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Headline Cases
Man
found not guilty in traffic fatality TROY
- Timothy Miller said he never thought he'd face criminal charges when
he came forward to tell Miami County sheriff's investigators what happened
Nov. 26, 2003, when Rebecca Giesseman's SUV went off Ohio 49, killing
her, while trying to pass his Ford Explorer. Miller, 48, of Bradford
ended up indicted on felony aggravated vehicular homicide, accused of
recklessly causing the death of Giesseman, 44, of Greenville.
A Miami County Common Pleas Court jury found Miller not guilty after about 70 minutes of deliberations Friday. "I'm sorry that this woman lost her life ... and we had to go through with this," Miller said. After Judge Robert Lindeman read the verdict, Miller mouthed "thank you" to jurors as lawyer Jon Paul Rion patted him on the back. Giesseman's family had no comment. Giesseman's 2003 GMC Envoy went off Ohio 49 near the Miami-Darke county line as she drove home from work. She was talking on a cell phone with her husband, Mark, when she described two vehicles ahead messing around and said she was going to pass. Mark Giesseman testified that a short time later she muttered a profanity, he heard crashes and she was gone. Miller said he came forward because he couldn't believe sheriff's officials claims that road rage might have been involved. "I told them what I seen and what I knew," he said Friday of a Dec. 11 interview with deputies. "I thought that was going to be it." Miller told deputies he didn't think the vehicles touched, and couldn't figure out why the SUV pulled out, slowed and seemed to coast off the road. He said he feared he was being carjacked and stopped down the road, but left after another vehicle arrived. Forensic scientists gave conflicting testimony on whether vehicle damage matched, and if damage was caused by three collisions investigators said occurred. Two jurors said the initial vote was 11 to 1 for acquittal. Some of the figures, to me, just didn't add up. Some of it was illogical," said Julia Bengaline, a Piqua math teacher. Juror Lyn zee McFadden of Troy agreed as Henkaline said jurors questioned physical evidence and believed a witness who saw the crash in his rearview mirror and never saw the vehicles touch. Prosecutors said he was too far away to see everything. McFadden said discrepancies in a deputy's testimony on how some vehicle damage occurred was a problem. County Prosecutor Gary Nasal said prosecutors disagreed with the verdict. He said they knew the crash scene reconstruction was complicated, and used a computer-generated animation to help explain numbers. "We have an extremely high level of confidence that the crash occurred exactly as our reconstruction described," he said. [ Back To Top ] Man acquitted in boy's
death DAYTON -- More than 17 months after Scott Vest was indicted on a murder charge and three counts of endangering his former girlfriend's 2 1/2-year-old son, a jury acquitted him Friday after deliberating less than six hours. Vest, 38, of 10041 El An Ja Drive hugged weeping family members as the family of the boy, Jansen Garrett Myers, wept silently a few feet away in the packed courtroom of Judge Barbara P. Gorman of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. "I
feel it's been a very trying time," Vest said after his two-week
trial. "I feel relieved, but I also feel a lot of remorse for the
family because a child died." "Justice was served. As I said in the beginning, I would be acquitted of all charges." Vest was indicted Aug. 28, 2002, more than a year after Jansen's death. At the time, county Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. praised the efforts of Miami Twp. police and said it was "a complicated case which required careful and thorough analysis." Defense
attorney Jon Paul Rion said "it was a really tough case. The science
in this case was really complex. It took months for everyone to understand
it." "He cooperated with police," Rion said of Vest. "Doctors throughout never wavered in their conclusion and the jury came to the same conclusion." Rion matched the prosecutor's case expert for expert, bringing in one of the nation's most renowned child-abuse experts in Dr. Jan Edward Leestma of Chicago, who has testified in more than 30 states, mostly for defendants. Prosecutors relied on Dr. Betty Spivack, a specialist in pediatric forensic medicine who works for the medical examiner in Louisville, Ky. Spivack insisted that evidence collected by treating physicians and the results of Jansen's autopsy ruled out all other possible causes of death but violent shaking of the 57-pound invalid. Leestma countered that the death could be attributed to signs of bleeding in the brain and other medical conditions. He ruled out shaking. Jansen began suffering seizures early on Dec. 5, 2000, while he was with his 5-year-old