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Thread: Marcus D. Dansby Sentenced in 2016 IN Murder of Three and Unborn Child

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Murder defense team wants to import jury

    By Matthew Leblanc
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    Lawyers for a Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty want jurors from outside Allen County to hear the case next year.

    Marcus Dansby, 22, is accused of killing four people – one of them his unborn child – in 2016. His trial is set for April 2019.

    Defense attorneys Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers said in court documents filed this week their client cannot receive a fair trial with jurors from Allen County because of news coverage and comments on social media.

    The request for an outside jury cites a Dec. 25, 2016, story in The Journal Gazette that includes details about the killings from witnesses.

    Dansby is accused of killing Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Harris, 18, and her unborn child, which was later determined to be his. The killings happened at a home on Holton Avenue.

    A hearing on the request is scheduled for March 28.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...to-import-jury
    "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

  2. #12
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Lawyer-removal fight dropped

    Nakos won't be part of death penalty case

    By Matthew Leblanc
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    Lawyers for a Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty have dropped a challenge to a judge's ruling in January that removed a defense attorney from the case.

    They had asked the Indiana Supreme Court to review a decision by Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull to remove Nikos Nakos from the murder case, citing his workload and a lack of training in capital murder cases.

    In court documents filed last week and made public Tuesday, public defenders Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers asked to dismiss a petition for an appeal that would have allowed the high court to determine whether “the trial court abused its discretion.” The request was granted Friday, court records show.

    Kraus and Gevers were assigned to the case after Nakos was removed and have questioned whether the judge violated Marcus Dansby's constitutional right to the attorney of his choice.

    The dismissal lifts a stay that put on hold hearings and other action in the case until a decision by the Supreme Court.

    Kraus declined to say Wednesday why the challenge was dropped but noted Dansby could appeal the judge's decision after a trial next year.

    “We're not going (to appeal) before the trial,” she said.

    Included in the documents filed last week is a page signed by Dansby that indicates he wants to move forward with the case against him.

    Dansby is charged with murder in the Sept. 11, 2016, deaths of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, and Dajahiona Arrington, 18 – she was carrying a fetus that was later determined to be Dansby's.

    A fifth victim, Trinity Hairston, was shot and stabbed but survived.

    Prosecutors in January 2017 said they would seek the death penalty, and there has been little movement in the case since then.

    Gull said Nakos did not attend training for lawyers in death penalty cases and claimed the dozens of cases he is handling in state and federal court could affect his ability to represent Dansby effectively.

    Nakos has said the rules for training apply only to public defenders and contends he is qualified.

    Norman Lefstein, dean emeritus at Indiana University's Robert H. McKinney School of Law and an expert on death penalty representation, said in January state rules for lawyers in death penalty cases apply only to appointed attorneys. He said a judge can decide whether to remove an attorney from a case.

    Dansby's lawyers have also asked that a jury from outside Allen County hear his case. Citing news coverage and comments on social media, they argue he can't receive a fair trial from local jurors.

    A hearing on the change of venue request had been scheduled for March 28, and it has not been rescheduled, according to online court records.

    A trial is scheduled for April 2019.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...-fight-dropped
    "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

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Defense: Import jury in grisly case

    Says vicious postings preventing fair trial concerning 4 slayings

    BY MATTHEW LEBLANC
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    A Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty in the grisly killings of four people including his unborn child can't be guaranteed a fair trial in Allen County, his lawyers said Friday.

    A request to bring in jurors from another county to hear the case cites news coverage, “public outrage” about the alleged crime and “public hostility” aimed at Marcus Dansby, who faces four murder charges, a charge of attempted murder and a firearms enhancement.

    Defense attorneys Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers said in a hearing Friday in Allen Superior Court news coverage of the case and comments on social media prompted the change of venue request. Many prospective jurors already are convinced Dansby, 22, is guilty, they said.

    Kraus said dozens of “potentially prejudicial” articles have been published about the case since the Sept. 11, 2016, killings on Holton Avenue. Court documents filed in March reference a story that ran on Christmas Day 2016 in The Journal Gazette that includes interviews with witnesses. The focus Friday was on social media comments, however.

    For nearly an hour, a witness hired by Dansby's lawyers examined coverage by reporters and on social media, read Facebook comments attached to news stories about Dansby.

    “He doesn't care about other lives, so I don't care about his,” one comment said.

    “Hang him,” said another.

