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Thread: Ronald Exantus Sentenced in 2015 KY Slaying of Six-Year-Old Logan Dean Tipton

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    Ronald Exantus Sentenced in 2015 KY Slaying of Six-Year-Old Logan Dean Tipton


    Logan Tipton




    Prosecutor will seek death penalty in Kentucky boy's death

    VERSAILLES, Ky. (AP) — An Indiana man has been indicted for murder after police say he fatally stabbed a 6-year-old Kentucky boy in the head during a burglary. A prosecutor says he plans to seek the death penalty.

    A Woodford County grand jury charged 32-year-old Ronald Exantus on Wednesday with murder, first-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree assault. He's accused of fatally stabbing Logan Dean Tipton early Monday in the boy's home while the child was sleeping.

    Commonwealth's Attorney Gordie Shaw told the Lexington Herald-Leader (http://bit.ly/1OiWarM ) that because the slaying was committed during the course of a first-degree burglary, it's a capital case. He declined to elaborate, and gave no information about why Exantus went to the boy's home.

    Exantus is being held on $1 million bond. Arraignment is Jan. 6.

    http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/na...e3cba8761.html
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    Mourners imagine slain Kentucky 6-year-old running for one last touchdown

    VERSAILLES, Ky. - Logan Tipton, the 6-year-old Versailles boy who was stabbed to death Monday while he slept, made it onto a football field one last time.

    Hundreds from the community of about 9,000 sat in bleachers at Falling Springs Recreation Center on Friday morning to say goodbye to one of their own.

    Woodford Youth Football League president Peter Barnhardt said coaches frequently ask players to give the game everything they’ve got. If players can’t walk off the field, the team will be there to help carry them off.

    “Logan, you kept your end of the deal,” Barnhardt said. “You gave us everything you had, and now it’s our turn.”

    Logan’s coffin was brought to the center of the field while Sarah McLachlan’s song Angel played over the field’s speakers. The lyrics mixed with audible, involuntary reactions from the crowd at the sight of the ivory coffin, later adorned with Logan’s Yellowjackets number 63 jersey and helmet.

    The boy played as an offensive lineman for the Yellowjackets in the 2015 season, his first in the league. He would have received a league award at a year-end banquet.

    After leading the crowd in prayer, the Rev. Terry Jenkins instructed those assembled to picture the stadium lights and Woodford County players on the field, to imagine one last chance for Logan to score a touchdown, and to see him rush down the field in a game he loved for people who loved him.

    “He’s at the 20, the 10, the 5; 63 could go all the way!” Jenkins said to cheers, clapping and high-fives among the crowd.

    Jenkins said he was proud of Versailles residents for coming together for the support of the Tipton family.

    “God has already done something miraculous in this community,” Jenkins said.

    A Gofundme page set up for the family has raised more than $50,000 since Monday morning. A memorial fund also has been set up at Kentucky Bank in Versailles.

    Logan was killed early Monday. Police said Ronald Exantus of Indianapolis got into the unlocked house, walked around, grabbed a knife and went upstairs to the bedroom where the boy was sleeping. It has not been revealed why or how Exantus might have chosen that house.

    The 32-year-old nurse has been charged with murder, and the prosecution plans to seek the death penalty. His attorney said she suspects that he is mentally ill.

    Before the funeral, Barnhardt said many people had come together to give the “little man” the send-off he deserved.

    “Rest easy, little man; you will never be forgotten,” he said.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...e49669340.html

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Prosecutors will seek death penalty for man accused of murdering 6-year-old

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The death penalty may be an option when a jury hears a case in connection to the murder of a 6-year-old boy.

    The Woodford County Commonwealth's Attorney tells WDRB he will pursue capital punishment against Ronald Exantus.

    Exantus is accused of breaking into a Versailles home earlier this month. He allegedly attacked Logan Tipton with a kitchen knife as the young boy slept.

    Tipton's father held Exantus down until police arrived.

    Exantus will be back in court next Wednesday.

    http://www.wdrb.com/story/30857224/p...ing-6-year-old

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Man Accused In Stabbing Death Of 6-Year-Old Pleads Not Guilty

    The Indiana man accused of stabbing and killing a 6-year-old Versailles boy during a home invasion pleaded not guilty.

    Police say Ronald Exantus stabbed Logan Tipton to death during a home invasion last year.

    Officers said Logan was in his room asleep when Exantus allegedly entered the home and stabbed him. Police said after the stabbing, Logan's father got into a fight with Exantus in the home's hallway. Logan's sisters were also assaulted. Officers arrested Exantus at the scene.

    It was the first time that Logan Tipton's family had seen Exantus since that tragic night in December. Family members filled the first two rows of the courtroom.

