ home long enough to examine the contents of Drost’s wallet. They found only a dollar bill and some bus tickets. The wallet was discarded; the youths withdrew to Davis’ home. Within a short while, however, they returned to Madison Avenue. There they were questioned by police officers and quickly became a focus of the investigation. Appellant subsequently gave several contradictory statements to police detectives. investigators also seized the clothing appellant was wearing on the night of the attack.
State v. Wilson
July
FEL ASSAULT (2 counts)
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
POSS. OF DRUGS
Committing Counties: Hamilton and Lucas
MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
FEL ASSAULT (2 counts)
Committing County: Hamilton
October
KIDNAPPING
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Clark
On November 26, 1996, the body of Paris “PJ” Harper was discovered near Front Street and Sherman Avenue in Springfield. Harper had been killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Rolando Carillo was arrested in Arizona during the summer of 1999 for the murder of P.J. Harper, and was subsequently extradited to Ohio to stand trial for that offense. Carillo, who was a juvenile at the time the offense was committed, was bound over by the Clark County Juvenile Court to the General Division of the Common Pleas Court for prosecution as an adult.
On January 3, 2000, the grand jury indicted Carillo on one count of Assault, R.C. 2903.13(A), one count of Burglary, R.C. 2911.12(A)(3), one count of Kidnapping, R.C. 2905.01(A)(3), and two counts of Aggravated Murder, one in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B) and the other in violation of R.C. 2903.01(A). A firearm specification was attached to all counts except the assault charge. Subsequently, the burglary charge in count two was dismissed and replaced with a charge of Theft, R.C. 2913.02.
A jury trial commenced on March 20, 2000. On March 24, 2000, the jury returned its verdict, finding Carillo guilty of assault, kidnapping, and both counts of aggravated murder, as well as all firearm specifications. The jury found Carillo not guilty on the theft charge. The State elected to have Carillo sentenced on the aggravated murder count charging prior calculation and design, rather than felony murder. The trial court sentenced Carillo to consecutive terms of life imprisonment plus sixteen years.
Carillo has timely appealed to this court from his conviction and sentence.
State v. Carillo
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
December
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Stark
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
Committing County: Geauga
More tears flowed and tragic accounts unfolded Thursday in the Geauga County murder trial of Jillian Holder.
Rachael Cogswell, the survivor of the shooting at the Clark Oil station, cried as she looked at the photograph of her slain friend, Danielle Kovacic.
And Marcus Moorer, 16, the admitted triggerman, described how he chased down the teen-age girls, shooting Kovacic twice in the back and then in the head.
Moorer also shot Cogswell in the head. He tried to fire twice more, but ran out of bullet
Holder is charged with complicity to the deadly shootings. She faces life in prison if convicted.
County Prosecutor David P. Joyce and Assistant Prosecutor Michael P. Quinlan rested their case Thursday after calling 13 witnesses during two days. Prosecutors intended to prove Holder had prior knowledge of the Feb. 18, 2000, shootings and robbery of a gas station on Mayfield Road in Chester Township.
Among the witnesses called were a Kovacic friend; Moorer’s foster parents, Hal and Billie Elston; and several police officers and investigators.
Conspicuously absent from the witness stand was admitted murderer Wesley Pearson.
Pearson entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors. Pearson averted a death penalty trial by agreeing to testify against Holder – his former girlfriend.
Moorer provided damaging testimony against Holder.
Moorer testified he, Holder and Pearson, who was 19 at the time of the killing, aborted two other robbery attempts that day before moving on to the Clark station.
The teens parked in a nearby lot and smoked marijuana, he said.
Moorer and Pearson entered the Clark station several times. On one occasion, Pearson asked Kovacic about the security system.
Pearson previously worked there and knew Kovacic.
The teens returned shortly before the station closed at 10:45 p.m. Cogswell was inside, waiting to give Kovacic a ride home.
Before entering a third time, Pearson took Moorer aside.
“(Pearson) gave me the gun and told me to be a man,” Moorer testified. “We have to kill them ’cause they know who I am.”
Moorer once lived in a Chester Township foster home with Pearson. The shooter said he looked up to Pearson as a big brother.
Moorer said they then conferred with Holder.
Quinlan asked Moorer about his role.
“I was the shooter,” the soft-spoken teen said.
Many jurors winced at Moorer’s account of the shootings.
Moorer said he opened fire on Kovacic and followed the teens as they fled into a store room. There, Moorer shot both of them in the head.
Moorer said he cried while in the getaway car. At the same time, Holder and Pearson disposed of the murder weapon and counted the money, Moorer said.
“I went home and put my face in the pillow,” Moorer said. “My foster brother Ken said I had $100 in my pocket.”
Defense attorney William L. Summers attacked Moorer’s credibility.
Summers asked Moorer to explain his plea bargain.
Moorer said he agreed to testify against Holder in exchange for being eligible for parole in 33 years from a life sentence.
“How do you know Jill knew?” Summers asked Moorer.
“Wesley told her to run when she heard the first shot,” Moorer replied. “She ran to the car – she did her part of the plan.”
Summers asked if Moorer was certain Holder knew about the plans to kill Kovacic and Cogswell.
“I assumed she knew,” Moorer said.
Cogswell also took the stand. She described Kovacic as her best friend.
Cogswell said she knew Holder from Girl Scouts.
“I never liked her,” Cogswell testified.
Defense attorney Robert R. Wantz asked Cogswell what Holder was doing before the shooting started.
Holder was inside the store with Moorer and Pearson. Holder stood by the beer coolers, Cogswell said.
“Danielle said Jill was cool,” Cogswell said, recounting one of her last discussions with her best friend.
Judge Forrest W. Burt denied two defense motions, which stated the prosecution withheld evidence and attempted to remove women from the jury panel.
Jurors hear details of murder case
MURDER
Committing County: Lucas
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Geauga
{¶ 2} The following facts were presented at the preliminary hearing and amenability hearing. On February 18, 2000, the fifteen-year old appellant, along with Wesley Pearson (“Wesley”) and Jillian Holder (“Jillian”), made arrangements to rob a Clark gas station/convenience store in Chester Township, Ohio. Just prior to the robbery, Wesley gave a loaded handgun to appellant. Appellant and Wesley then entered the gas station, while Jillian waited outside with her car.
Although additional facts became available during subsequent proceedings, we are confined to only those facts that were available to the juvenile court during the proceeding at issue.
{¶ 3} A few minutes after they entered the gas station, appellant, without warning, shot Danielle Kovacic (“Danielle”), a gas station employee, twice in the back. As Danielle staggered into a back room, appellant fired two shots at Rachel Cosgrove (“Rachel”), Danielle’s best friend, who was visiting Danielle that evening at the gas station. Rachel also retreated to the back room.
{¶ 4} While taking money from the cash register, Wesley instructed appellant to follow Rachel and Danielle and shoot them. Appellant proceeded to the back room where he fired another shot at Rachel who was hiding behind filing cabinets. Appellant then aimed the gun at Danielle’s head and fired at close range, mortally wounding her. Before leaving the gas station, appellant again pointed the gun at Rachel’s head and pulled the trigger twice. Fortunately, the gun was out of bullets and appellant fled the scene leaving Rachel with only a minor head wound from an earlier shot. Danielle, however, died as a result of two gunshot wounds to the back and the gunshot wound to her head.
RAPE
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
RETALIATION, R.C.
ESCAPE
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Faced with the prospect of an emotionally charged trial and a life behind bars, Juan Ruiz accepted a plea deal Friday.
