August 21 OKLAHOMA: Murder investigation nears end with arrests The lazy afternoon had just faded to evening when the gunmen swept into the trailer home, two through the front door, one through the rear. Arthur James Wilder: Charged with possession of a firearm, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, concealing stolen property and accessory to murder. Alvis Earl Sanders: Charged as accessory to murder Daniel Michael Ashcraft: Charged as accessory to murder Earl Bradford Postelle: Arrested on complaints of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. David Postelle: Arrested on complaints of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Gilbert Ray Postelle: Arrested on complaints of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Randal Wade Byus: Arrested on complaints of murder and conspiracy. The trailer's 4 occupants -- soon to be 4 victims -- were herded outside and forced to kneel in the sparse grass and gravel. The salvage yard next door was closed for Memorial Day. So were the brake shop 20 yards to the north and the car lot across the street. If the victims called for help, no one heard them. What witnesses did hear were gunshots, dozens of them fired so fast and furious they probably sounded like a string of fire crackers. Then a witness saw a maroon van speed down the dirt driveway, roaring through the alignment shop's open gate and out into the street. Just like that, it was over: 4 people dead. The killings took moments. The investigation is finally drawing to a close. Victims and suspects May 30, the bodies of Amy J. Wright, 26; James "Donnie" Swindle Jr., 49; Terry L. Smith, 56; and James D. Alderson, 57, were found in a fenced area behind the brake shop at 1800 SE 29 in Oklahoma City. Each had been shot multiple times. For weeks, their deaths were cloaked in mystery. Who did it? Why? Now, Oklahoma City homicide detectives think they know the answers. Court documents filed this week detail a perplexing motive, and 7 men -- including three members of one family -- have been arrested. According to jail and court documents: Arthur James Wilder, 24, of Midwest City, was charged Thursday with possession of a firearm, possession of a sawed-off shotgun, concealing stolen property and accessory to murder. Aug. 2, police found an AK-47 assault rifle while searching a storage unit registered to Wilder. The police ballistics examiner matched that rifle to shell casings found at the crime scene. Alvis Earl Sanders, 23, and Daniel Michael Ashcraft, 26, both of Midwest City, were charged Thursday as accessories to murder. Police think Sanders and Ashcraft altered the appearance of the getaway van, then hid it in West Terre Haute, Ind. Earl Bradford "Brad" Postelle, 41, of Midwest City and sons David Postelle, 21, of Oklahoma City and Gilbert Ray Postelle, 19, of Midwest City, were arrested on complaints of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. After eluding authorities for a few days, Randal Wade Byus, 40, of Midwest City surrendered to Oklahoma County officials Friday. He was arrested on complaints of murder and conspiracy. Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said he plans to seek the death penalty for the Postelles and Byus. Revenge for what? A possible motive for the slayings emerged in a police affidavit filed Wednesday with Earl Postelle's arrest warrant. About 1 years ago, Earl Postelle suffered a brain injury in a motorcycle accident. As a result he has seizures and limited mobility, often spending time in a wheelchair. A witness told police Earl Postelle blamed Swindle for his injuries. Swindle's connection -- if there is one -- seems tenuous. An Oklahoma City police report on Earl Postelle's accident makes no mention of Swindle. Feb. 13, 2004, the report says, Earl Postelle was driving a red 1972 Harley Davidson north on S Walker Avenue in the inside lane when he began swerving from left to right and overturned. The bike slid 27 feet on its left side before coming to a stop. 3 people witnessed the accident, the report says. No other vehicles were involved. "I don't know how they can justify saying that Donnie was involved in that," said Les, who owns the brake shop near the crime scene but does not want his last name published. "I mean, it doesn't make any sense." On Memorial Day, the three Postelles were at the family home in the 1500 block of N Douglas Blvd. when talk turned to Swindle, the affidavit says. The men, along with Byus, decided to take a pair of assault rifles to Swindle's home and frighten him, it says. David Postelle had one, the affidavit says. So did Wilder. The Postelles and Byus gathered the guns and ammunition and drove in the maroon van to Swindle's home, the affidavit says. Earl Postelle stayed inside the van while the others swept into the trailer, forcing the occupants outside. Gilbert Postelle emptied a 30-round magazine into the victims, then pulled it out and slapped another magazine in, the affidavit says. He fired one more shot before the AK-47 jammed. Then, the affidavit says, David Postelle took over -- firing 6 bullets from his SKS carbine rifle directly into Swindle's head. Putting pieces together Among the 1st clues to surface was a digital surveillance recording of a dark-colored Dodge Caravan arriving at the crime scene about the time of the shootings, then driving away quickly minutes later. Paul James, whose security camera shot the footage, said he didn't hesitate to turn the recording over to police -- but he is relieved there are suspects in custody. "It always worries you when you've got people who are capable of doing something like that," said James, owner of Blazer Motors. "They had a grudge with him (Swindle) in order to do that. If they had a grudge with us for showing that video, yeah, it's got to worry you a bit." After the video aired, someone mentioned Sanders and Ashcraft to police, court records show. Detectives found one of the pair had received a traffic ticket in a maroon Dodge Caravan, and from there, police were able to track the van to Indiana. Next came the search warrant that turned up the weapon in Wilder's storage unit. Arrest warrants followed, snowballing as police alleged a conspiracy: four men accused of participating in the slayings, 3 of helping them conceal the evidence. Brake shop owner Les, who knew Swindle for decades, said he's just glad the investigation seems to be nearing an end. Maybe now, he said, things will finally get back to normal. That might be hard with the empty trailers, which once bustled with noise and people, staring from the back yard. "There's nobody