Gregory Bryant-Bey

OH - Lawyers for killer to ask Strickland for stay of execution


Article published Saturday, October 11, 2008
Lawyers for killer to ask Strickland for stay of execution

By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS — Lawyers for twice-convicted murderer Gregory Bryant Bey
will urge Gov. Ted Strickland next week to stay the hand of Ohio's
executioner, arguing that the Toledo native's 'life is worth sparing."

The state, however, plans to paint a picture of a killer of two
downtown Toledo merchants in 1992 who has a long history of violence
and should be forced to keep his Nov. 19 date with Ohio's lethal
injection gurney.

'Gregory did not have a mother to love and nurture him or a father to
provide support and guidance during the critical formative years of
his life," reads Bryant Bey's clemency petition submitted by the Ohio
Public Defender's office.

'Instead, he was abandoned by his mother to a brutal caretaker who
was the antithesis of a loving parent," it reads.

'Gregory had no chance for a normal life due to factors beyond his
control. He warrants understanding, and he deserves mercy."

Bryant Bey, 53, will not be present when his lawyers make his case
before the nine-member Ohio Parole Board Thursday in Columbus, and he
has declined to participate in a pre-hearing interview with a board
member. The board will make a recommendation to the governor as to
whether it believes Bryant Bey warrants mercy.

Yesterday, Mr. Strickland refused to grant clemency to Richard Cooey,
who was convicted in the 1986 rapes and murders of two Akron college
students.

He is scheduled to be executed Tuesday.

Bryant Bey was convicted and sentenced to death for the Aug. 9, 1992,
robbery stabbing of Dale Pinkelman, 48, owner of Pinky's Collectibles.

But first he was convicted of the similar killing on Nov. 3, 1992, of
Pete Mihas, 61, owner of the Boardroom restaurant. Although Bryant
Bey was sentenced to life in prison for that crime, the evidence,
including a confession, eventually helped to convict him in the
earlier Pinkelman murder.

Bryant Bey is asking Mr. Strickland to commute his death sentence to
life in prison, arguing that he has benefited from the structure of
his incarceration and suggested he could help other inmates.

In the alternative, he asks for a 90-day delay in his execution to
allow further exploration into the evidence used to convict him of
killing Mr. Pinkelman.

'There is no doubt as to Bryant Bey's guilt in the murders of
Pinkelman and Mihas," Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates argues in
her brief opposing clemency.

'Bryant Bey's contention that certainty of his guilt would be even
stronger if there was more evidence against him is a truism and does
not undermine the validity of what evidence there is of his guilt,"
her brief reads. 'Moreover, it should be noted that Bryant Bey does
not claim innocence, but rather seeks remission of his death sentence
to life in prison. These factors do not warrant clemency."

Both Mr. Pinkelman and Mr. Mihas were married, with six and two
children respectively.

Both families are expected to attend Thursday's hearing, but only the
Pinkelman family will be permitted to speak to the parole board.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade. com or 614-221-0496.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081011/NEWS24/810119890

Ohio parole board hears from 2 sides in Bryant-Bey case
Bryant-Bey's family, victim's make appeals



By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS - The families of Gregory Bryant-Bey and Dale Pinkelman both sobbed for their loved ones yesterday, but they were before the Ohio Parole Board seeking very different things.

Bryant-Bey, 53, faces execution on Nov. 19 for the Aug. 9, 1992, robbery-murder of Mr. Pinkelman, a 48-year-old Toledo engineer and merchant, and has asked the board to recommend that Gov. Ted Strickland commute his sentence to life in prison.

"His life was taken by a man who had so little value for life that he was willing to kill my father for less than $200," Kelly Clark, Mr. Pinkelman's daughter, told the board. "Why should he be granted his request when my dad wasn't given the chance to ask for his?"

Ruth Williamson-Bey turned to the victims' families as she urged the parole board to spare her brother.

"I'm sorry for the victims and I understand how they feel, but you have to understand what we feel, too," she said. "Taking one death for another isn't going to make up for it."