For more than a minute, Ruiz, 17, of Cleveland, cried and wrestled silently with his options before uttering one word – “Guilty” – to the most serious of the 13 charges he faced: that he raped his former girlfriend at knifepoint and later fired a shotgun into her face after she reported the rape to police.
Under terms of the plea bargain, Ruiz could spend as few as 13 years in prison or as many as 41. That will depend on Judge Timothy J. McGinty, who scheduled the sentencing for Sept. 19 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Ruiz wavered on his decision until the last moment. When he entered the courtroom, he appeared alarmed at the sight of a jury box filled with television cameras and reporters. And when he turned to the gallery, he saw his victim, Johanna Orozco, and 10 of her relatives on one side, but no one from his family on the other side.
Ruiz balked. His lawyers told the judge he was having second thoughts and didn’t want to go forward without first talking to his mother.
Assistant County Prosecutor Pinkey Carr told Ruiz the deal was a one-time offer: He could take it or leave it, but she was prepared for trial in 10 days.
Ruiz took it. Had he decided to go to trial and been convicted of all 13 charges, he could have been sentenced to more than 80 years in prison.
Afterward, Carr said she would ask McGinty to give Ruiz the maximum punishment allowed, although she considered 41 years a small price for Ruiz to pay for his crimes.
“I don’t think I could come up with a number that would replace what he took away from her,” Carr said.
Friday was the first time Orozco, 18, had seen Ruiz since March 5, when he pointed a shotgun at her face as she stood in her driveway and pulled the trigger, blowing off a portion of her jaw. She has undergone several surgeries, including a bone graft, since then.
Gathered with her family in a jury room before Friday’s proceedings, Orozco was calm but a little nervous about seeing Ruiz and impatient for the hearing to begin. Her grandmother, aunts and cousins squeezed her hand and provided support.
Before walking together into the courtroom, they agreed to control their emotions and refrain from cheering or commenting on the proceedings.
Orozco declined to talk to reporters after the hearing. Her aunt, Hilda Hernandez, said Orozco and the family approved of the plea deal and looked forward to being heard at Ruiz’s sentencing.
“She’s strong,” Hernandez said, “and she’ll be ready for whatever happens.”
Will she forgive Ruiz?
“Only time will tell,” her aunt said.
Ruiz confessed to raping Orozco in February, after she broke up with him. He also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder, retaliation, escape and gun charges. As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors dropped multiple charges of aggravated burglary, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition, felonious assault and intimidation.
Teen admits rape, shooting; Johanna Orozco appears in court
{¶ 2} On August 10, 2007, appellant pled guilty to rape, in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2), attempted aggravated murder, in violation of R.C. 2923.02/2903.01, with one- and three-year firearm specifications, having a weapon while under a disability, in violation of R.C. 2923.13, retaliation, in violation of R.C. 2921.05, and escape, in violation of R.C. 2921.34.
{¶ 3} On September 19, 2007, the trial court held a sentencing hearing. At the hearing, the facts introduced demonstrated that on or about February 16, 2007, appellant, upset that the victim had ended their relationship, forced his way into the victim’s bedroom, held her by knife point, threatened the safety of her family, and then raped her.
{¶ 4} The victim informed the police of the rape and appellant was arrested and placed in the juvenile detention center. Shortly thereafter, he was released from the center under the control and supervision of the court pending trial. The court ordered electronic home detention and that he have no contact with the victim. {¶ 5}On March 5, 2007, appellant, still under the supervision of the court, went to the victim’s grandmother’s home. When the victim exited the house, appellant, in retaliation for informing the authorities of the rape, approached her with a fully-loaded, sawed-off shotgun and shot her in the face. He then fled the scene, discarded the weapon, and returned home where he showered and threw his clothes in the trash. As a result of the shooting, the victim suffered severe and permanent injuries.
{¶ 6} After considering the facts presented, the trial court sentenced appellant to a prison term of 27 years. More specifically, appellant was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the rape conviction and ten years for the attempted aggravated murder conviction. A three-year sentence was also imposed for the one- and three-year firearm specifications, which were merged for purposes of sentencing and were ordered to be served prior to and consecutive to the underlying charge of attempted aggravated murder. Additionally, the trial court imposed a three-year sentence for the retaliation conviction, four years imprisonment for having a weapon while under a disability, and two years for the escape conviction. The court ordered that all these sentences be served consecutive, again for a total of 27 years imprisonment. Finally, the trial court imposed five years of postrelease control and appellant was classified as a sexually oriented offender.
State v. Ruiz, 2008-Ohio-6281
2025
January
AGG ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Lake
February
RAPE (3 COUNTS)
Committing County: Geauga
{¶2} Mr. Henderson was born March 5, 1990. The record indicates a childhood full of instability and unhappiness. Mr. Henderson served a period of commitment with the Department of Youth Services for sexually molesting a young boy. On or about April 18, 2007, the Geauga County Prosecutor filed a complaint containing nine counts with the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division. Counts I through VI alleged that Mr. Henderson had committed what would be six rapes, R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), first degree felonies, if done by an adult, upon three children, aged nine, eleven, and twelve. Counts VII and VIII alleged he had committed two acts of what would be gross sexual imposition, R.C. 2907.05(A)(4), third degree felonies, if done by an adult, upon the nine year old. Count IX alleged he had committed one act of public indecency, R.C. 2907.09(A)(1), a fourth degree misdemeanor, if done by an adult, in the presence of a five year old.
{¶3} On or about June 26, 2007, the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, relinquished jurisdiction of Mr. Henderson’s case, ordering it transferred to the General Division. {¶4}July 19, 2007, the Geauga County Grand Jury returned an indictment in three counts against Mr. Henderson. Each count was for rape, in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b). The first count was for rape of a victim less than ten years of age; the others, for rapes of victims less than thirteen years of age. Each is a first degree felony.
State v. Henderson, 2009-Ohio-5207
June
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
POSS. OF DRUGS
Committing Counties: Cuyahoga and Richland
AGG MURDER
ASSAULT
Committing Counties: Richland & Cuyahoga
July
MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Richland
August
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Belmont
ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio (AP) _ An 18-year-old convicted of shooting and decapitating his father and killing his mother with a hatchet was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life terms.
Nathan Brooks, who was 17 at the time of the 1995 slayings, was convicted of murder despite his claim of insanity. He will be eligible for parole after 43 years.
His parents, Terry Brooks, 53, and Marilynn Brooks, 52, were attacked in the family’s home near Bellaire. The elder Brooks was shot three times in the head, then decapitated with a hacksaw.
The defendant said he wanted the head for a satanic ritual.
Man Gets Two Life Sentences for Killing Parents
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
AGG MURDER
RAPE
ABUSE OF A CORPSE
Committing County: Licking
November
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
CONSPIRACY AGG ROBBERY
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
VANDALISM
Committing County: Butler
Cheyenne Blanton, age 17, was sentenced to 44 years in prison for terrorizing 19 year-old Ashley Clark all day Feb. 22, 2008. Blanton plead guilty to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated robbery, felonious assault, vandalism and two counts of kidnaping for her part in the crimes against Clark. Her 17 year-old boyfriend, Joseph Nagle, was also charged and plead guilty to the same crimes and will be sentenced on Oct. 14 by Judge Charles Pater. On Feb. 22, Blanton and Nagle entered Clark’s residence where they tied her up, shaved her head and beat her severely with a baseball bat and fists over the course of the day after binding her hands and feet and gagging her. The couple also plotted to steal Clark’s mother’s car when she returned from work that evening.