living back there anymore," he said. "Donnie's father goes back there. I go back and walk around to make sure nobody's in there at night. But other than that, nobody goes in there." (source: The Oklahoman) OHIO: Spirko asking for his life this week When John Spirko's attorneys request clemency this week for the death row inmate, it will be one of their last chances to save his life. Spirko, on death row for the 1982 abduction and murder of Elgin Postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger, will have his clemency hearing with the Ohio Parole Board Tuesday. He is scheduled to be executed for the crime Sept. 20. Mottinger was abducted from the post office Aug. 9, 1982. Her skeletal remains were found a month later in a soybean field in Findlay. Spirko has maintained his innocence in the murder. Spirko cannot attend the hearing. "The inmate is interviewed at the institution prior to the hearing. He is not present," Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman Jo Ellen Lyons said. "A parole board member interviews the inmate several weeks before and then shares that information with the other members at the hearing." Kent Mottinger and Kay Varley, Betty Jane Mottinger's son and daughter, will speak at the hearing, along with another witness for the victim, Lyons said. Speakers representing Spirko will include lead attorney Thomas Hill, Wyandot County investigator Bill Latham, Northwestern University clinical law professor Steven Drivin, and video testimony from Cathy Bailey, Spirko's sister. The final speaker list is subject to change, Lyons said. After the 9-member parole board reviews the case and testimony at the hearing, it has 7 days to make a recommendation to Gov. Bob Taft to grant or deny clemency. Taft is the only official who can grant clemency, which can come in 3 forms; pardon, commutation or reprieve. Spirko's attorneys are asking that Taft grant a reprieve, a postponement of the execution, before considering any other kind of clemency. Spirko's attorneys believe they have new evi-dence to be heard in federal court, according to an application they filed with the Ohio Parole Board. Taft has exercised his executive clemency power only once, commuting the death sentence of Jerome Campbell to life in prison in 2003. At the time, Taft made legal distinctions between Campbell's case and other requests that came before him. New DNA evidence had been introduced since Campbell's conviction and Campbell's attorneys presented evidence discrediting 2 prosecution witnesses. Campbell remains incarcerated at Warren Correctional Institution for the 1988 murder of 78-year-old Henry Turner. Turner bled to death in his Cincinnati home after being stabbed 5 times. In 2002, new DNA testing showed that blood on Campbell's shoe used to convict him was his own, not Turner's. The state has executed 16 men since 1999, when Wilford Berry earned the nickname "volunteer," not fighting his execution for the 1989 murder of Charles Mitroff. Before 1999, the state had not executed anyone since 1963. In the last days of his tenure in 1991, former Gov. Richard Celeste commuted the death sentences of 4 men and 4 women. The Franklin County Common Pleas Court found seven of the 8 commutations improperly processed and returned the 7 to death row. That 1992 decision was overturned in 1997 and the 7 clemencies were reinstated. (source: Lima News) ****************************************** Spirko execution should be delayed Paul Hartman is a liar. In 5 weeks, Ohio will execute a man based on Hartman's credibility, or lack thereof. Hartman was the postal inspector who investigated the 1982 murder of a postmaster in rural Elgin, Ohio. Hartman is the main reason John Spirko was convicted of stabbing Betty Jane Mottinger to death. It's clear that Hartman doesn't even believe his own stories. His statements under oath and in tape-recorded interviews contradict and discredit him. Until Hartman got involved, nothing in the murder investigation pointed to Spirko. No physical evidence, no fingerprints, no weapon, no DNA. Hartman was the lead investigator who produced most of the evidence used to convict Spirko. During interviews with Spirko, Hartman lured him into implicating his friend and former cellmate, Delaney Gibson. The phony Gibson connection helped convict Spirko because an "eyewitness" identified an old photo of Gibson as the stranger she saw hanging around town the morning of the murder. The key element of the case was that Spirko committed the murder with Gibson. But Hartman had photos, receipts and witnesses placing Gibson more than 500 miles away from Elgin the night before the crime. This evidence weakened the case against Spirko, so prosecutors filed it away. Spirko's attorneys didn't get that information until 12 years after the conviction. In the past 16 months, Hartman has told at least three people - 2 of them in tape-recorded interviews - that he never believed Gibson was involved in the murder and that he told prosecutors about his doubts before the trial. When questioned about those statements months later, Hartman changed his story. Under oath, he admitted he "purposely misled" a Plain Dealer reporter and Spirko's attorneys. Another factor that led to Spirko's conviction were so-called "intimate" details that Hartman said Spirko knew about the crime. But some of those details were wrong, others had been in the news, and some - like the Gibson connection - might have been suggested by Hartman. Hartman never taped his interviews with Spirko, never had Spirko sign a written statement. How convenient. A federal judge in Toledo is considering a request to reopen the case. But Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro is in a rush to execute Spirko. Why? Why, after 20 years, rush to execute a man before a federal judge can review the case? Are we afraid of the truth? Are we afraid that if Spirko is not guilty, Ohio will owe him money for a wrongful conviction? Spirko's lawyers have asked the Ohio Parole Board to recommend clemency. The board meets on Tuesday. Write Governor Bob Taft, 30th Floor 77 South High Street Columbus, Ohio 43215-6117. Call him at 614-466-3555. Fax him at 614-466-9354. Go to www.governor.ohio.gov and e-mail him at the top of the page. Ask him to delay the Sept. 20 execution of John G. Spirko. Ask him to allow a federal judge to examine the case and dispel all doubts. Ask him to set aside the death penalty. By Hartman's own admission, it's clear we can't believe him. If we can't believe Hartman, how can we execute Spirko? We can't. (source: Column, Regina Brett, Cleveland Plain Dealer)