brother, Blake, at Vest's home. It started a couple hours after their mother left in the middle of the night for emergency treatment of a bladder infection. Physicians at Children's Medical Center couldn't find a cause and the seizures became more severe until several days later, a massive seizure destroyed much of the child's brain. He was left in a vegetative state. Prosecutors and Spivack insisted the medical evidence pointed only to some vague incident in which Jansen, energetic and good-natured, was suffocated or smothered, or perhaps that Vest lay across the boy or compressed his chest. Rion and Leestma suggested other causes such as infections, congenital defects found in the boy's bronchial tubes, and the side effects of medications. On May 15, 2001, doctors found the child had suffered a twisted break of his left thigh. His leg swelled to three times its size shortly after his father, Bryan Myers, picked the boy up for visitation after Jansen had been alone with Vest for about 20 minutes. Bryan Myers was the first to point authorities to Vest as a possible abuser then, but an investigation produced no results and Vest was again permitted to be with the boy. Defense experts said the boy's bones were obviously weakening from being inactive. On Aug. 5, Vest was alone with Jansen while the boy's mother was out, and Vest told the jury he found the boy "blue" and unconscious where he had been seated in the living room. Vest described drawing out a large amount of mucus from the boy's tracheotomy and trying resuscitation until paramedics arrived, efforts supported by a 911 tape of his efforts. Three days later, doctors removed life support and Jansen died. "In the end, Jansen never, never had a bruise, never a cut, never an indication from his older brother (of anything amiss)," Rion said. "Shaken-baby cases are of great concern to defense counsel. There is an array of professionals, who, without a single symptom, say you can have child abuse." After
the verdict, Bryan Myers said, "I think it's the saddest display
of justice I've ever seen. Anybody and everybody who sat through the
entire trial knows what happened to Jansen." [ Back To Top ] Man, 77, acquitted in slaying at club DAYTON
| A Montgomery County jury acquitted a 77-year-old Dayton man of murder
charges in the Oct. 5 fatal shooting of Johnny "Spiderman" Dewberry,
66, at a basement bootleg joint at 59 N. Adler St.
Earnest Butler hugged his attorney, Jon Paul Rion, and wept after the jury’s verdict was read in Judge Dennis J. Langer’s courtroom. The five-man, seven-woman jury deliberated for six hours during two days before it found Butler not guilty of alternative charges of purposeful murder and murder as a result of a felonious assault. Rion said jurors told him afterward that they believed Butler’s testimony over that of two prosecution eyewitnesses, and also concluded that Butler shot Dewberry in self-defense. Dewberry fatally shot a man in the same bar three decades ago, and it was ruled a self-defense killing, Rion said after the trial. After months of negotiations before the case went to a grand jury, Butler rejected prosecutors' offer to plead to involuntary manslaughter with a firearm, which carried a sentence range of six to 13 years in prison. "It was potentially a life sentence," Rion said. Butler faced a mandatory 18 years to life in prison if convicted of murder. It was Assistant County Prosecutor Leon Daidone’s first defeat at trial since he joined the prosecutor’s staff in the 1980s. "We put the facts on, and the jury has spoken," Daidone said. Dewberry’s relatives, including his twin sons, sat in disbelief in the gallery behind Daidone and Assistant Prosecutor Tracey Ballard. "I think the jury was just wrong," Cyndi Dewberry, a niece of Johnny Dewberry, said as she sat in the gallery. "I guess the jury heard different testimonies and saw different evidence than what everyone else in the courtroom heard and saw," Cyndi Dewberry wrote in an e-mail after the verdict. "In our hearts, we are firmly convinced that they rendered a wrong and unjust verdict." Johnny Dewberry's other relatives, including his wife, and friends declined comment after the verdict, but a couple of the women wept. A sheriff’s deputy in the courtroom later disclosed that Dewberry was his uncle. He spoke briefly with the twin sons, he said. Butler told the jury that he and Dewberry argued at the joint Aug. 18, Butler smashed a beer bottle into Dewberry's face, Dewberry pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and fired one shot that narrowly missed Butler. Butler said he learned from friends that Dewberry was looking to kill him. Prosecution witnesses Yural "Moon Dog" Scandrick, the bootleg joint's owner, and his nephew, Garry Scandrick, claimed Butler returned the same day with a long-barreled gun in his car looking to kill Dewberry. Butler said he called Yural