Cheyenne Blanton Sentenced to 44 Years For Terrorizing Disabled Woman
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) – A southwest Ohio teen has pleaded guilty in the torture beating of a mentally disabled woman.
Seventeen-year-old Joseph Nagel pleaded guilty Friday in Butler County Common Pleas Court in Hamilton to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, felonious assault, vandalism and two counts of kidnapping.
Nagel and 17-year-old Cheyenne Blanton were arrested after an attack on 19-year-old Ashley Clark in February. They were accused of binding, beating and holding Clark for several hours at Clark’s home. Prosecutors said the teens shaved Clark’s head, placed her in a cold shower and made her walk in the snow barefoot.
Nagel could be sentenced to up to 59 years in prison Oct. 14.
Blanton pleaded guilty to the same charges last month with sentencing set for Sept. 5.
Ohio Teen Guilty In Disabled Woman’s Beating
AGG ROBBERY (5 counts)
AGG MURDER (4 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
BURGLARY
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER (2 counts)
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
POSSESS. OF DEADLY WEAPON UNDER DTENTION
Committing Counties: Montgomery and Warren
For details, see Laura Jeanne Taylor (up for parole in December 2021).
December
TIMOTHY A GIBSON
RAPE (2 counts)
Committing County: Portage
2026
May
AGG BURGLARY
RAPE
DISCHARGE FIREARM AT HABIT./SCHOOL
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Franklin
June
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
FEL SEXUAL PENETRATION
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (3 counts)
Committing County: Montgomery
AGG MURDER
ASSAULT
POSSESS. OF DEADLY WEAPON UNDER DTENTION
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Net Sentence: 20.00- 100.00
Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date 02/01/2022
Maurice Dunklin, an erstwhile associate of Bobo, testified for the state. He related that on October 6, 1987, Dunklin, Bobo and William Harris drove to pick up some “short money”—money due them from the sale of cocaine. Bobo carried an aluminum baseball bat and Harris a .44 magnum revolver, but Dunklin went in empty-handed.
King invited the trio into the apartment. A “fat chick,” later identified as Billie Jean Finklin, and Dennis Yarborough were at the kitchen table “getting high.” Yarborough fled after Bobo struck him on the head with the bat.
Next, while Harris held the gun on King, Bobo rapped him on the legs. When Dunklin finally snatched the bat from Bobo, King escaped to the bedroom. Harris, however, kicked in the bedroom door and fired the gun. Dunklin, now in the kitchen, heard glass breaking, followed by a second shot. It was Bobo who carried the gun as the three ran from the apartment. Harris, Bobo and Dunklin drove to a house at East 55th Street and Hawthorne. While Dunklin remained in the car, Bobo went into the house. At that moment, Cleveland police, who were executing a search warrant at the house, seized Bobo.
Melvin King, the victim’s brother, told the court he saw Bobo at the apartment three to four days before the murder with money in his hands and a “rock” of cocaine “behind him.”
Donald Styles, a maintenance man at the Longwood Apartments, found the victim outside the East 35th Street apartment. Styles swore King told him “the guys with Karlos” shot him.
Billie Jean Finklin’s testimony corroborated Dunklin’s, except that she noticed each of the three visitors had a weapon. Finklin stated the trio demanded money and then started to hit King with “sticks.” Billie Jean fled when she heard gunshots.
MURDER
Committing County: Summit
ATTEMPTED FEL ASSAULT (3 counts)
FEL ASSAULT
AGG BURGLARY
ATTEMPTED MURDER (3 counts)
AGG ARSON
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Lorain
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Allen
July
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Trumbull
Joseph and Fellows, both drug informants, ambushed and murdered Officer Utlak during an undercover narcotics investigation. During a meeting with Officer Utlak, the drug informants shot him, robbed him, and left him to die. Joseph was denied parole in 2016. His next parole hearing was set for 2022. However, because of SB 256, his parole hearing was moved to 2021.
Fred Joseph Jr. (NOVJM)
ABUSE OF CORPSE
RAPE
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Montgomery
August
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
New Ohio law allows 2 prisoners convicted of heinous crimes as juveniles chance at parole
RSP
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Summit
RAPE (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED RAPE
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Montgomery, Scioto, Pickaway, and Richland
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Miami
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
AGG MURDER
ILLEGAL CONVEYANCE TO DETENTION FACILITY (2 counts)
Committing Counties: Greene and Lorain
AGG MURDER
COMPLICITY MURDER
ABUSE OF CORPSE (2 counts)
THEFT
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE (2 counts)
ARSON
OBSTRUCT JUSTICE (2 counts)
Committing County: Fairfield
September
AGG ARSON
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
AGG MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
Committing County: Hancock
In early 1997, Larry Snyder lived at 708 West North Street in Fostoria with Todd Peace and Scott Seibert. All three men were friends of defendant Ian Duran. In late January 1997, Todd Peace discovered items he recognized as belonging to his girlfriend’s grandmother in Snyder’s bedroom. Suspecting that Snyder had been responsible for a recent burglary of Peace’s girlfriend’s grandmother’s home, Peace contacted the Fostoria police department and an officer came to the North Street residence and took a report. Although it was apparently unknown to Peace at the time, evidence adduced at trial suggested that both Seibert and defendant Ian Duran were involved in the burglary along with Snyder. On Wednesday, January 22, 1997, Peace called police for a second time and assisted them in apprehending Larry Snyder. While Snyder was in jail, Seibert and Peace apparently removed most of Snyder’s belongings from the North Street residence.
The State contends that defendant was fearful that Snyder might implicate him in the burglary, and that the defendant decided to kill Larry Snyder to prevent Snyder from doing so. The State argued at trial that the defendant and Scott Seibert concocted a plan to lure Snyder back to the North Street residence on the pretence of picking up the remainder of Snyder’s belongings, and to kill him upon their arrival. Todd Peace testified that he was directed to remain at the house and lie in wait for Seibert, Snyder and the defendant to arrive. Peace also testified that it had been arranged for Snyder to be the second person through the door.
Once Snyder entered the house, all three men attacked him. The accounts of the attack given at trial vary in their particulars, but the evidence indicated that at some point during the assault, possibly even after Snyder lost consciousness, the defendant repeatedly struck Snyder in the head with a hatchet. Snyder was also beaten with a tire iron from behind during the assault. After Snyder lost consciousness Seibert was dispatched to fill a can with gasoline, and the three men set the house on fire to conceal the crime. The coroner testified that Snyder suffered thirteen chop wounds which, together with blunt trauma injuries, were the likely cause of Snyder’s death, but that he remained alive long enough to breathe in soot and toxic fumes from the fire.
Based largely on the testimony of Todd Peace, the State advanced the theory at trial that defendant was the mastermind behind both the murder and the subsequent fire. Although the defendant initially attempted to present an alibi defense, he took the stand at trial and admitted that he was involved in the murder.
However, at certain points during his testimony he denied planning the crime, and also stated that his intention was to beat Snyder up, not to kill him. On the other hand, the defendant also acknowledged without explanation previous statements to police officers essentially admitting a plan and also described other specific acts and decisions on his part leading to the death of Snyder.
State of Ohio v. Ian M. Duran
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Stark
KIDNAPPING
RAPE
Committing County: Lucas
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
RAPE (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY
Committing County: Montgomery
October
KIDNAPPING
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
{¶ 2} The facts leading to this appeal arise from the execution-style killing of 17-year-old Terrence Robinson on April 17, 2001 Just before dawn on the 17th, police responded to a call about “gunshots in the area and a male down in the backyard” at 3370 W. 95th Street, Cleveland, Ohio. Tr. 238.
