Post by thinkinkmesa on Sept 4, 2009 20:31:45 GMT -5
Court lifts stay of execution for Hartmann
The same appellate court judges who spared Akron death-row inmate Brett Hartmann last spring have reversed their stance and lifted a stay of execution.
The 3-0 decision was released today by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said she would now move for an execution date from the Ohio Supreme Court.
The execution would most likely not be scheduled until sometime in 2010.
Ohio already has executions scheduled through February. One is set for next week and another on Oct. 8 for Lawrence Reynolds, convicted in the 1994 death of Loretta Mae Foster of Cuyahoga Falls.
Hartmann does have appeals pending at the federal and county court levels. The 6th Circuit decision cannot be appealed.
Assistant federal public defender David Stebbins said today he was disappointed by the ruling and is considering his next move.
''We're looking at all of our other options,'' he said.
Hartmann was to be executed April 7 before the appellate court intervened and granted him a stay in order to review the inmate's request for additional DNA testing.
Hartmann was convicted in the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 46-year-old Winda Snipes at her Highland Square apartment. He has maintained his innocence and is seeking the chance for additional DNA testing.
In March, the three federal appeals court judges cited ''uncertainty'' in Hartmann's case as a reason for granting him a stay.
The court said it wanted more time to ''reassess all of the evidence.''
Today, the court said Hartmann's argument that DNA testing would prove his innocence is ''debatable.'' Without a court order, Hartmann cannot have the evidence tested.
Prosecutors contend that Hartmann, 35, has already been afforded DNA testing by a federal judge and the results only further linked him to the slaying.
Hartmann, however, learned last spring that police failed to fully examine Snipes' former boyfriend as a suspect. Detectives conceded they did not obtain an alibi from the Akron man for the time of the slaying, despite reports that he threatened to kill her in the weeks leading up to her death.
In addition, Hartmann learned through the Beacon Journal that a jail inmate may have confided to his attorney that he lied when he testified to jurors that Hartmann confessed to the slaying.
Two Akron police detectives — who investigated the case and believe in Hartmann's guilt — have said they would accept a decision allowing a life sentence for the inmate.
Summit County Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh is considering a motion from Hartmann to seek additional DNA testing.
www.ohio.com/news/break_news/57343987.html
The same appellate court judges who spared Akron death-row inmate Brett Hartmann last spring have reversed their stance and lifted a stay of execution.
The 3-0 decision was released today by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said she would now move for an execution date from the Ohio Supreme Court.
The execution would most likely not be scheduled until sometime in 2010.
Ohio already has executions scheduled through February. One is set for next week and another on Oct. 8 for Lawrence Reynolds, convicted in the 1994 death of Loretta Mae Foster of Cuyahoga Falls.
Hartmann does have appeals pending at the federal and county court levels. The 6th Circuit decision cannot be appealed.
Assistant federal public defender David Stebbins said today he was disappointed by the ruling and is considering his next move.
''We're looking at all of our other options,'' he said.
Hartmann was to be executed April 7 before the appellate court intervened and granted him a stay in order to review the inmate's request for additional DNA testing.
Hartmann was convicted in the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 46-year-old Winda Snipes at her Highland Square apartment. He has maintained his innocence and is seeking the chance for additional DNA testing.
In March, the three federal appeals court judges cited ''uncertainty'' in Hartmann's case as a reason for granting him a stay.
The court said it wanted more time to ''reassess all of the evidence.''
Today, the court said Hartmann's argument that DNA testing would prove his innocence is ''debatable.'' Without a court order, Hartmann cannot have the evidence tested.
Prosecutors contend that Hartmann, 35, has already been afforded DNA testing by a federal judge and the results only further linked him to the slaying.
Hartmann, however, learned last spring that police failed to fully examine Snipes' former boyfriend as a suspect. Detectives conceded they did not obtain an alibi from the Akron man for the time of the slaying, despite reports that he threatened to kill her in the weeks leading up to her death.
In addition, Hartmann learned through the Beacon Journal that a jail inmate may have confided to his attorney that he lied when he testified to jurors that Hartmann confessed to the slaying.
Two Akron police detectives — who investigated the case and believe in Hartmann's guilt — have said they would accept a decision allowing a life sentence for the inmate.
Summit County Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh is considering a motion from Hartmann to seek additional DNA testing.
www.ohio.com/news/break_news/57343987.html