Post by sclcookie on Jun 2, 2006 1:17:49 GMT -5
Ohio high court voids Tenace death penalty
By a single vote, the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday overturned the death
penalty sentence of Troy Tenace for the killing and robbery of a
76-year-old Toledo man in 1994.
The high court upheld the conviction of Tenace for the murder of Edward
Kozlowski during a robbery at the victim's Wamba Avenue home.
However, the justices, in a 4-3 vote, set aside the death sentence that
was twice imposed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on Tenace, who had
done home repair work for the victim.
The court said a lesser sentence of life in prison was appropriate, in
part, because of mitigating factors in the defendant's upbringing,
including an abusive home and drug usage, and that those factors
outweighed the brutality of the crime.
In writing for the majority, Justice Judith Lanzinger said Tenace was
raised by a mother who was addicted to drugs and that his childhood was a
"tutorial for criminal behavior."
"Tenace was doomed from the start," she wrote.
The court also said the defendant showed remorse for the crimes and
cooperated with police.
Justice Lanzinger was joined in the ruling by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer
and Justices Paul Pfeifer and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who wrote a
separate concurring opinion.
"One cannot imagine a more terrible, depraved, and damaging childhood than
that which the defendant suffered. He was victimized constantly as a
child. The only skills taught to him by the adults in his life were how to
commit a crime and how to abuse drugs," Justice Stratton wrote.
Tenace, 44, who is on death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution,
will be returned to Lucas County, where he will be resentenced by Judge
Denise Ann Dartt.
"The Supreme Court did the right thing," said Tenace's attorney, Jeffrey
Gamso. "When you take into consideration the facts of his truly horrific
background that this man had growing up. It is the only right conclusion."
Mr. Kozlowski was found dead Jan. 28, 1994, by his brother.
Tenace, then 31 and a drug addict, went to the victim's home 2 days
earlier under the guise of returning an overpayment for repair work on a
chimney. He gained entry to the home, overcame the victim, and then
gagged, strangled, and stomped on him with heavy boots. Mr. Kozlowski
suffered a broken nose, head injuries, fractured ribs, and severe bruising
to the neck, consistent with being strangled.
Justices Alice Robie Resnick, Maureen O'Connor, and Terrence O'Donnell
concurred with the court in upholding the convictions, but dissented in
reversing the death penalty.
Justice O'Connor agreed that the defendant's background was "lamentable,"
but she didn't believe it was enough to overcome the fact that Tenace
brutally killed the victim to conceal the robbery.
Tenace also was convicted in New York and sentenced to 25 years to life
for killing a 42-year-old woman about six weeks before he killed Mr.
Kozlowski.
Then-Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Christiansen sent Tenace
to death row in 1994 after a jury convicted him of aggravated robbery and
aggravated murder.
However, the state 6th District Court of Appeals said Tenace should have
been allowed to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and
reversed the conviction.
At the second trial in 1999, a jury again convicted him of the crimes and
recommended death, which Judge Christiansen imposed.
According to the ruling, Tenace would be 96 years old before he would be
eligible to go before the parole board if he received the maximum
sentences for the crimes.
J. Christopher Anderson, an assistant county prosecutor who tried the
case, said reversing a death sentence based on childhood background
creates a precedent that would impact many similar cases.
(source: Toledo Blade)
By a single vote, the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday overturned the death
penalty sentence of Troy Tenace for the killing and robbery of a
76-year-old Toledo man in 1994.
The high court upheld the conviction of Tenace for the murder of Edward
Kozlowski during a robbery at the victim's Wamba Avenue home.
However, the justices, in a 4-3 vote, set aside the death sentence that
was twice imposed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on Tenace, who had
done home repair work for the victim.
The court said a lesser sentence of life in prison was appropriate, in
part, because of mitigating factors in the defendant's upbringing,
including an abusive home and drug usage, and that those factors
outweighed the brutality of the crime.
In writing for the majority, Justice Judith Lanzinger said Tenace was
raised by a mother who was addicted to drugs and that his childhood was a
"tutorial for criminal behavior."
"Tenace was doomed from the start," she wrote.
The court also said the defendant showed remorse for the crimes and
cooperated with police.
Justice Lanzinger was joined in the ruling by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer
and Justices Paul Pfeifer and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who wrote a
separate concurring opinion.
"One cannot imagine a more terrible, depraved, and damaging childhood than
that which the defendant suffered. He was victimized constantly as a
child. The only skills taught to him by the adults in his life were how to
commit a crime and how to abuse drugs," Justice Stratton wrote.
Tenace, 44, who is on death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution,
will be returned to Lucas County, where he will be resentenced by Judge
Denise Ann Dartt.
"The Supreme Court did the right thing," said Tenace's attorney, Jeffrey
Gamso. "When you take into consideration the facts of his truly horrific
background that this man had growing up. It is the only right conclusion."
Mr. Kozlowski was found dead Jan. 28, 1994, by his brother.
Tenace, then 31 and a drug addict, went to the victim's home 2 days
earlier under the guise of returning an overpayment for repair work on a
chimney. He gained entry to the home, overcame the victim, and then
gagged, strangled, and stomped on him with heavy boots. Mr. Kozlowski
suffered a broken nose, head injuries, fractured ribs, and severe bruising
to the neck, consistent with being strangled.
Justices Alice Robie Resnick, Maureen O'Connor, and Terrence O'Donnell
concurred with the court in upholding the convictions, but dissented in
reversing the death penalty.
Justice O'Connor agreed that the defendant's background was "lamentable,"
but she didn't believe it was enough to overcome the fact that Tenace
brutally killed the victim to conceal the robbery.
Tenace also was convicted in New York and sentenced to 25 years to life
for killing a 42-year-old woman about six weeks before he killed Mr.
Kozlowski.
Then-Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Christiansen sent Tenace
to death row in 1994 after a jury convicted him of aggravated robbery and
aggravated murder.
However, the state 6th District Court of Appeals said Tenace should have
been allowed to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and
reversed the conviction.
At the second trial in 1999, a jury again convicted him of the crimes and
recommended death, which Judge Christiansen imposed.
According to the ruling, Tenace would be 96 years old before he would be
eligible to go before the parole board if he received the maximum
sentences for the crimes.
J. Christopher Anderson, an assistant county prosecutor who tried the
case, said reversing a death sentence based on childhood background
creates a precedent that would impact many similar cases.
(source: Toledo Blade)