{¶ 3} At trial, police officer Gary Helshel testified he was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene. Officer Helshel entered the backyard at 3370 W. 95th and discovered Robinson’s partially nude and lifeless body face down. Tr. 239-240. Detective Michael O’Malley described how Robinson was found clad in his underwear with other pieces of clothing strewn near his body. Tr. 239-240, 614-616.
{¶ 4} An autopsy revealed that Robinson had been shot seven times in different parts of his body. One close-range gunshot wound was found in the top of his head. The coroner testified that of the seven gunshot wounds the one in the top of Robinson’s skull was fatal. Tr. 293, 296, 340. The coroner estimated that when that shot was fired, the gun was probably about 12 inches away from Robinson’s head. Tr. 305. The head wound was the last of the seven gunshot wounds Robinson endured. Before that shot, Robinson was still alive but had been immobilized by the six other bullets, several of them fired into his lower extremities. Tr. 255-256, 273, 380.
{¶ 5} Robinson was killed in the backyard of the house where Renee McBride lives. She told the jury that Robinson sometimes stayed at her house and that, as of the 17th, he had been living there for about a month. On the morning of the shooting, McBride testified she heard two gunshots, heard Robinson crying for help, and then heard four more shots. Tr. 255-256.
{¶ 6} Timmon Black, visiting at his girlfriend’s house on W. 95th on the 17th, testified that he awoke when he heard gunshots around 4:00 a.m. Black described what he saw when he looked out the window towards McBride’s backyard: “I saw two guys standing off to the side and then I saw the guy laying on the ground * * * and then a guy just popped out of nowhere like a ghost, came from around the other two guys * * * and shot him and they ran off.” Tr. 380-381. Black stated the man who came out of nowhere was “[a]bout a foot” away from Robinson when he fired the gun. Tr. 384. Even though there was very little illumination, Black was able to identify the shooter as a white male because “as he jumped up to go away * * * the hood come back * * * you could see that white face in the dark.” Tr. 383-386. Lynette Schirger, who lives on W. 97th, testified that defendant was known in the neighborhood as “Shorty.” Schirger told the jury that when she awoke on the 17th between 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Shorty, her friend, was visiting her live-in boyfriend, Daniel Fox. According to Schirger, Fox and some friends, including defendant, had gone out the night before the shooting to get high. Tr. 410-412. When she spoke with defendant the next morning, Schirger stated that he was still “high.” Tr. 416. Schirger described her conversation with defendant that morning:
{¶ 7} “Q: He was still under the influence of whatever he had used?
{¶ 8} “A: Yes.
{¶ 9} “Q: Describe how you could tell that over and above the eyes?
{¶ 10} “A: The slur of his speech, his eyes, his eyes just kept moving like he couldn’t keep them still focused on one thing. He just kept rolling them around and stuff.
{¶ 11} “Q: Did Shorty say anything to you?
{¶ 12} “A: He was all hyped up and he started talking about how he murdered the black boy.
{¶ 13} “Q: Did he use the term black boy?
{¶ 14} “A: No.
{¶ 15} “Q: What term?
{¶ 16} “A: He used the term nigger.
{¶ 17} “Q: What exactly did Shorty say to you?
{¶ 18} “A: That he murdered the nigger and that’s what he deserved.
{¶ 19} “* * *
{¶ 20} “Q: Did he use a name * * * did he say a name of the person he shot?
{¶ 21} “A: Yeah. I specifically asked who and he said Terrence.
{¶ 22} “* * *
{¶ 23} “Q: What else does he say? Does he say where he did this?
{¶ 24} “A: He didn’t specifically say which backyard, he just said it was in a backyard.
{¶ 25} “Q: What else did Shorty say other than it was in a backyard?
{¶ 26} “A: That the kid was face down in a mud hole and that he was stripped down to his boxers.” Tr. 417-420.
{¶ 27} Bothered by defendant’s statements, Schirger asked him to leave. Defendant remarked, “[I]f you don’t believe me watch the news.” Tr. 420. When Schirger watched the news, she did, in fact, see footage on Robinson’s murder. Later, Schirger met with police and from a police photo array identified the defendant’s photograph as that of Shorty. Tr. 423-424.
{¶ 28} Schirger’s boyfriend, Daniel Fox, was called as a court witness. According to him, defendant had arrived at the house in the early morning hours of the 17th. Two weeks after Robinson’s murder, Fox gave a written statement to police in which he said he had gotten high with defendant the night before Robinson’s murder. When defendant left that night he was so high he “could barely walk.” Fox went to bed and was asleep when defendant arrived at the house around 3:00 a.m. Fox opened the door and saw defendant hand a gun to another person who was also standing outside with him. After entering the house, defendant admitted to Fox he had killed Robinson. During examination by the state, however, Fox claimed police had threatened to charge him with Robinson’s murder if he did not make the statement incriminating defendant.
{¶ 29} Bonnie Cozart also lived in the W. 95th neighborhood and knew defendant. Two days after Robinson’s shooting, Cozart spoke with defendant and recalled that conversation to the jury:
{¶ 30} “Q: Now, tell the jury, ma’am, what did he tell you that day, two days after this murder, what did he tell you?
{¶ 31} “A: Okay. I stopped because I said hey what’s up, Shorty. He said not much. Did you hear about what happened the other night? I said what? The kid that got shot. He said yeah. He said, we shot him. I said why did you do something like that? The kid pissed us off, so we shot him.” Tr. 477-478. Cozart stated that, after this conversation, she did not see defendant around the neighborhood at all.
{¶ 32} Police eventually learned that, on the same day as Robinson’s murder, defendant had asked a friend to take care of his dog. Defendant’s whereabouts remained unknown until on or about May 5, 2001, when he indicated a desire to surrender to police.
State v. Kenney, No. 80653 (Ohio Ct. App. Mar. 27, 2003)
2027
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
FEL ASSAULT
KIDNAPPING (2 counts)
VANDALISM
CONSPIRACY AGG ROBBERY
ATTEMPTED POSSESS. OF DEADLY WEAPON UNDER DTENTION
Committing Counties: Butler and Warren
2028
June
MURDER
Committing County: Cuyahoga
August
AGG BURGLARY
FEL ASSAULT
RAPE (2 counts)
Committing County: Franklin
A 17-year-old boy was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday after he admitted attacking a 65-year-old woman.
Prosecutors said Anthony Jackson was 16 years old when he left a window open to a home he burglarized last year, 10TV’s Tanisha Mallett reported.
Four days later, Jackson returned to the home and raped the 65-year-old homeowner, breaking her arm in the process, prosecutors said.
Jackson admitted in court in October that he was already on probation for burglary at the time of the rape, 10TV News reported.
Prosecutors said that Jackson planned the attack.
On Wednesday, Jackson said that he was sorry for what happened.
“I just want to say that I am sorry for what happened, and I am not just saying this because I am about to go down, but I really am sorry for what I did,” Jackson said.
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Daniel Hogan told Jackson how he felt about the crime, 10TV’s Tanisha Mallett reported.
“The next time this happens, I hope someone shoots you right through the middle before you get far into the endeavor,” Hogan said.
Once released from jail, Jackson must register as a Tier III sex offender.