    Afterwards, Logan Tipton's mother issued a statement to the media.

    "I just wanted to say thank you to the whole community and everyone for their thoughts and prayers and support and just continue to keep my family especially my children in your prayers," Heather Pujol-Tipton told reporters.

    Exantus' attorney, Bridget Hofler told LEX 18 that her client is mentally unstable.

    "His mental state is in and out. Some days are better than others. He is obviously not himself, nor has he been since I've come to know him." Hofler told LEX 18.

    The hearing was held in Woodford County's District Court building. Exantus waived formal arraignment.

    A Woodford County grand jury indicted Exantus for murder, burglary and assault. He could face the death penalty.

    http://www.lex18.com/story/30895966/...d-due-in-court

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    Boy’s accused killer is competent for murder trial, doctor testifies

    By Greg Kocher
    The Lexington Herald-Leader

    VERSAILLES - A doctor testified at a hearing Tuesday that Ronald Exantus, accused of killing a 6-year-old boy, is competent to stand trial.

    But the two-hour hearing offered virtually no information to explain why the Indianapolis divorced father of three allegedly drove to Kentucky, broke into a Versailles house and stabbed Logan James Dean Tipton to death with a kitchen knife in December 2015.

    The prosecution intends to seek the death penalty. Woodford Circuit Judge Rob Johnson did not decide whether Exantus is competent to stand trial, but said he would issue a written ruling.

    Exantus, 33, did not testify but sat quietly in the courtroom. His mother and sister sat in the gallery behind him.

    Dr. Amy Trivette, medical director of Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in La Grange, said Exantus understands the consequences he faces, and is able to rationally assist in his defense. Exantus was at the psychiatric center from Feb. 23 to May 2 for a court-ordered evaluation.

    Exantus had no prior criminal history and no psychiatric history, Trivette said. When he went to an emergency room in January 2010 to complain about a worsening headache, he exhibited no overt signs of major mental illness, Trivette said.

    Upon his admission to the psychiatric center, he told personnel there that he smoked marijuana frequently in the year before his arrest. He also told them that he had considered suicide.

    Exantus also reported hearing voices spoken in the Creole language of his Haitian parents, Trivette testified. The voices did not command him to do things, but spoke negatively about him, Trivette said.

    Exantus exhibited some impairment in his ability to think logically, Trivette said. But Exantus improved over the course of his treatment at the psychiatric center and his judgment was intact by the time of his discharge, Trivette said.

    Exantus understands that the charges against him are “absolutely serious,” Trivette said, and understands the roles of the judge, jury, prosecutors and defense attorneys. For these reasons, she said Exantus is competent to stand trial.

    During cross-examination, public defender Bridget Hofler noted that Exantus was incorrect in his understanding of some court procedures and roles. For example, Exantus said seven of the 12 jurors would have to vote guilty in order for him to be found guilty. Actually, the 12 jurors in a criminal trial would have to be unanimous.

    But Trivette said Exantus has the ability to understand such facts if they are explained to him.

    Hofler asked if competency is a “fluid thing,” and that while he might be competent now, “by the time we get to trial, he may not be?”

    “That could happen,” Trivette said.

    The defense sought to call as a witness a Kentucky State Police forensic analyst who performed toxicology tests on blood drawn from Exantus. But the judge sustained a prosecution objection that the testimony would be irrelevant in a competency hearing.

    “Sometimes,” Hofler told reporters after the hearing, “people just have psychotic breaks ... They (psychiatric center personnel) can’t even determine what kind of psychosis it was. They just know he was psychotic. He was psychotic when he was in KCPC, they treated him ... and he got better.”

    In the week before the stabbing, Exantus wasn’t sleeping or eating.

    “He did a lot of really bizarre things that I’m not really able to go into now, culminating in him getting into a car, and driving over 300 miles to a place he’d never been, going in the home of people he’d never met, and this thing happening,” Hofler said. “I mean, he’s never been to Kentucky before other than to drive through it to get to Florida to see his parents.”

    http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...104486486.html


    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Accused killer of 6-year-old Kentucky boy to undergo another mental evaluation

    VERSAILLES - The accused killer of a 6-year-old boy has received one mental evaluation but will undergo another before trial.

    Ronald Exantus, 33, was deemed competent to assist in his defense. But when public defenders said they intend to introduce mental-health evidence at trial, prosecutors responded that they want Exantus to be evaluated.

    Wednesday’s brief proceeding offered no explanation why the Indianapolis divorced father of three allegedly drove to Kentucky, broke into a Versailles house and stabbed Logan James Dean Tipton to death with a knife in December 2015. Prosecutors have given notice that they will seek the death penalty.