Scandrick on Oct. 5 and told him he was coming to the joint for the first time since the shooting to pay off a debt to Scandrick. Butler said he walked through a narrow basement doorway into a card room, where he spotted Dewberry seated at the card table with Yural Scandrick, Ted Satterwhite and a third man he could not identify. Butler testified Dewberry rose up and was drawing his pistol when Butler pulled out his own revolver, shot three times and hit Dewberry once. Yural Scandrick claimed Butler had his gun out when he entered the joint and briefly spoke to Dewberry before the shooting started. Scandrick, 70, said he grabbed Butler’s left arm as Dewberry grabbed the hand holding the gun. The struggle moved into the next room, where Dewberry and Scandrick fell and Butler fired a shot that hit Spiderman in the left side of his chest, Scandrick testified. Satterwhite testified that he ran away when Butler came in with a gun. Butler claimed Satterwhite stayed until after the shooting, then put an arm on him and said, "Let’s get out of here." Police
found Dewberry's gun, with a live round jammed in the ejector, near
a bush outside the business. Butler testified he saw it at Dewberry's
feet after he was shot. [ Back To Top ] OFFICERS
ON TRIAL Bailey Acquitted;
[ Back To Top ] Young
Rion Wins Case The son of Dayton attorney John Rion was victorious in his first jury trial Wednesday when a Greene County Jury found Martin D. Liming not guilty in the June 20 fatal shooting of Shawn Caskey, 22, of Xenia. "I rushed through law school so I could share this time with (the elder Rion)," Jon Paul Rion, 27, said after Liming, 22, of Xenia was cleared of the voluntary manslaughter charge. Although Caskey was unarmed, John Rion, a high-profile criminal defense attorney, said his son was able to convince the jury that Caskey was the aggressor when he chased Martin out his (Martin's) home in a rage. Caskey was shot once in the head. "I couldn't be more proud," said John Rion, "The government was assertive because an unarmed man was killed. He (his son) was able to overcome that." [ Back To Top ] Jury Rules Not Guilty For Mom After deliberating a dozen hours over three days, a jury found Patricia Ann Murphy not guilty by reason of insanity on Monday in the May 5 shooting of her 13-year-old daughter. "I expected the worst," Murphy said, offering a slight smile. Four experts offered opinions that she suffered from moderate to severe depression; two agreed she was legally insane. It was the first time in recent years that a jury was asked to decide an insanity defense, several attorneys and judges said. Typically, insanity defenses in Montgomery County have had unanimous or nearly unanimous opinions of experts behind them and decisions were made by judges or by mutual agreement. Murphy's attorney, John Rion, called the trial "risky" and credited the decision to his team of attorneys and especially to his son, Jon Paul, who defended the case with him. [ Back To Top ] Jury
Frees Man In Fatal Knifing A Montgomery County Common Pleas jury on Friday acquitted a 25-year-old Dayton man of voluntary manslaughter in the Sept 10 fatal stabbing of Antone Jackson at a Jefferson Twp. Bar. Defense attorney John H. Rion said the jury of six men and six women acquitted Jeffery Patrick Dixon just before 5 p.m. after a full day of deliberations in a trial that began Monday. Jackson was fatally stabbed at the K-9 Club, 5100 Germantown Pike. Casey Daganhardt, assistant Montgomery County prosecutor, characterized the stabbing during closing arguments on Thursday as a stealthy assault by one friend on another after the two had argued but "apologized, hugged, made up ." But Rion, in his closing arguments, said the drunken, 6-foot-1, 187-pound Jackson had broken Dixon's jaw and was on top of him, beating him, when Dixon used a knife in self-defense. "Jeff was not the aggressor. Jeff had a belief he was in danger of death or great bodily harm," Rion told the jury in Judge Dennis Langer's courtroom. "Tone had hit Jeff in the jaw, knocked him to the ground and was on top of him." Dixon, 25, of 640 Gramont Ave testified at his trial. He's a manager of the K-9, a popular bar outside Jefferson Twp. Jackson, 23, of 1936 Haverhill Drive, was drinking expensive champagne after winning about $1,000 in a basement dice game before the fatal struggle outside the building. Rion, citing testimony that Jackson was "double-drunk" when he died, argued that "the most frightening thing about a drunk is that his actions are unpredictable, they're sudden ." Daganhardt did not dispute Jackson's drinking but said of Jackson "He did not deserve to be killed." Daganhardt also questioned the defense testimony about Dixon's jaw, claiming Jackson had sucker-punched the defendant. Dixon, with Rion's help, turned himself in to sheriff's deputies the day after the stabbing. [ Back To Top ] Trial