Teen Gets 30 Years For Burglarizing, Raping Woman, 65
2029
March
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
FEL ASSAULT
Committing Counties: Hamilton and Warren
August
AGG BURGLARY (2 counts)
AGG ARSON
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Montgomery
October
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Muskingum
Shafer was an extremely disturbed young man who had an interest in Satanism, sacrificed animals, and desired to become a serial killer. He became acquainted with Sara’s father and agreed to babysit Sara and her three-year-old brother Seth. That fateful night, he killed little Sara after his plans to murder people at a friend’s house didn’t work. Shafer molested Sara, stabbed her, and shot her three times in the head. He also cut open her torso, removed her insides, and cut satanic symbols into parts of her body. Shafer also planned to murder Sara’s father and brother as well, but was prevented from carrying out those additional murders when Sara’s father entered through the wrong door. From in prison, he has continued to threaten to kill Sara’s family, who fear his potential release.
Billy Shafer (NOVJM)
2030
January
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Montgomery
{¶ 6} On April 20, 2012, 16 year old Rickym Anderson, Dylan Boyd, and M.H. noticed Brian Williams and Tiesha Preston standing inside a garage at 615 Yale Avenue in Dayton, Ohio. Boyd, along with Anderson and M.H., entered the garage, pointed a gun at Williams and Preston, and yelled, “Don’t move.” However, they both tried to run at that point, but Boyd shot Williams, grabbed Preston, and forced her into the trunk of a car parked outside the garage. After stealing a purse and cigarettes from inside that vehicle, they left.
{¶ 7} That same day, Anderson and Boyd approached Star MacGowan who was standing outside her apartment in Dayton. Anderson showed MacGowan a handgun, told her, “I’m gonna pop you,” and demanded money from her. MacGowan handed over her purse, and he and Boyd took her cell phone, left the purse, and ran. Subsequently, a Dayton police officer apprehended Anderson near MacGowan’s apartment. The officer recovered MacGowan’s cell phone from a search of Anderson’s person, and located a firearm 30 to 40 feet away.
{¶ 8} On July 5, 2012, the state of Ohio filed a complaint against Anderson in the juvenile court alleging offenses that, if committed by an adult, would constitute aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and felonious assault—all with firearm specifications. The juvenile court found probable cause to believe that Anderson had committed the offenses and transferred the case to the General Division of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas for criminal prosecution.
{¶ 9} A Montgomery County Grand Jury returned indictments against Anderson and Boyd charging them each with three counts of aggravated robbery, one count of felonious assault, and one count of kidnapping—all with firearm specifications.
{¶ 10} Boyd negotiated a plea with the state and agreed to testify against Anderson, if necessary, in exchange for the state agreeing to recommend imposition of a nine year sentence. The court accepted the plea, and as a result, Boyd pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery, with a firearm specification, one count of felonious assault, and one count of kidnapping, and the trial court sentenced him to a total of nine years.
{¶ 11} Anderson, however, exercised his right to a jury trial and was found not guilty of felonious assault, but guilty of three counts of aggravated robbery, and the firearm specifications attached to those felonies, and one count of kidnapping, with a firearm specification. At sentencing, the court imposed an aggregate prison term of 28 years.
¶ 12} Anderson appealed his convictions and sentence, and the Second District Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded the matter for resentencing, concluding the trial court did not make the necessary findings to impose consecutive sentences and instructing that it needed to reexamine the jail time credit Anderson received. State v. Anderson, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 25689, 2014-Ohio-4245, ¶ 6.
{¶ 13} At resentencing, the trial court imposed an aggregate term of 19 years in prison, sentencing Anderson to 11 years for each of the aggravated robbery counts and ordering those sentences to be served concurrently. The trial court also imposed a mandatory three year term on the firearm specification and five years for kidnapping and ordered those sentences to run consecutively to the 11 year term.
{¶ 14} The trial court, in discussing the disparity between Anderson’s and Boyd’s sentences, stated they were “equally culpable” but that Boyd received a nine year sentence because he reached an agreement with the state, admitted to his misconduct, and agreed to testify against Anderson if required. Regarding Anderson’s sentence, the trial court stated, “It’s not a penalty. In fact, people go to trial and get on community control. That has nothing to do with it.” The trial court also noted Anderson’s criminal history and commented that he did not take responsibility for what he had done.
{¶ 15} The Second District Court of Appeals affirmed the resentencing and held the trial court adequately dispelled any inference Anderson was punished for exercising his right to a jury trial and noted that Boyd had received a reward for pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against Anderson while “Anderson stood on his rights, went to trial, and received no such reward.” 2016-Ohio-135, ¶ 11. The appellate court also concluded mandatory minimum sentences imposed on a juvenile offender in adult court do not constitute cruel and usual punishment. Id.at ¶ 40. The court further cited Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010), and Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005), establishing categorical prohibitions against sentencing juveniles to mandatory life without parole, to a life sentence without parole for non-homicide offenses, or to death for offenses committed as juveniles, but concluded that none of these cases can reasonably be extended to prohibit mandatory sentencing for juvenile offenders tried in adult court. 2016-Ohio-135 at ¶ 40.
State v. Anderson, Slip Opinion No. 2017-Ohio-5656.
March
COMPLICITY MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
DISCHARGE FIREARM AT HABIT./SCHOOL
ATTEMPTED MURDER (5 counts)
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Clark
Wade and Dean went on a terrifying crime spree in the spring of 2005, which involved the robbery and murder of Urbana University senior and youth counselor Titus Arnold, along with several other acts of violence. Wade is in prison for life while Dean was sentenced to death and died due to natural causes in 2019. Due to SB 256, Wade may be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Joshua Wade (NOVJM)
April 10. Dean attempted to rob two people in a mini-mart parking lot. He shot one victim.
April 12. Dean and Wade fired shots at a home. A one-year-old girl and a pregnant woman were just centimeters away from being shot.
April 13. Titus left his job at a home for troubled youth just before midnight. Witnesses saw two men get out of a car, and chase Titus. They saw a man, who they recognized as Wade, shoot at Titus. He was robbed of $6.
Joshua Wade (NOVJM)
September
AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
Committing County: Lorain
2031
September
MURDER
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
Committing County: Franklin
Stewart attacked Jane as she jogged on a trail and stabbed her to death. Jane, the CEO of PeopleGen of Westerville, was stabbed over two dozen times.
Jordan Stewart (NOVJM)
2032
May
MURDER
FEL ASSAULT
ENDANGER CHILD
Committing County: Hamilton
2033
September
AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Hamilton
2034
July
RAPE (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED RAPE (2 counts)
AGG BURGLARY
BURGLARY (2 counts)
KIDNAPPING
ABDUCTION
FEL ASSAULT
GSI (2 counts)
POSSESS. OF DEADLY WEAPON UNDER DTENTION (2 counts)
RETALIATION, R.C. (3 counts)
Committing Counties: Montgomery, Madison, Ross, and Lucas
{¶ 1} This matter is before the Court on the Notice of Appeal of James A. Ward, filed November 18, 2015. Ward was convicted, following a jury trial, on one count of retaliation (public servant/attorney), in violation of R.C. 2921.05(A), and intimidation of a victim/attorney (by threat), in violation of R.C. 2921.04(B), both felonies of the third degree. At disposition the court merged the offenses and the State elected to proceed to sentencing on the retaliation conviction. The court imposed a sentence of 36 months, to be served consecutively to the sentences previously imposed in Montgomery County Case Nos. 2005-CR-5065 and 2006-CR-3392. We hereby affirm the judgment of the trial court.
