Parole board rejects Hartmann's bid for clemency.
www.ohio.com/news/40870822.html By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 06:42 p.m. EST, Mar 06, 2009
Brett Hartmann's attorneys will plead to the governor for more time to test evidence that might prove his innocence before the state goes forward with next month's execution.
After the Ohio Parole Board's unanimous decision Friday against clemency, Hartmann, 34, is running out of time.
Barring clemency or a reprieve from Gov. Ted Strickland, or a last-minute stay from a court, Hartmann will die April 7.
Hartmann's attorneys say questions remain about the former Akron man's guilt in the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Winda Snipes.
David Stebbins, an assistant federal public defender, intends to present a case to Strickland. He said he will point out evidence that has gone untested and lingering questions of Hartmann's guilt. He also plans to file a motion in federal court seeking a delay in order to test crime-scene evidence.
''I think we should be a whole lot more sure than we are in this case,'' Stebbins said. ''There's just a lot of open questions here and I think you need to be 100 percent when you execute somebody and make sure you got the right guy.''
The Parole Board said in reviewing Hartmann's conviction that it found that the evidence ''removes all doubt.'' And despite assertions to the contrary by Hartmann's attorneys, the board said police did a ''thorough job'' during a six-hour investigation of another suspect.
An Akron police detective, who helped lead the investigation, agreed that Hartmann's guilt is irrefutable. Detective Joseph Urbank also said, however, that he could be satisfied if Strickland commutes Hartmann's sentence to life with no parole.
''As far as I'm concerned,'' Urbank said, ''if he gets clemency from the governor, as long as they give him life without the possibility of parole, he's warehoused.
''So, as long he's not back out on the street, one way or another, I'm a happy camper because nobody else will die by his hands.''
Victim's death
Snipes, 46, was last seen alive Sept. 9, 1997, walking near her South Highland Avenue apartment at 4:30 p.m. A diligent worker, she was expected to be at her telemarketing job in Montrose at 5:30 p.m.
A single woman new to Akron, Snipes didn't own a car and generally relied on a bus to take her to work. The bus left about 5 p.m.
Snipes never showed up for work and did not call off.
Police later in the evening found her body, bound at the ankle, her torso stabbed more than 130 times, her neck slashed and her hands severed and missing.
Detectives photographed her electric analog clock. The cord was cut by her killer and used to strangle Snipes. The time on the clock was 4:40; police reports conflict on whether fingerprints were lifted from the clock. A test for DNA on the clock and cord has never been performed.
Phone and work records show Hartmann, who lived with his mother about a mile away on Charlotte Avenue, was the only one home when he talked to his girlfriend at 4:50 p.m. The call lasted about five minutes.
Hartmann, who had a casual sexual relationship with Snipes, had been with her about 14 hours earlier on Sept. 9. The two met up at a Highland Square bar and went to Snipes' apartment, where they had sex.
Snipes twice was seen alive the following afternoon.
It was Hartmann, then 23, who first found Snipes' body. He said he went to her apartment about 7:50 p.m. Sept. 9, discovered her mutilated body and panicked, fearing police would pin the murder on him because of his previous visit and sexual encounter.
He cleaned up evidence of his previous visit — cigarette butts, beer cans and his T-shirt, which he said was left behind in his haste to leave Snipes after their sexual encounter and now contained bloodstains.
About two hours later, he made a series of 911 calls in an attempt to report Snipes' death anonymously.
Police recovered from trash containers the evidence Hartmann had removed, but the murder weapon and the woman's hands have never been found.
Snipes' former boyfriend, who had lived across the hall from her apartment and did maintenance duties for the landlord until a week before the slaying, became an immediate suspect.
Neighbors told detectives the man had a volatile relationship with Snipes and a week earlier had threatened to slash her throat.
Detectives questioned the man for five hours and searched his home. He provided an alibi for his whereabouts Sept. 9, but only for the hours after 9 p.m., not the hours prior, when Snipes was killed. The interview was not taped, nor was a report of the interview given to defense attorneys.
Case narrowed
Within 24 hours, police narrowed their case to Hartmann, who began to concede his lies: that he was the one who discovered the body and that he called 911. He also made disparaging comments about Snipes to detectives at the scene.
Detectives searched Hartmann's home, found the bloody T-shirt stashed behind his bed's headboard and a wristhingych left in plain view. Police and family contend the watch belonged to Snipes.
Semen was recovered from Snipes' body. At the crime scene, police reports show that Medical Examiner Marvin Platt said the semen could have been left up to 36 hours earlier.
At trial, Platt narrowed his opinion and testified that the semen was deposited around the time of the murder, which he estimated to have occurred in the late afternoon to early evening Sept. 9.
The semen later was linked to Hartmann, but he never was accused of raping Snipes. Platt testified there was no evidence of a sexual assault.
Hartmann's attorneys want more time for DNA testing of hairs found on and around Snipes' body, a condom police missed while searching inside the apartment and a mop that might have been used to clean up evidence.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh hailed the parole board's recommendation to deny clemency. She cited Hartmann's refusal to accept responsibility for the murder and display remorse.
''The evidence has continuously pointed to one thing: Brett Xavier Hartmann killed Winda Snipes. I am pleased with the recommendation of the parole board,'' Walsh said in a news release Friday.