Bryant-Bey's daughter and niece also urged the board to show him mercy.

Watching it all was the family of Pete Mihas, owner of downtown Toledo's Boardroom restaurant. Mr. Mihas, 61, was murdered by Bryant-Bey almost three months after Bryant-Bey killed Mr. Pinkelman, but he received a life sentence for that crime.

Bryant-Bey's clemency attorney, Rachel Troutman, painted a picture of a man who had been abandoned by his Toledo mother to be raised and beaten by his godmother in New York. She told the board about how he once had run away from home as a child to try to walk back home, and eventually became a chronic thief and drug abuser.

Eventually, his biological mother went back for him, returned him to Toledo, and left him with her ex-husband and his family. The ex-husband was not the boy's biological father.

"I'm not saying that, at 37, his childhood was to blame for the murders," Ms. Troutman said. "But [the] psychological reality is that childhood shapes who we become."

She spent no time suggesting that Bryant-Bey was innocent, but rather suggested he could do good for other inmates while spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Mr. Pinkelman's body, with a single stab wound in the chest, was found face-up on the floor of Pinky's Collectibles. His pants had been removed and his shoes placed neatly by the body.

On the following Nov. 9, Mr. Mihas was killed under very similar circumstances, this time with the knife left in his chest. The usually destitute Bryant-Bey raised suspicions when he showed up a local hotel waving a wad of cash.

Bryant-Bey confessed to killing Mr. Mihas. The similarity of the crimes, as well as a palm print he left behind at Pinky's Collectibles, later helped to convict him in the first murder.

Jay Clark, Kelly's husband and Mr. Pinkelman's son-in-law, urged the board not to give Bryant-Bey what he wants. The family described Mr. Pinkelman as a hard-working, loving husband and father who earned an engineering degree while working full-time at the Jeep plant.

"[Bryant-Bey's] daughter is right," Mr. Clark said. "The cycle must end. But it ends with the sentence being carried out."

The board's decision will be announced Thursday when it is sent to Mr. Strickland.

Board Chairman Cynthia Mauser noted that Ms. Williamson-Bey's testimony had noted that they'd taken him in upon his return to Toledo, and that they had tried to make him feel that he belonged. She also questioned an apparent lack of a juvenile record.

"What I hear today in my mind doesn't support your argument," she told Ms. Troutman. "His family took him in as one of their own … There's warmth there. There's a bond … It demonstrates that he has the ability to conform his behavior, but potentially chose not to during these acts."

Of its 34 death-row clemency decisions since 1999, the parole board has recommended mercy once. Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Dave Cooper urged the board not to make Bryant-Bey the second.

"What you have here is a totally selfish, self-centered person who even now attempts to dodge responsibility, and you ought not to grant mercy," he said.

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081017/NEWS02/810170364

No mercy for Toledo killer, parole board says


Gregory Bryant-Bey


COLUMBUS - The Ohio Parole Board yesterday found "no compelling reason'' to recommend Gov. Ted Strickland show mercy to Gregory Bryant-Bey in the 1992 robbery and murder of a Toledo merchant.

Bryant-Bey, 53, faces lethal injection on Nov. 19 for killing Dale Pinkelman, 48, whose body was found lying face up, a single stab wound in his chest, on the floor of his shop, Pinky's Collectibles.

Bryant-Bey was also convicted in the similar murder almost three months later of Pete Mihas, 61, owner of downtown Toledo's Board Room restaurant. He received a life sentence for that murder, but the evidence from that case subsequently helped convict him of the earlier Pinkelman murder.

The killer's attorneys made little effort during his clemency hearing to argue that he was not guilty and instead focused largely on his upbringing. They argued that he'd been abandoned by his Toledo mother at a young age and was left with an abusive godmother in New York. They described an incident when, at a young age, he ran away and tried to walk home to Toledo.

His mother eventually retrieved him from New York, returned him to Toledo, and left him with an ex-husband, who was not his father, and his family.