{¶ 2} Ward was indicted on January 13, 2015, and he pled not guilty on January 28, 2015. On October 26, 2015, the State filed a “Motion of Prosecuting Attorney to Depose a Material Witness,” seeking permission to depose Trooper Keith Fellure of the Ohio State Patrol, who would be unavailable at the time of trial.
{¶ 3} Trial commenced on November 2, 2015. At the start thereof defense counsel noted that the complaining witness herein is a prosecuting attorney in the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, and he requested that independent counsel be appointed to represent the State. He further objected to the use of Trooper Fellure’s deposition, since “[i]t deprives my client of the ability to cross-examine or confront the witness in open court before the jury.” The court overruled the request for the appointment of independent counsel, and it noted that the use of Fellure’s deposition was allowed since Fellure was unavailable for trial.
{¶ 4} Julie Bruns testified that she is an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, having been so employed for approximately 20 years. She stated that she is currently the chief of the juvenile division, having held that position for 10 years, prosecuting juvenile delinquency cases. Bruns stated that she prosecuted James Ward eight or nine years ago, and that he was tried as an adult. She stated that the “particular cases for which I prosecuted him were what we call discretionary transfers. So those require two different hearings.” Bruns stated that at the initial hearing, probable cause that a crime was committed by Ward was established, and the second hearing was held after a probation report was completed as well as a psychological examination of Ward. She testified that there were two cases involving Ward, and “the one case came over first and we prosecuted it, and then after he actually entered his plea and was sentenced, the second case actually came through and we tried that one as well.” After refreshing her recollection regarding Ward’s offenses by means of his judgment entries of conviction, Bruns testified that in Case No. 2005-CR-5065, Ward was “convicted of two counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of aggravated burglary, two counts of burglary and one count of kidnapping.” Bruns stated that he was sentenced to a prison term of 20 years in that case. Bruns further testified that in Case No. 2006-CR-3392, Ward “was convicted of attempted rape with a one-year firearm specification, felonious assault with a one-year firearm specification, gross sexual imposition with a one-year firearm specification, and gross sexual imposition with a one-year firearm specification, and abduction with a one-year firearm specification.” Bruns stated that in that case Ward “received an 11-year sentence to run consecutive to the prior case.”
{¶ 5} Bruns stated that she received correspondence from Ward at the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office “within the last year,” and that “in the return address label it had James Ward’s name and the address of the penitentiary where he was.” She stated that Ward, in the letter, “made reference to the * * * cases I prosecuted him in. So that’s how I was able to identify that it had come from him, and then he signed his name at the end as well.” Bruns stated she became alarmed by the contents of the letter, and she put it and the envelope into a plastic baggie from her desk drawer and zipped the baggie shut. Bruns stated that she advised her boss about her receipt of the letter, and then she gave the letter to “Gary Ware, our investigator at the time.” Bruns identified, as State’s Exhibit 1, the baggie, the envelope and the letter from Ward. She stated that the letter is “two pages, but really three, because front and back and then front.”
State v. Ward, 2016 Ohio 7627 (Ohio Ct. App. 2016)
“Ms. Bruns, you may not remember who I am after all these years, knowing you’ve helped convict many people even at a young age.”
* * *
“And given so much time that it destroys their family relationships and so much more. Young juveniles that could have just been put through treatment, but you ain’t the type that cares. You care nothing about the young or old; just lock up all the people you feel needs to be off the streets.
“Well, Julie, this is James Ward. I was one of them juveniles you helped convict of a rape case in 2005 and 2006. You got me mandatory years on my first case, 11 on my second, and ever since then, my family relationships have been destroyed due to lack of contact in here, and all I really think about is when am I ever going to see my family again.
“What, when I’m 36 to 48 years old? My father is getting old and my grandmother is dying, neither I get to see. I’ve developed so much hurt and pain over the years, Julie, that turn to so much anger and rage. Why? Because I’ve realized many years ago that what I did was wrong and have actually made changes in my life, but does the courts or you really give a –
– give a damn to let me go home? No. All you care about is locking people up, so-called criminals, when we’re nothing but human beings that just need help.
“It’s this type of treatment we get that really makes us into the monsters you all first indicate that we are, so look and listen closely, Julie. I’ma (sic) to show you the monster you helped turn me into by sending me to prison for all this time. They say the worst you can do is lock someone up to where he has so much time to develop plans on how to get away with doing things.
“The worst mistake the government ever does it puts all of us so-called criminals together; murderers, hit men, drug dealers and so much more. Basically, y’all putting a label on us that we really ain’t. So this is what it is, Julie, either you overturn both my cases or get my time took down to just 14, which will leave me with six more years, or I’m [sic] send death your way through people, I’ve come to – -through people I’ve come to meet while in here, and if you think it’s a game, just try me, because as far as I know, it ain’t s*** you can do to stop me.
“You’re there and I’m here, right where I need to be to send the word and get your life took along with everybody else. Yeah, that’s right, you along with all the detectives that was working my case. They don’t believe I sent that letter but only time will tell, and right now, time is getting short. Julie, it’s your call, live or die, but time is on my side, not yours nor theirs, take care.
“Plus, you got me paying all this darn court costs that I can’t even f***ing pay. For years, I’ve been struggling to get the things I need, but you don’t” – – sorry – -“you don’t give a f*** about that. So what do you think I give a f*** about; definitely not you. Just be ready when that time comes.”
Letter sent to Julie Bruns
October
AGG ROBBERY
ROBBERY (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
In November 2016, at 17, Collins went on a massive crime spree and committed three armed robberies. On November 3, he carjacked a 38-year-old cleaning lady who had just pulled into the driveway of a client. On November 14, Collins and an accomplice carjacked a 45-year-old woman as she was returning to work from lunch. November 19, Collins attempted to carjack a 53-year-old man as he was entering his car outside his home. Collins stuck a gun to his head, but the victim refused to comply and give him his vehicle. Collins repeatedly struck him in the head with the gun and got into the driver’s seat. But he could not start the vehicle. Because he was unable to steal the vehicle, Collins chased down the victim and attempted to rob him of his backpack, which had a laptop inside of it. He pistol-whipped the victim as neighbors called police. The robber plead guilty and was sentenced to 29 years.
Consequences of SB 256 (NOVJM)
2035
February
AGG ROBBERY (5 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Howard committed four armed robberies between March 13, 2017, and April 12, 2017. He was 16 and 17 during the crimes. On March 13, Howard, his adult partner in crime Maurice Montgomery, and two unknown suspects robbed an 18-year-old man as he was walking to his girlfriend’s house in Cleveland. The robbers took the victim’s cellphone, backpack, and tennis shoes. On March 21, in Cleveland, Howard and his adult partner in crime Daryl Avent robbed a 57-year-old man as he was attempting to use an ATM machine. When the victim did not give up all his property he was pistol-whipped. The robbers stole the victim’s car as well. On March 31, 2017, Howard and Avent robbed a Cleveland Subway restaurant that had two employees and a customer inside. During the attack, Howard shot one employee in the arm. On April 12, Howard and an unknown suspect carjacked a 62-year-old female in Bath Township while she was stopped at a rest-stop. Howard pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years.