    Dansby shot Dajahiona Arrington, 18, in the head, and the fetus she had been carrying for 8 months did not survive, according to court documents. Traeven Harris, 18, was also shot to death, documents say, and Consuela Arrington, 37, was shot and stabbed.

    A fifth victim, Trinity Hairston, was shot and stabbed but survived.

    Police found Dansby at the scene, covered in blood and holding a bloody knife, investigators said. A gun with blood on it was found nearby, a probable cause affidavit states.

    Prosecutors filed paperwork in January 2017 to seek the death penalty.

    Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille said some of the Facebook comments are not mean-spirited and are “fair-minded and balanced.” Also, he said, it is not clear those who commented online are residents of Allen County who could be asked to decide Dansby's fate.

    “It is not difficult to create a fake Facebook profile,” Chaille said.

    Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull asked attorneys for Dansby and prosecutors to submit written arguments on the change of venue next month. She did not rule on the request Friday.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...in-grisly-case
    Last edited by CharlesMartel; 05-26-2018 at 04:42 AM. Reason: add the source
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  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Dansby lawyers again seek change in venue

    By MATTHEW LEBLANC
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    Lawyers for a Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty for the murder of four people – including his unborn child – have again argued his trial should be moved or jurors should be brought from another county to hear the case.

    And prosecutors countered again, arguing the defense hasn't proven potential jurors for the April 2019 trial of Marcus Dansby are biased against him.

    Attorneys on both sides made the arguments last month in a hearing on a request by Dansby, 22, for a change of venue. Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull asked each side to submit written arguments – filed this week – on the request.

    In a 12-page brief, defense attorneys Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers repeated earlier claims that social media comments and news coverage of the case have biased potential jurors who could be assigned to hear the case.

    News stories “are filled with sensationalism, exaggerations, false information about the character and background of the defendant and opinions related to the defendant's alleged guilt and the particular sentence he deserves,” court documents say.

    On the social media comments: “Mr. Dansby is entitled to a fair trial by the State of Indiana, not trial, conviction and sentencing by the individuals in the community via Facebook.”

    Dansby is charged in the Sept. 11, 2016, killings of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 18, and the fetus she was carrying, in a home on Holton Avenue. The unborn child was later determined to be his.

    A trial is scheduled for April 2019.

    Allen County Deputy Prosecutors Tom Chaille, Jeffrey Stineburg and Alison Yeager wrote in a 13-page brief filed Friday that news stories are based on court documents available to the public and that the defense team has not referenced factual errors in the stories. They argue that neither the news stories nor the social media posts show sufficient evidence to move the trial.

    “The mere possibility of prejudice is not enough to gain a change of venue,” court documents say. “Simply stated, the law doesn't require that every potential juror be ignorant of the facts surrounding the defendant's case.”

    Gull has not ruled on the request.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...hange-in-venue
    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!

  5. #15
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    Marion County jury to be selected for death penalty trial

    By Matthew Leblanc
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    Jurors from Marion County will hear the case of a Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty for allegedly killing four people – one his unborn child – more than two years ago.

    Attorneys for Marcus Dansby, 23, had asked in June to move the case from Allen County, arguing comments on social media and news coverage of the case have biased potential jurors locally.

    Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull issued an order Monday that rejects that request but allows jurors to be chosen from Marion County. Jurors selected there will be taken to Allen County for the trial, which is scheduled to start April 16.

    Dansby is charged with four counts of murder in the Sept. 11, 2016, killings of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 18, and the fetus she was carrying in a home on Holton Avenue. The unborn child was later determined to be his.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20181003/WEB/181009973
    "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

  6. #16
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    Murder suspect lawyers: IN death penalty unconstitutional

    By MATTHEW LEBLANC
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    Lawyers for a Fort Wayne man facing execution for the alleged murders of four people in 2016 are asking a local judge to declare the state's death penalty law unconstitutional.

    Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers argue in court documents filed in Allen Superior Court the law violates several portions of the U.S. and state constitutions and should be thrown out. The death penalty "is disproportionate and vindictive" and "has no deterrent effect," according to a motion they filed this week.

    "Indiana's death penalty scheme violates due process of the law as required by the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because the Indiana Supreme Court has failed to develop a rational and uniform analysis for the appellate review of death sentences," the document states.

    Marcus Dansby, 23, is charged with four counts of murder in the Sept. 11, 2016, slayings of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 18, and the fetus she was carrying. The unborn child was later determined to be his.

