Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 12, 2006 4:11:17 GMT -5
U.S. panel upholds murder convictions
A federal appeals court has overturned the death sentences given Toledoan Frederick thingyerson for fatally shooting the boyfriend of his estranged girlfriend and a teenage girl in 1985.
The decision, handed down Friday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, removes the 50-year-old thingyerson from death row in a state prison in Youngstown.
The ruling of the federal court upheld the aggravated murder convictions in the May 27, 1985, shooting deaths of Nichole McClain, 15, and Kevin McCoy, 31, in a Pinewood Avenue apartment. thingyerson, then 29, went into the duplex looking for his ex-girlfriend, Denise Howard, with whom he had an eight-year relationship. He shot her boyfriend, Mr. McCoy, in the chest and head, and then shot Nichole twice in the face.
In a split decision, the appellate panel said the 3-judge panel that
presided over thingyerson's trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court was not presented with mitigating evidence about the defendant's family, educational, social, and medical history.
Among the information that the panel could have considered in evaluating whether to reduce the penalty from death to life imprisonment was that thingyerson was borderline retarded and had an IQ of 77, the decision said.
"thingyerson's background, history, and mental status should have been presented in the mitigation phase before the 3-judge panel. They should have had the benefit of knowing that,'' said Jeff Helmick, a Toledo attorney who is representing thingyerson in the appeal in the federal courts of his conviction.
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has 14 days to file a notice of appeal to a full panel of the appellate court to reinstate the death penalty. An appeal also could be made to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"It is important to understand that his conviction still stands. He is
still on death row. We are disappointed. We are reviewing our options as to what the next steps might be,'' said Kim Norris, a spokesman for Mr. Petro.
If the decision of the federal panel is upheld, thingyerson would be brought back to Lucas County for a sentencing hearing before a 3-judge panel.
(source: Toledo Blade)
A federal appeals court has overturned the death sentences given Toledoan Frederick thingyerson for fatally shooting the boyfriend of his estranged girlfriend and a teenage girl in 1985.
The decision, handed down Friday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, removes the 50-year-old thingyerson from death row in a state prison in Youngstown.
The ruling of the federal court upheld the aggravated murder convictions in the May 27, 1985, shooting deaths of Nichole McClain, 15, and Kevin McCoy, 31, in a Pinewood Avenue apartment. thingyerson, then 29, went into the duplex looking for his ex-girlfriend, Denise Howard, with whom he had an eight-year relationship. He shot her boyfriend, Mr. McCoy, in the chest and head, and then shot Nichole twice in the face.
In a split decision, the appellate panel said the 3-judge panel that
presided over thingyerson's trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court was not presented with mitigating evidence about the defendant's family, educational, social, and medical history.
Among the information that the panel could have considered in evaluating whether to reduce the penalty from death to life imprisonment was that thingyerson was borderline retarded and had an IQ of 77, the decision said.
"thingyerson's background, history, and mental status should have been presented in the mitigation phase before the 3-judge panel. They should have had the benefit of knowing that,'' said Jeff Helmick, a Toledo attorney who is representing thingyerson in the appeal in the federal courts of his conviction.
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has 14 days to file a notice of appeal to a full panel of the appellate court to reinstate the death penalty. An appeal also could be made to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"It is important to understand that his conviction still stands. He is
still on death row. We are disappointed. We are reviewing our options as to what the next steps might be,'' said Kim Norris, a spokesman for Mr. Petro.
If the decision of the federal panel is upheld, thingyerson would be brought back to Lucas County for a sentencing hearing before a 3-judge panel.
(source: Toledo Blade)