Consequences of SB 256 (NOVJM)
April
AGG ROBBERY (4 counts)
AGG BURGLARY
ROBBERY (3 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
When Cobb was 16 he burglarized a Garfield Heights home and stole a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun. When he was 17, between April 22, 2017, and June 16, 2017, he committed six robberies. The brutal attacks all took place either on or in close proximity to the Cleveland State University campus. His victims included: a 57-year-old woman who was sitting on a park bench; a 23-year-old man who was walking to a friend’s car; a 22-year-old woman who was walking to her car in the parking garage of her apartment complex; an 82-year-old man and a 69-year-old female who were entering a car in a parking garage; a 66-year-old man who was in a parking lot attempting to pay for parking; and a 49-year-old woman who had just parked in a parking garage. Several of Cobb’s robberies involved physical violence. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years.
Consequences of SB 256 (NOVJM)
May
MURDER
Committing County: Butler
July
RAPE (2 counts)
AGG BURGLARY
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
HARASSMENT BY INMATE
Committing Counties: Cuyahoga and Warren
December
ROBBERY
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (3 counts)
RSP (2 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER (2 counts)
Committing County: Cuyahoga
Burns committed four armed robberies and two other robberies between August 10, 2017, and February 7, 2017, when he was 16 and 17. During one attack, he punched a 77-year-old man who was attempting to withdraw cash from an ATM. Burns robbed an 87-year-old man and left him duct taped to a chair inside the victim’s home. He robbed a reporter and her cameraman as they were parked in their news van covering a story, a Spectrum cable worker who was doing an installation job, and an Amazon delivery driver who was delivering packages. Finally, he robbed an elderly couple returning home from the grocery store. He nearly bludgeoned them to death with one of their own canes. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 27 years.
Consequences of SB 256 (NOVJM)
2036
August
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE (3 counts)
Committing County: Hamilton
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE (3 counts)
Committing County: Hamilton
November
AGG MURDER (3 counts)
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
Committing County: Summit
Rafferty and his co-defendant Scott Davis murdered three men and attempted to murder another between August and November of 2011. The serial killers lured the men to their deaths with fake job offers. They targeted men who were desperate for work and down on their luck and who had few family ties that might highlight their disappearance.
Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without parole. However, SB 256, which went into effect on April 12, 2021, mandates that all juvenile criminals be eligible for parole unless they are the principal offender in at least three murders
Brogan Rafferty (NOVJM)
“We took him out to the woods on a humid summer’s night … The loud crack echoed and I didn’t hear the thud.”
Poem found on Rafferty’s computer describing the murder of Ralph Geiger
2011
August: Ralph Geiger disappears after leaving for a job on a farm in southern Ohio.
October 9: David Pauley responds to an ad for a job as a farm caretaker. Scott Davis, a self-employed landscaper in South Carolina who wants to move back to Ohio, also responds to a Craigslist ad for a job on a cattle farm.
October 10: Timothy Kern responds to a Craigslist ad for a farm caretaker.
October 22: David speaks with his sister on the phone for the last time.
November 6: Scott meets Rafferty and Beasley. The serial killers lure Scott to a wooded area and attempt to murder him. Scott survives with a gunshot wound to the elbow.
November 13: The killers shoot Timothy in the head and murder him.
November 15: Investigators find David’s mostly naked body in a grave. It is later determined that he was killed by a single gunshot to the head.
November 25: Ralph’s naked body is found in a shallow grave. Timothy’s body is found in the woods behind a vacant mall in Akron. Ralph was killed by a single gunshot to the head, while Timothy suffered five gunshots to the head.
Brogan Rafferty (NOVJM)
2037
March
AGG MURDER
TAMPER W/EVIDENCE
Committing County: Mahoning
Patrick and [Reginald] Whitfield murdered Michael during an orchestrated robbery.
Kyle Patrick (NOVJM)
April
AGG MURDER
RAPE
AGG BURGLARY
THEFT
ARSON
POSSESS. OF DEADLY WEAPON UNDER DTENTION
Committing Counties: Morgan and Ross
2039
April
FEL ASSAULT (3 counts)
DISCHARGE FIREARM AT HABIT./SCHOOL
AGG MURDER (2 counts)
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY (2 counts)
CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON
ASSAULT
Committing County: Hamilton
Whipple, Clark, and Long got into an argument with Keith Cobb and Scott Neblett at Garage Bar & Grill in Sharonville, OH. They followed the victims and, as they were driving on I-75, emptied their guns into Cobb and Neblett’s car, causing it to veer off the highway and roll over. The victims died of gunshot wounds.
Eric Long (NOVJM)
2040
February
AGG MURDER
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY
ATTEMPTED RAPE
Committing County: Trumbull
LaRosa invaded 94-year-old Marie’s home, attempted to rape her, and beat her to death with a heavy metal flashlight. The beating Marie endured was so severe that her eyes ruptured and the bones in her face and the top of her skull were crushed. LaRosa was a highly disturbed teen, and showed no remorse for the evil crime, even bragging to other inmates about it. He was sentenced to LWOP and his sentence was upheld. However, the Ohio Legislature chose to retroactively change LaRosa’s sentence. The killer could be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Jacob LaRosa (NOVJM)
LaRosa invaded 94-year-old Marie’s home, attempted to rape her, and beat her to death with a heavy metal flashlight.
Jacob LaRosa (NOVJM)
Marie Belcastro, 94, was murdered by 15-year-old Jacob Larosa in 2015. Larosa, who already had a criminal history, invaded Marie’s home, attempted to rape her, and beat her to death with a MAG flashlight. Larosa’s beating left Marie with ruptured eyes and crushed bones in her face and in the top of her skull. The severe beating also shattered Marie’s hearing aid.
A police officer and Marie’s daughter later discovered the gruesome results of Larosa’s crime–Marie’s body, naked from the waist down and twisted awkwardly into a fetal position. Marie died in the house her father built, the house she had lived her entire life. Reminders of the murder were literally engrained into the home–Marie’s brain matter and skull fragments were embedded into the walls and her blood went through the hardwood floors of her bedroom to the basement walls and appliances.
Marie’s Story
{¶22} The trial court reviewed, among other things, a presentence report from the Department of Adult Probation, the extensive psychological assessments and medical information provided for LaRosa, victim impact statements, LaRosa’s allocution statement, the transcript of the juvenile amenability hearing, and the Miller factors for sentencing juveniles. The presentence report ordered by the court contained an Ohio Risk Assessment System rating of “very high” with regard to LaRosa’s risk of recidivism. The report also stated that LaRosa had not only struggled with expressing true remorse, but had repeatedly bragged about his crimes to other inmates while in JJC, despite having been advised by his counsel to show remorse.
State v. LaRosa, CASE NO. 2018-T-0097, (Ohio Ct. App. 2020)
April
AGG BURGLARY
AGG ROBBERY (4 counts)
KIDNAPPING (5 counts)
AGG MURDER (4 counts)
ATTEMPTED MURDER
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
Committing County: Franklin
Wade participated in a quadruple murder along with one attempted murder during a home invasion robbery. Wade’s 28-year-old partner Robert Adams shot four victims to death and shot and wounded another victim. The survivor, a 16-year-old girl, was able to testify at trial. Wade was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 172 1/2 years. Though Wade was not the principal offender or the “trigger man” he had an active role in the massacre–Adams asked Wade, “should I off them all?” and Wade answered, “yes.” The butchering then began.
Jordyn Wade (NOVJM)
[Adams] ordered [the hostages] to the basement. There, T.N. found Angela hiding behind the washing machine. Adams asked Wade, who was now at the bottom of the basement stairs, “should I off them all?” to which Wade answered, “yes.” Adams then shot Sharp in the head.