    A fifth person was shot and stabbed, but survived.

    Prosecutors filed paperwork in early 2017 to seek the death penalty. Dansby's is the only capital murder case pending in Allen County.

    The motion, which asks Judge Fran Gull to toss aside Indiana's death penalty statute, is the latest turn in a case that has had several.

    Gull removed a defense attorney from the case in January amid questions about his qualifications to handle a death penalty case and his caseload. In October, she ordered jurors for Dansby's April trial to be selected from Marion County after defense attorneys argued he can't receive a fair trial in Allen County.

    The request from Kraus and Gevers is accompanied by a 96-page document that cites recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions they argue support invalidating the state's law.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/articl.../WEB/181039978
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  7. #17
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The Age appeal is BACK

    Death penalty tactic rests on age

    By MATTHEW LEBLANC
    The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

    Marcus Dansby was 20 years old in 2016 when he allegedly killed four people, crimes for which prosecutors want him executed.

    But lawyers for Dansby, now 23 and facing the death penalty, argue that executing someone who committed a crime when he or she was under 21 runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

    Attorneys Robert Gevers and Michelle Kraus filed paperwork Wednesday asking a judge to throw out the death penalty as an option for Dansby, whose trial is scheduled to begin in April. The request comes after they filed a nearly 100-page document Tuesday in Allen Superior Court that asks the judge to declare the state's death penalty law unconstitutional.

    Gevers and Kraus argue that shifting opinions on the age at which offenders can be put to death, recent court rulings that invalidated death sentences for younger defendants, and increasing research on the maturity of young people's brains are reasons to reconsider the death penalty.

    The argument is based on a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that challenged the death sentence for a Missouri 17-year-old. Justices held that imposing the death penalty on defendants younger than 18 is unconstitutional.

    The high court noted “a national consensus” had built against executing people younger than 18.

    Gevers and Kraus add to that, stating in a 68-page filing that “a national consensus has developed against executing offenders who were under 21 years of age at the time they committed their offense(s).”

    “Nineteen states plus the District of Columbia and five United States territories effectively ban the death penalty,” they wrote. “Four additional states have imposed moratoria on executions and, during the last 15 years, seven states have demonstrated an actual practice of neither executing nor sentencing to death offenders who were under 21 years of age at the time they committed a capital offense.”

    The lawyers also argue that courts must consider “the evolving standards of decency” to determine what punishments are cruel and unusual.

    It's a novel approach, said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based clearinghouse for data on capital punishment in the U.S. More lawyers are challenging the death penalty on similar grounds, he said, and a trial court in Kentucky recently ruled that state's capital punishment law is unconstitutional as it's applied to offenders younger than 21.

    “These lawyers are keeping up with important developments,” Dunham said, referring to Gevers and Kraus. “It's an emerging issue nationwide, and this is one of the more significant early challenges.”
    Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards has declined to discuss the Dansby case.

    Dansby is charged with four counts of murder in the Sept. 11, 2016, deaths of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, and the fetus she was carrying. The unborn child was later determined to be his.

    Trinity Hairston was shot and stabbed but survived. Dansby is charged with attempted murder in that alleged attack.

    The earlier filing from his lawyers argues the state's death penalty law violates several portions of the U.S. and Indiana constitutions. It is “disproportionate and vindictive” and “has no deterrent effect,” the document states.

    Judge Fran Gull will consider both requests, and hearings are scheduled over two days in December. Kraus said this week it's unlikely Gull will grant the request to find the state law unconstitutional.

    That and the motion to exclude the death penalty could be used in appeals if Dansby is convicted, however.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...c-rests-on-age

  8. #18
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Attorneys argue over death penalty for suspect in quadruple killing

    The defense team for a Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty in a quadruple killing has again argued he should not face the possibility of death row.

    Attorneys for Marcus Dansby on Thursday argued a motion to pull the death penalty that Allen County prosecutors are seeking. Dansby is faces faces four counts of murder related to the killings, along with an attempted murder charge, all related to a Sept. 11, 2016, incident at a home at 3006 Holton Ave. that left three adults and a full-term unborn baby dead and a 14-year-old girl badly hurt.

    Dansby's defense team of Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers called a doctor to testify Thursday in open court. Dr. Laurence Steinberg, a developmental psychology professor from Temple University, discussed the science of the brain in regards to development and maturity. He said Dansby could have had the mentality of an adolescent at the time of the crime.

