death penalty news April 20, 2005
OHIO: Killer escapes death penalty After he was sentenced Tuesday to life without the possibility of parole, Javon Byrd wanted a bond for a robbery charge pending against him. "I want to get my appeal bond so I can get up out of here," Byrd said in a tone that reflected the combative attitude he displayed during his capital murder trial. "You're going nowhere," answered Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge John Andrew "Skip" West, who will officially impose Byrd's life sentence May 24. Byrd was convicted last week of the aggravated murder of Shelly "Pee Wee" Hogan, the attempted murder of William Trollinger and felonious assault of Christopher Fears. The same jury took about two hours Tuesday to determine that Byrd should not die for his crimes, but instead be go to prison for life. The trial was problematic for prosecutors from the beginning. First, several witnesses - including Byrd's father, Randolph Campbell, Sr., who had told police he was an eyewitness to Hogan's shooting - couldn't be found until just days before the trial because he had fled to Florida. Then, Campbell testified that he had lied to police and the grand jury when he told them he saw Byrd shoot and kill Hogan. Campbell testified, though, that his son admitted to him in a telephone call that he had shot and killed Hogan. Byrd, 24, was on the run for shooting Fears in October 2003 after the two got into an argument during a domino game. Authorities posted a reward for information about Byrd. Supposedly in jest, Hogan suggested to Campbell that they turn Byrd in and use the money to get him a lawyer. Campbell told Byrd about that conversation. The next time Hogan was at Campbell's Cumminsville house - Feb. 4, 2004 - Byrd shot Hogan to death and wounded William Trollinger, who was with him. Byrd argued often with his lawyers during his trial, often in the presence of the jury, and devastated their defense of him when he took the stand to testify he was a drug dealer, cheated on his girlfriend and was drinking and drugging the days of both shootings. Byrd's lawyers, Herb Freeman and Greg Cohen, attempted to convince jurors to spare Byrd's life by calling several witnesses Monday who described how the 5-foot-4 Byrd was always picked on because of his short stature and had to retaliate with force. Campbell, wearing a T-short with 10 mugs shots on it emblazoned under the ironic headline of "Hip-Hop Behind Bars," proudly proclaimed he bought his son his first pistol to defend himself, the gun Byrd used to shoot a man at age 17, a crime for which he was sent to prison. "He's short, his dad got him a gun and he went to prison at 17. Which part outweighs that he killed a man because he didn't want to go back to prison?" asked assistant prosecutor Gus Leon Tuesday, when he asked jurors to return with a death verdict. At Tuesday's closings, Byrd several times looked at his parents in the audience and flexed his muscles, reflecting his father's admission that he had taught his offspring to be "soldiers." (source: Cincinnati Post) SOUTH CAROLINA ---- federal death penalty avoided: Death penalty 'off the table' in killing Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against three York County men accused in the shooting death of a Rock Hill drug informant in 2003. "The death penalty is off the table," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore told Judge Cameron Currie on Tuesday. Patrick Ray Simpson, Kenneth Roshaun Reid and Samuel Larell Anderson face drug, conspiracy and murder-for-hire charges in the death of Ernest Hollis. Hollis was shot dead in his girlfriend's apartment at Catawba Point Townhomes on Springdale Road in September 2003 with his children and others close by inside the apartment. As is required in the federal system, the U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the case and agreed with prosecutors' decision not to seek the death penalty, Moore said. In state courts, prosecutors alone decide whether to seek the death penalty in certain murder cases. Reid offered Simpson $3,000 to kill Hollis, according to an FBI affidavit that says Simpson confessed and implicated the other two. The killing happened two weeks after Hollis bought drugs from Reid while cooperating with York County drug agents, the affidavit alleges. Hollis faced drug charges of his own at the time of his arrest. Indictments allege Simpson brought cocaine to Rock Hill from Texas, where he sold it to Reid and others. Additionally, a federal grand jury will consider six new weapons allegations against Reid today, Moore said in court. Simpson had been in a psychiatric hospital for evaluation before Tuesday's hearing. But Currie said sealed evaluations show he is competent to stand trial. Prosecutors severed Simpson's case and Currie set a trial date of July 14. Reid and Anderson will face trial Sept. 7. (source: The (Rock Hill, SC) Herald)