After murdering Sharp, Adams ordered Ballour to put his head under the pillow, putting his gun in Tyajah’s face, and threatening to shoot her in front of Ballour if he did not comply. Ballour did not immediately cooperate, saying, “I am not going to let you kill me in front of my kids.” Adams shot Ballour in the shoulder. Ballour then wrestled for the gun and then tried to escape up the basement stairs. As he was fleeing, Adams kept shooting, ultimately killing Ballour.
Next, Adams shot Angela in the head, ignoring her pleas for her life. He then shot Tyajah, who was also begging for mercy. After watching the murders of four people, T.N. was shot in the head but survived. She lay motionless until Adams went back upstairs. She continued to play dead, lying motionless and holding her breath, when one of the perpetrators came back downstairs and paced around the basement. When the assailant went back upstairs and the back door shut, T.N. cautiously exited the house and found help.
Jordyn Wade (NOVJM)
2043
February
AGG MURDER
AGG BURGLARY
KIDNAPPING
ABUSE OF A CORPSE
Committing County: Medina
On April 6, 2018, Ramsay, 17, broke into Margaret’s Wadsworth, Ohio, home. He found the 98-year-old sleeping on the couch and took a video of her. Ramsay, who had been fantasizing about raping and murdering people for months, and who wanted to kill someone to see how it would feel, strangled Margaret to death. Ramsay, who has been diagnosed with sexual sadism disorder, then undressed her dead body and abused her for two hours, taking photographs and videos along the way. Several of the photographs and videos Ramsay took were of a sexual nature. Ramsay then stuffed her body in a closet and left her there. He placed the gruesome photos of the crime in a secret file on his phone so that he could watch them.
Ramsay was sentenced to life without parole. He appealed and his sentence was upheld. However, Ramsay’s LWOP may be reduced by Senate Bill 256. Ramsay is a highly disturbed young man whose notebook contained writings about raping people, fantasies about strangling and killing people, and serial killer biographies. He is a diagnosed sexual sadist.
Gavon Ramsay (NOVJM)
Ramsay’s murder of Margaret was part of an escalating series of violence. The killer often hooked up with gay men and robbed them. Ramsay’s notebook allows a glimpse into his dark mind–it contained serial killer biographies, fantasies of raping, strangling, and murdering people, and plans to kill people he knew. The diagnosed sexual sadist had a desire to kill people to see how it would feel.
In addition to his notebook, more evidence of Ramsay’s depravity was found in his phone. There, Ramsay organized the videos and pictures of the post-mortem sexual assault of Margaret. He placed them in a secret file called “Dark.” The password for this hidden file?– “Murder.” This disturbing file allowed Ramsay to view the graphic videos and pictures for pleasure. Ramsay also memorialized the murder by taking Margaret’s wallet as a trophy
Margaret’s Story
Ramsay’s notebook allows a glimpse into his dark mind–it contained serial killer biographies, fantasies of raping, strangling, and murdering people, and plans to kill people he knew.
Margaret’s Story
These acts were all planned out ahead of time and documented in Ramsay’s journal. It was not a sudden impulse or desire or a hormonal decision. These acts were carried out with precision–if not for his cell phone being obtained in relation to a separate case, or his accidental dropping of a glove in Aunt Margaret’s backyard, he may never have been caught. He was controlled enough during these crimes that, despite everything that took place in my Aunt’s house, no DNA evidence was found inside. Ramsay was not pressured or led into his acts by a peer or older adult–he himself planned and committed these acts on his own accord. His crimes are not things a 17-year-old can be unsure of the morality of. He fully comprehended the consequences of these crimes. And these were not his first crimes. He had a criminal history already, which led to previous attempts at reformation. Despite efforts to reform him, his crimes continued escalating. His arrest for my Aunt’s murder was the only thing that stopped him from escalating further.
Margaret’s great-niece
June
AGG ROBBERY (2 counts)
AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED MURDER (2 counts)
WEAPON UNDER DISABILITY
MURDER
Committing County: Franklin
Simmonds, 17, went on a massive violent crime spree involving robbery, carjacking, and murder in the summer of 2013. During the spree, he shot and killed Quinten Prater during a robbery. A couple of days later, he shot and killed store clerk Imran Ashgar during another robbery. In Imran’s case, Simmonds shot the victim in the eye, left, and then returned to shoot the wounded man in the head. He also shot and injured James Norvet and William Rudd. The spree killer was sentenced to LWOP plus 48 years. But because Governor DeWine signed SB 256 into law, his sentence may be reduced to 30 years to life.
Devonere Simmonds (NOVJM)
Simmonds’s appalling behavior continued at his trial, where he laughed and threatened victims and witnesses. The murderer was sentenced to life in prison without parole. However, SB 256 gives him parole eligibility in 2043 and every five years after that. As explained in Imran’s widow’s letter to the General Assembly, the law has devastated her. Here is her and her husband’s story.
Imran’s Story
Simmonds was tried as an adult and convicted. The trial was terrifying. When I was in the courtroom, I observed Simmonds and his co-defendant laugh and smile. Simmonds even looked at me and put his fingers to his head like a gun. The prosecutors told me that this was an attempt to intimidate me. After being convicted, Simmonds continued to show no remorse, giving an insincere apology in an attempt to get a lighter sentence. His attempts to manipulate the judge didn’t work and he was sentenced to life without parole plus 48 years. But because of SB 256, my husband’s killer will be up for parole every five years.
Imran’s wife
When I was in the courtroom, I observed Simmonds and his co-defendant laugh and smile. Simmonds even looked at me and put his fingers to his head like a gun.
Imran’s wife
When I was returning to my car after being inside the truck stop, two teens approached me from behind. I had walked by them, but they were sitting down and appeared to be harmless. I did not see or hear them approach me from behind until I felt a tap to the back of my head. At this moment I knew I was in trouble, so I turned to face them and realized it was a gun that was against my head. With the gun on my face, no words were said. The 17-year-old pulled the trigger. The bullet struck my left jawbone and blew it apart. The bullet then turned into fragments and continued to bounce around in my face and neck until it stopped after hitting my C1 vertebra. The bullet was 1/8 of an inch from striking my vertebral artery and to this day it is still there. As I was laying on the ground looking up, the 17-year-old, Devonere Simmonds, was looking down at me pointing his pistol at my head. It’s an image that is burnt into my memory and the one thing that I will never forget is how calm he was. This is a person who just shot someone at point-blank and he’s not even breaking a sweat. As I lay there, my jaw blown apart, Simmonds demanded my car keys. After throwing my keys I got up and ran back into the building. I truly believe I would not be here today writing this to you if I hadn’t gotten up and ran for my life. Knowing what I know now and how they killed Imran Ashgar I’m sure they would have put a second bullet in my head if I just laid there.
Joe Rudd, Simmonds’ attempted murder victim
October
AGG MURDER
FEL ASSAULT (3 counts)
Committing County: Lucas
2044
April
COMPLICITY AGG MURDER
ATTEMPTED AGG MURDER
COMPLICITY AGG ROBBERY
DRUG TRAFFICKING
UNLAW WEAPON TRANSACTION
Committing County: Ashland
Watson, Kuzawa, and Castle invaded Elizabeth and T.J.’s home with the intent to rob them. Watson shot both victims, killing T.J. and injuring Elizabeth. Though Morris was not present during the murder, he was responsible for planning it.
Michael Watson, Samuel Castle, and Tyler Morris (NOVJM)
2045
April
AGG MURDER
Committing County: Wood
2049
April
AGG MURDER
CONSPIRACY AGG MURDER
AGG ROBBERY
Committing County: Ashland
For details, see Tyler Morris (up for parole in April, 2044)