Ends In Acquittal A Clark County jury late Monday acquitted William N. Cherry Jr. of the murder of Jonathan "John-Boy" Ward. As the verdicts were read in Common Pleas Court, Cherry put his head down and stomped his feet in jubilation, while defense attorney Jon Paul Rion patted him on the back. Cherry declined to comment on the trial's outcome, but his tears of joy were evident. Family and friends of Ward also were crying. "It was a total injustice," said Marilyn Ward, Jonathan Ward's stepmother. Cherry admitted shooting Ward in the stomach at 1018 Tibbetts Ave. on May 26 after an altercation there earlier that day. Ward died during surgery at Community Hospital. Cherry, 35, of 1548 Noel Drive, claimed self-defense and testified he regretted shooting Ward, 36. The seven women and five men returned verdicts of not guilty of aggravated murder and a lesser charge of murder at about 10 p.m. Monday after five and one-half hours of deliberation. Marilyn Ward questioned where Cherry got the hollow point bullets used in the shooting and why he had another clip of bullets in his pocket. "Did someone want John gone?" she asked. Jonathan Ward's 16-year-old daughter, Christian Marie Ward, said the jury should have found Cherry guilt. "My daddy was a good person," she said. Judge Richard O'Neill told onlookers before they left the courtroom that it would serve no purpose for either side to take matters any further. The judge said there has been enough violence, tragedy and sorrow for the families and the community. "Let the healing process begin," O'Neill said. Michael Ward, Jonathan Ward's brother, said the verdict shouldn't prompt others to use guns to settle arguments and then claim self-defense. Assistant County Prosecutors Darnell Carter and Doug Rastatter declined to comment after the verdict. [ Back To Top ] Madden
Jury Deadlocked Despite a videotaped confession, physical evidence and eyewitness testimony, a Montgomery Common Please Court jury failed Thursday to convict Rahshaan Madden of firing shots at Dayton's Fifth District police headquarters and four officers. After deliberating more than 10 hours, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge John W. Kessler declared the jury "hopelessly deadlocked" and sent them home. Fifth District commander Lt. Michael Brown said the verdict was disappointing. Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth R. Pohlman vowed to retry the case. Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion was jubilant at the outcome. "Someone's looking out for you upstairs," Rion told his 19-year-old client who seemed buoyant throughout the trial that began Tuesday morning. During breaks, Madden would turn and smile broadly at friends and family members who filled the courtroom. Rion felt the jury didn't believe Madden was trying to hurt anyone when he opened fire on the police station March 27. "This was not a typical case of a person assaulting an officer," Rion said. "This was a person trying to assault himself." Rion had argued that Madden was trying to commit "suicide by cop," saying his client wanted to die but felt he would go to hell if he killed himself. Madden's mother, Paraneice Nalls, said she was pleased by the trial's outcome. "We'll just keep praying. Rion said he will file a motion today requesting a reduction in Madden's bond. He hopes his client will be able to spend the holidays at home on electronic monitoring. Madden faced more than 70 years in prison on four counts of felonious assault with a gun. A charge of possession of crack cocaine will be prosecuted separately. Madden had originally pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. But the insanity plea was dismissed Wednesday when no testimony supported that defense. The four counts of felonious assault stemmed from four Dayton police officers who heard gunfire on March 27 and rushed outside the station to investigate. First outside was Officer Tim Braun who testified that a bullet whizzed past his nose and hit the building. Braun said he felt debris from the impact hit his face and he turned to push the officers behind him back into the building. In his defense, Rion raised questions about whether the bullet came from Madden's gun or from another officer's who came upon the scene, and whether the other three officers were fired upon. Assistant Prosecutor Pohlman said the jury was hung up on all four counts by different voting tallies. He declined to say how the jury voted, but said only a small number of jurors dissented on one count. The jury deliberated for more than two hours Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, they informed the court they couldn't reach a decision and were told to resume deliberations. About an hour later, when they remained undecided, Judge Kessler declared a deadlock. [ Back To Top ] |
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By Bill Garkow