    The prosecution and Dansby's defense team argued over when a brain is capable of making adult decisions and how much it can change from arrest to trial.

    Dansby was 20 when authorities said he shot and stabbed to the death 37-year-old Consuela Arrington; 18-year-old Traeven Harris; 18-year-old Dajahiona Arrington and her full-term baby named A.J. inside a home at 3006 Holton Ave. on Sept. 11, 2016. He's also accused of shooting and stabbing 14-year-old Trinity Hairston, who would make a recovery.

    Police were called to the Holton Avenue home around 4 a.m. that Sept. 11, 2016. Officers arrived to find the victims bodies stabbed and shot, and Dansby covered in blood, leaning over the couch, crying and asking for help, according to an affidavit.

    On him, police found a large blood-soaked knife with a broken handle, the affidavit said.

    During an interview with police, Dansby immediately told the investigator, "I am still hearing gunshots," and reportedly asked, "Did anyone survive?" according to the affidavit.

    Dansby had cuts on his left hand and initially told police he did know where the cuts came from. Later he remembered "his cat scratched him," according to the affidavit.

    Police said that Dansby and Dajahiona Arrington had been in a relationship, but the pair had separated after the woman became pregnant with another man's child. A DNA test confirmed, though, that Dansby was the father of the unborn child.

    In January 2017, the Allen County prosecutor filed a motion to seek the death penalty against Dansby.

    Dansby's defense team previously argued the death penalty would be "cruel and unusual punishment" and argued Dansby should not face the death penalty because he was under 21 years old at the time of the crime. The court filing cited parts of the U.S. and State Constitution.

    Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull did not make a ruling Thursday, and ordered the prosecution to have something on file by Jan. 2.

    Dansby is set to stand trial in April.

    https://www.wane.com/news/local-news...ing/1668855169
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  9. #19
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Argument on death penalty criticized

    By Matthew LeBlanc
    The Journal Gazette

    Allen County prosecutors want a judge to reject claims by a man facing the death penalty that he shouldn't be executed because of his age.

    Marcus Dansby was 20 years old – 12 days shy of his 21st birthday – when he allegedly killed four people, including his unborn child, Sept. 11, 2016. Now 23, he has argued through his lawyers that executing people who were younger than 21 at the time of their alleged crimes violates the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is unconstitutional to put to death offenders who were 18 at the time they committed the crimes. Dansby's lawyers want to extend the age to 21, asking a judge to throw out the death penalty as a sentencing option because of growing research on the maturity of young people's brains and a “national consensus” against executing defendants younger than 21.

    Deputy Prosecutors Tom Chaille, Jeff Steinberg and Alison Yeager state in court documents filed Monday that arguments by defense attorneys Robert Gevers and Michelle Kraus failed on both counts.

    “(Dansby) has not shown any judicial or legislative movement to specifically exclude the defendant's proposed age group from death penalty eligibility,” the 18-page filing states. “The defendant has failed to identify a national consensus.”

    Similar efforts to extend the high court's landmark 2005 ruling to defendants younger than 21 have failed on appeal, and Dansby hasn't identified any states that have shielded people older than 18 from capital punishment, prosecutors argue.

    The objection from prosecutors comes after a Temple University psychology professor testified last month in this case that human brains continue to mature until at least age 22 and that young people can have trouble controlling their actions and considering the consequences of those actions.

    Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull has not ruled on Dansby's motion to exclude the death penalty or a separate request to declare Indiana's capital punishment law unconstitutional.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/news/l...lty-criticized
    "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

  10. #20
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Man accused in 4 killings loses fight to avoid death penalty

    By Associated Press

    FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - A northeastern Indiana judge has rejected efforts by a man awaiting trial in four slayings to avoid a possible death penalty in the case.

    An Allen County judge ruled Monday against 23-year-old Marcus Dansby's bids to have the death penalty thrown out as an option and to have Indiana's capital punishment statute declared unconstitutional.

    Dansby's attorneys argued that the Fort Wayne man was too young to get a possible death penalty if he's convicted because he was 20 years old at the time of the killings.

    The Journal Gazette reports that Dansby is charged in the fatal September 2016 shootings and stabbings of three people in Fort Wayne, including his ex-girlfriend, who was eight months pregnant.

    Dansby's trial is scheduled for April, but his lawyers are seeking a postponement.

    Information from: The Journal Gazette

    https://www.wane.com/news/local-news...lty/1795853377
    "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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