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
Brett Hartmann's attorneys will plead to the governor for more time to test evidence that might prove his innocence before the state goes forward with next month's execution.
After the Ohio Parole Board's unanimous decision Friday against clemency, Hartmann, 34, is running out of time.
Barring clemency or a reprieve from Gov. Ted Strickland, or a last-minute stay from a court, Hartmann will die April 7.
Hartmann's attorneys say questions remain about the former Akron man's guilt in the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Winda Snipes.
David Stebbins, an assistant federal public defender, intends to present a case to Strickland. He said he will point out evidence that has gone untested and lingering questions of Hartmann's guilt. He also plans to file a motion in federal court seeking a delay in order to test crime-scene evidence.
''I think we should be a whole lot more sure than we are in this case,'' Stebbins said. ''There's just a lot of open questions here and I think you need to be 100 percent when you execute somebody and make sure you got the right guy.''
The Parole Board said in reviewing Hartmann's conviction that it found that the evidence ''removes all doubt.'' And despite assertions to the contrary by Hartmann's attorneys, the board said police did a ''thorough job'' during a six-hour investigation of another suspect.
An Akron police detective, who helped lead the investigation, agreed that Hartmann's guilt is irrefutable. Detective Joseph Urbank also said, however, that he could be satisfied if Strickland commutes Hartmann's sentence to life with no parole.
''As far as I'm concerned,'' Urbank said, ''if he gets clemency from the governor, as long as they give him life without the possibility of parole, he's warehoused.
''So, as long he's not back out on the street, one way or another, I'm a happy camper because nobody else will die by his hands.''
Victim's death
Snipes, 46, was last seen alive Sept. 9, 1997, walking near her South Highland Avenue apartment at 4:30 p.m. A diligent worker, she was expected to be at her telemarketing job in Montrose at 5:30 p.m.
A single woman new to Akron, Snipes didn't own a car and generally relied on a bus to take her to work. The bus left about 5 p.m.
Snipes never showed up for work and did not call off.
Police later in the evening found her body, bound at the ankle, her torso stabbed more than 130 times, her neck slashed and her hands severed and missing.
Detectives photographed her electric analog clock. The cord was cut by her killer and used to strangle Snipes. The time on the clock was 4:40; police reports conflict on whether fingerprints were lifted from the clock. A test for DNA on the clock and cord has never been performed.
Phone and work records show Hartmann, who lived with his mother about a mile away on Charlotte Avenue, was the only one home when he talked to his girlfriend at 4:50 p.m. The call lasted about five minutes.
Hartmann, who had a casual sexual relationship with Snipes, had been with her about 14 hours earlier on Sept. 9. The two met up at a Highland Square bar and went to Snipes' apartment, where they had sex.
Snipes twice was seen alive the following afternoon.
It was Hartmann, then 23, who first found Snipes' body. He said he went to her apartment about 7:50 p.m. Sept. 9, discovered her mutilated body and panicked, fearing police would pin the murder on him because of his previous visit and sexual encounter.
He cleaned up evidence of his previous visit — cigarette butts, beer cans and his T-shirt, which he said was left behind in his haste to leave Snipes after their sexual encounter and now contained bloodstains.
About two hours later, he made a series of 911 calls in an attempt to report Snipes' death anonymously.
Police recovered from trash containers the evidence Hartmann had removed, but the murder weapon and the woman's hands have never been found.
Snipes' former boyfriend, who had lived across the hall from her apartment and did maintenance duties for the landlord until a week before the slaying, became an immediate suspect.
Neighbors told detectives the man had a volatile relationship with Snipes and a week earlier had threatened to slash her throat.
Detectives questioned the man for five hours and searched his home. He provided an alibi for his whereabouts Sept. 9, but only for the hours after 9 p.m., not the hours prior, when Snipes was killed. The interview was not taped, nor was a report of the interview given to defense attorneys.
Case narrowed
Within 24 hours, police narrowed their case to Hartmann, who began to concede his lies: that he was the one who discovered the body and that he called 911. He also made disparaging comments about Snipes to detectives at the scene.
Detectives searched Hartmann's home, found the bloody T-shirt stashed behind his bed's headboard and a wristhingych left in plain view. Police and family contend the watch belonged to Snipes.
Semen was recovered from Snipes' body. At the crime scene, police reports show that Medical Examiner Marvin Platt said the semen could have been left up to 36 hours earlier.
At trial, Platt narrowed his opinion and testified that the semen was deposited around the time of the murder, which he estimated to have occurred in the late afternoon to early evening Sept. 9.
The semen later was linked to Hartmann, but he never was accused of raping Snipes. Platt testified there was no evidence of a sexual assault.
Hartmann's attorneys want more time for DNA testing of hairs found on and around Snipes' body, a condom police missed while searching inside the apartment and a mop that might have been used to clean up evidence.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh hailed the parole board's recommendation to deny clemency. She cited Hartmann's refusal to accept responsibility for the murder and display remorse.
''The evidence has continuously pointed to one thing: Brett Xavier Hartmann killed Winda Snipes. I am pleased with the recommendation of the parole board,'' Walsh said in a news release Friday