The argument didn't sway the board, which pointed to the testimony given during the hearing of Bryant-Bey's half-sister, Ruth Williamson-Bey. She tearfully told the board that she'd asked her father to bring Bryant-Bey to their home after she learned of his existence.

"In fact, testimony and information presented indicated that after Bryant-Bey returned to Toledo at the age of 13, he was able to adjust adequately and conform to societal norms, and experienced a more stable family life,'' reads the board's report.

"The board also notes that Gregory L. Bryant-Bey does not accept full responsibility for the crimes of conviction,'' it reads. "The board finds that the death sentence in this case is fair and just and is not disproportionate when compared to similar cases.''

Members of the board had noted during the hearing that Ms. Williamson-Bey had managed to overcome her own substance abuse problems while her brother had not.

"I was disappointed that they didn't give more weight to the childhood that ended up creating this,'' said Ohio Assistant Public Defender Rachel Troutman, who argued the killer's case before the board.

"I was a little puzzled by the belief that he ended up able to adjust to societal norms,'' Ms. Troutman said.

"I think they misunderstood. Ruth had her share of problems as a result of her childhood, so if that's the more stable family life they're talking about, I don't understand how it could be used against him,'' she said.

The seven members of the board who participated in the hearing were all in agreement against recommending clemency.

Board member Jim Bedra did not participate. As a former victim advocate in Lucas County, he'd previously had some involvement with victims in the case. The ninth seat on the board is vacant.

Bryant-Bey's attorneys have asked the governor to commute his death sentence to life in prison without parole. As an alternative, they'd asked for a 90-day reprieve to further examine evidence in the case.

Unless Mr. Strickland rejects the board's recommendations or a court unexpectedly intervenes, Bryant-Bey would be transported the roughly 250 miles from death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary near Youngstown to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville before his execution date.

"His legal counsel will consider all relevant aspects of the case and provide the governor with that totality of information, and then he will do the same,'' Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said.

"His judgments are made on a case-by-case basis,'' he said.

Mr. Dailey noted that the governor also will consider court decisions in the case, evidence presented to the parole board on both sides, and letters received by his office.

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com,
or 614-221-0496.
www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081024/NEWS02/810240371

Toledo man who killed 2 faces execution Wednesday
UPDATE: 4:30 PM, Saturday, November 15, 2008
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOLEDO A man whose arrest in one slaying led to a death sentence for
another killing faces execution Wednesday after 16 years on death row.

Gregory Bryant-Bey is scheduled to die by injection for the 1992
killing of Toledo collectibles store owner Dale Pinkelman.

Pinkelman's slaying went unsolved for more than three months until
Bryant-Bey was arrested for the stabbing of Peter Mihas, owner of The
Board Room restaurant in downtown Toledo.

He was charged with Pinkelman's murder after detectives noted
similarities in the slayings.

Both victims were stabbed in the chest and left without shoes and pants.

Bryant-Bey faced two death penalty trials for each killing. He was
given a life sentence for Mihas' slaying and the death penalty for
Pinkelman's killing.
www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=441603&Category=13&subCategoryID=

Strickland denies killer's clemency request

The Associated Press • November 18, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The U.S. Supreme Court was considering Tuesday
whether to postpone Wednesday's scheduled execution of an Ohio death
row inmate who killed a collectibles store owner in 1992.

Gregory Bryant-Bey, 53, said he was denied adequate legal
representation at his clemency hearing last month. He's asked the
high court for a 60-day reprieve to gather additional material to
present to Gov. Ted Strickland as part of a clemency request.

He made a similar request to Strickland Nov. 12, but the governor on
Tuesday rejected it.

Strickland said in a one-page statement denying Bryant-Bey clemency
that he made his decision after reviewing all the materials in the case.

Among Bryant-Bey's arguments to the governor: Strickland is
supporting a Tennessee death row inmate's appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court on a similar clemency issue.

Bryant-Bey's lawyers said a state public defender was assigned full-
time to his clemency case only 10 days before the hearing last month.

A clemency hearing "requires a much more fact-intensive, broad
investigation than a typical trial investigation, " said Carol Wright,
Bryant-Bey's federal public defender.