    The issues surrounding another evaluation were addressed briefly during a motion hour before Special Judge Jeffrey Walson in Woodford Circuit Court. Walson, a retired judge in Clark and Madison counties, presided because the judge who had been presiding on the case, Rob Johnson, was appointed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

    Johnson had ruled in November that Exantus is competent to stand trial. The medical director of the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, where Exantus was assessed, testified last year that the defendant understands the consequences he faces and is able to rationally assist in his defense.

    The new evaluation will try to determine his mental state at the time of the offense.

    “Ultimately, it’s going to come down to what the various mental-health experts are going to say about whether he was insane or criminally responsible at the time,” said public defender Kim Green. “This case could go a number of different ways depending on what those reports have to say.”

    Exantus had no prior criminal history and no psychiatric history, but upon his admission to the psychiatric center last year, he reported hearing voices spoken in the Creole language of his Haitian parents. The voices did not command him to do things but spoke negatively about him, Dr. Amy Trivette testified last year.

    The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 11, but the defense filed a motion Wednesday to continue to a later date. That motion will be heard in court on June 7.

    “With Judge Johnson going to the Court of Appeals, this case is in a sort of limbo right where we don’t know who the judge is going to be,” Green said. “There are motions that need to be filed, motions that need to be ruled on, and ideally that’s done by the judge who is going to preside over the case at trial.”

    http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...148340494.html
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    Death Penalty Still On The Table For Ronald Exantus

    VERSAILLES, Ky. (LEX 18) - The death penalty will still be on the table for the man accused of stabbing a 6-year-old Woodford County boy.

    The Commonwealth's Attorney met with Logan Tipton's family behind closed doors. It was a motion hearing after the defense had filed a motion to exclude the death penalty.

    Police say that in December 2015, Exantus entered the Tipton’s Versailles home and stabbed the child to death in his bed. The suspect has been granted a change of venue and his trial will now be held in Fayette County.

    The judge denied the motion and the state can still seek to execute Exantus. Exantus was found competent to stand trial in November of last year.

    http://www.lex18.com/story/36701940/...ronald-exantus
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    6-year-old was killed with a knife. Trial to decide if mental illness or drugs to blame.

    BY GREG KOCHER
    The Lexington Herald-Leader

    Was the accused killer of a 6-year-old Versailles boy insane or was his erratic behavior self-induced because he took synthetic drugs?

    That’s what a Fayette County jury must decide in the trial of Ronald Exantus, 34, who could face execution if he is found guilty in the death of Logan James Dean Tipton.

    Jury selection in the four-week trial is scheduled to start Monday in Lexington. The trial was moved from Versailles to Fayette County because of pretrial publicity.

    It’s unclear whether evidence will provide satisfactory answers about why Exantus, a dialysis nurse with no prior criminal or psychiatric history, drove from Indianapolis to Versailles, entered the unlocked Tipton household before dawn, and stabbed the kindergartner in the head while the boy was in bed on Dec. 7, 2015.

    “This may be the most complex case that defense counsel has ever handled,” public defender Kim Green wrote in one pretrial motion.

    In the days leading up to the death, those close to Exantus described his behavior as “erratic and uncharacteristic,” according to court records. He was barely eating or sleeping.

    Mental health experts for the defense and prosecution examined Exantus after his arrest and both agreed that he was psychotic at the time of the burglary and stabbing, according to court records.

    The defense will argue that Exantus was insane. That means the burden of proof is upon the Exantus defense team to prove his insanity by a preponderance of the evidence.

    Upon his admission to a state corrections psychiatric center, Exantus reported hearing voices spoken in the Creole language of his Haitian parents. The voices did not command him to do things but spoke negatively about him, an expert testified at a pretrial hearing.

    A judge ruled in November 2016 that Exantus is competent to stand trial, based on an assessment that he understands the consequences he faces and is able to rationally assist in his defense.

    The prosecution intends to call a toxicologist who will say the erratic behavior exhibited by Exantus is consistent with a person who ingested synthetic marijuana, bath salts or some other “disassociative drug,” according to court records.

    http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...201766834.html
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    Man who killed boy has ‘major mental illness,’ previously injured baby, doctor testifies

    BY GREG KOCHER
    The Lexington Herald-Leader

    A psychologist who evaluated Ronald Exantus concluded that he has “a major mental illness” and was undergoing a psychotic episode when he stabbed 6-year-Logan Tipton to death in Versailles.

    On the fifth day of testimony in the Exantus trial, Dr. Kenneth Benedict, who was hired by the defense, could not specify what type of illness Exantus has. But he said it could be schizophrenia.