The Ohio Parole Board on Oct. 22 unanimously recommended that
Strickland deny clemency.

A U.S. District Court judge and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in Cincinnati have both denied Bryant-Bey's request for a reprieve.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Jan. 12 in a case asking
whether poor death row inmates seeking mercy from state officials
have a right to lawyers paid for by federal taxpayers.

Bryant-Bey argues that he should receive a delay in his execution at
least until the high court rules on that case.

The case before the U.S. Supreme Court is that of Edward Jerome
Harbison of Tennessee, who was convicted in the 1983 beating death of
an elderly woman in Chattanooga.

Harbison asked in 2006 to expand the responsibilities of his federal
public defenders to also represent him in state clemency proceedings
if he lost his court challenges.

The Justice Department argues there is no constitutional right either
to clemency itself or to lawyers to pursue it.

Bryant-Bey notes that Strickland joined other current and former
governors in a Sept. 15 court filing supporting Harbison's argument.

"As explained in this brief, defense counsel play a critical role in
ensuring that Governors have all the information they need to fulfill
their responsibility to make clemency decisions," the Sept. 15 filing
said.

The filing is not directly related to Bryant-Bey's case in that it
specifically addressed federal funding of lawyers in clemency cases.

Bryant-Bey arrived at the death house at the Southern Ohio
Correctional Facility in Lucasville Tuesday morning. He requested a
special meal to be served Tuesday afternoon of three pieces of fried
chicken, spaghetti with meat sauce, potato salad, cherry pie with
strawberry ice cream and cola to drink.

He was sentenced to death for the Aug. 9, 1992 stabbing death of
Toledo collectibles store owner Dale Pinkelman in a robbery. He also
was convicted in the Nov. 2, 1992, killing of Peter Mihas, owner of
The Board Room restaurant in downtown Toledo.

After police arrested Bryant-Bey for Mihas' death, similarities
between the two crimes led to charges in Pinkelman's slaying.

A jury recommended life in prison for Bryant-Bey in the Mihas killing.

Two of Pinkelman's sons-in-law, Donald Clark and Stephen Ujvabi, were
scheduled to witness the execution Wednesday.

news.cincinnati.com/article/20081118/NEWS0107/311180019/1056/

Killer clutches rosary, says he was framed at execution
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 10:50 AM
By Alan Johnson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Associated Press
Gregory Bryant-BeyLUCASVILLE, Ohio - Double-murderer Gregory Bryant-Bey of Toledo was executed this morning for a crime he committed 16 years ago.

Bryant-Bey, 53, of Toledo, was lethally injected at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, drawing his last shallow breath just before 10:41 a.m. He was the second Ohioan put to death this year and the 28th since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999.

"My heart was seeking a sense of fairness and a dose of justice, but it was not to be," Bryant-Bey said, his last words as he lie on the lethal injection table, clutching a rosary.

He also made an extensive statement claiming he was framed "based on false evidence" by Lucas County law enforcement officials. He read his final words from a hand-written two page statement.

Bryant-Bey was convicted for the stabbing deaths of Dale "Pinky" Pinkelman, 47, and Pete Mihas, 61, during a three-month span in 1992. He was sentenced to death for Pinkelman's murder, but got life in prison for the Mihas killing.

His guilt was easily established in both cases. Still, Bryant-Bey's attorneys had urged Strickland to spare his life, arguing he was twice abandoned as a child by his birth mother, was neglected and beaten by his adoptive mother, and never met his real father. As a child, he had just two emotions, "fear and anger," they said.

Strickland rejected clemency yesterday afternoon and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his appeal late last night.

Pinkelman, a father of six, was found stabbed in the chest in his Toledo collectibles shop on Aug. 9, 1992. Mihas, a Greek immigrant who owned the Board Room restaurant in Toledo, was murdered, also with a knife, in the parking lot of his business about three months later.

In both cases, Bryant-Bey robbed the businesses, but did not take the men's personal jewelry. However, he removed the victim's pants and left their shoes neatly arranged beside the bodies.
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