    The testimony is the foundation of the defense, which acknowledges that Exantus, an Indianapolis nurse, killed the boy in December 2015 but argues Exantus should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

    The prosecution argues that Exantus caused his own psychosis because he took drugs, possibly synthetic marijuana or something else, before getting lost in Versailles on the way to Florida to see his mother.

    If Exantus is found guilty of murder, he could face the death penalty.

    During questioning by public defender Kim Green, Benedict acknowledged that substance-induced psychotic disorder needs to be considered as a possibility. But Benedict said “that is not the most likely diagnosis.”

    Benedict maintained that his mental illness conclusions didn’t vastly differ from that of a psychiatrist at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in LaGrange, where Exantus was evaluated twice, once to determine whether he was mentally competent to assist in his defense and again to determine criminal responsibility. The psychiatric center examines defendants for the court and prosecution.

    In his cross-examination, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Lee Greenup noted that the psychiatric center reported the psychosis was most likely substance-induced, which differs from Benedict’s conclusion.

    Greenup questioned whether a test Benedict administered to Exantus indicated that the defendant was malingering or faking symptoms of mental illness. Benedict said part of the test results questioned whether Exantus’ performance was “consistent.”

    Benedict said in his evaluation that Exantus had no known prior criminal or psychiatric history. However, Greenup noted in court that Exantus caused physical injury to his infant daughter by shaking her in 2010.

    “I’m aware of that,” Benedict said. “It’s my understanding that no criminal charges came from that.”

    “So if a person had been not charged or acquitted, it would make no difference to you in a psychological workup?” Greenup asked.

    “I’m sorry, what’s the question?” Benedict said.

    “Well, I guess the question is you sound like a lawyer. Either a person has committed acts of violence or they hadn’t,” Greenup said. “You’re saying that to you, even if they have admitted it, it doesn’t matter if they weren’t charged or weren’t convicted?”

    “No, I think it’s a relevant piece of information,” Benedict said. “He was having problems controlling his frustrations and anger.”

    The jury also heard from Exantus’ sister, Maggie, who entered the courtroom weeping. She cried off and on through her brief time on the witness stand.

    Maggie Exantus said her brother “wasn’t making any sense” after his arrest and when she spoke to him by telephone from the Woodford County jail.

    “When he talked, you just could tell it was not him,” she said through tears.

    After receiving medication at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in LaGrange, her brother was more talkative, Maggie Exantus said.

    Edward Barbieri, a forensic toxicologist, also testified Thursday. He works for a private lab in Pennsylvania that did a drug screen on a sample of blood taken from Exantus shortly after his arrest.

    Barbieri said no drugs were found in the sample, which the lab received 18 months after it was drawn from Exantus. Barbieri said drug compounds can degrade over time.

    Barbieri acknowledged that the lab can’t find all synthetic cannabinoids.

    “Because of the number of compounds out there, you can’t test for them all?” asked Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Keith Eardley, one of three prosecutors on the Exantus case.

    “That’s right,” Barbieri said.

    The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday with the reading of instructions to the jury, then jurors will hear closing arguments. Finally, the case will be turned over to the jury for deliberations.

    http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...#storylink=cpy

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Ronald Exantus Trial: Jury begins deliberations

    LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Closing arguments in the Ronald Exantus murder trial took place Monday morning.

    Exantus is accused of murdering Logan Tipton, 6, on Dec. 7, 2015. Authorities say the Indianapolis man broke into the Tipton's home in Versailles and stabbed the child several times before the boy's father held the man down until police arrived.

    Monday marks the sixth day of the trial. Jury selection began February 26.

    The defense argued that for three months, Exantus' mind was trapped in an insane nightmare.

    They say that insane nightmare began in December 2015, the month he drove his vehicle from Indianapolis to a random home in Versailles Kentucky, where he went inside that home and fatally stabbed 6 year old Logan Tipton as he slept.

    They say the signs were subtle and puzzle pieces leading up to the breaking point.

    The defense told the jury the Commonwealth has not met its burden of proving the mental state of Exantus and that there was no intent behind his actions. They asked jurors to return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

    The Commonwealth argued that the defense has failed to meet their responsibility of proving that Exantus is mentally ill.

    Attorneys picked apart the credentials and testimony of the defense's medical expert, calling his report sloppy.

    Both the prosecution and the defense admit Exantus killed Tipton.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The defense team is seeking a verdict of not guilty by reason of mental insanity.

    The jury now has the case. They are deliberating on five charges: murder, first degree burglary, two counts of second degree assault and fourth degree assault.

    The jury can find Exantus either not guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty but mentally ill or guilty.

    The decision does have to be unanimous by the 12-person jury.

    http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Ron...477257523.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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