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Thread: Joshua McClellan Sentenced to LWOP in 2017 FL Murder of 92-Year-Old Rubye James

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    Joshua McClellan Sentenced to LWOP in 2017 FL Murder of 92-Year-Old Rubye James



    Rubye James






    'I loved that woman,' says 1 of 2 suspects in death of 92-year-old Leesburg woman

    By Myrt Price
    WFTV Orlando

    LEESBURG, Fla. - Two people were arrested Friday in connection with the death of a 92-year-old Leesburg woman whose body was found Wednesday buried in a shallow grave.

    Krystopher Laws, 21, and Joshua McClellan, 19, were arrested about 6:30 p.m. on charges of first-degree murder and robbery.

    As McClellan was being booked into jail, he said he did not kill Rubye Harrison James, that he just wanted cash for pot, and that he didn't know it was her car. He also said that he loved her.

    I’m the only one that was every there for her,” he said. “She was a friend. She was a great friend.”

    He struggled to speak through tears as he described how James hired him to do yard work.

    “She paid me to mow her lawn and to cut the hedges, and just to help her around the house,” McClellan said.

    He admitted to stealing her car and taking it for a joy ride.

    McClellan said he found James’ car while looking for money in empty vehicles to buy pot.

    “I just popped it open and it worked, so then I just took it for a drive,” McClellan said.

    Laws asked to speak with reporters after deputies booked him into the jail.

    He kept his head down most of the time and said he didn't murder James.

    No details were released about why detectives believe McClellan and Laws are responsible for the deaths.

    They are expected in court Saturday morning.

    Authorities announced earlier Friday that a $5,000 reward was being offered for information about James.

    James was last seen Tuesday. Deputies said they found her body in the grave near her abandoned vehicle at Crosby Street and Snow Place.

    Her son, Wayne Solomon, told Channel 9 Thursday that he worries that his mother's generous and trusting nature might have led to her death.

    Solomon said she would hire and fed strangers to help around her house.

    Channel 9's Myrt Price
    found out Friday that James has surveillance cameras around her home, but it's unclear if the cameras captured anything.

    "This lady lived alone at 92 years old. A woman of very strong faith. A very good person, from everything I heard," said John Herrell, with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

    Deputies said her death was a homicide, but the exact cause of death has not yet been released.

    Deputies on Wednesday conducted a well-being check on James after someone reported that she hadn’t been seen at her Edgewood Road home.

    Her car was found abandoned about 5 miles from her home, and as deputies investigated the scene, a K-9 found a shallow grave containing human remains in a nearby wooded area, Herrell said.

    James was a retired educator. She worked as a reading specialist and a learning specialist with the Lake and Sumter County school districts, friends say.

    "It was really heartbreaking to know that someone would do something like that to someone of that age, and a woman of integrity, because she was sweet to everyone," said former student Keith Walker.

    James was his former elementary teacher, and said he said he was sad to learn of her death. Walker's wife saw James recently while shopping.

    "I guess she seen her a week ago. She helped her take some groceries in from the store. And I saw her not long ago walking, and I said look at Miss Daniels still getting around, doing good," Walker said.

    Daniels was James' married name when she taught Walker.

    Friends and relatives told Channel 9 that James was a sharp dresser and maybe someone targeted her because they thought she was well-off.

    "They looked at her as an easy mark, I guess," Solomon said. "Jesus says I gotta love them, but in another sense, I kind of hope they get everything they got coming to them."

    http://www.wftv.com/news/local/2-arr...man-/492872888
    "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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    2 arrested in connection with homicide of 92-year-old Leesburg woman

    By Christina Jensen
    mynews13.com

    LAKE COUNTY -- Two men arrested in connection with the homicide of a 92-year-old Leesburg woman appeared before a judge Saturday morning.

    Krystopher Laws, 21, and Joshua McClellan, 19, have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Rubye James. They were also charged with home invasion robbery.

    During the court appearance, the judge denied bond for both men.

    Laws and McClellan were arrested Friday night.

    While being escorted to jail, McClellan broke into tears, saying he did not kill James. He said she hired him to do yard work. McClellan admitted to taking James’ vehicle, but said he didn’t know it was hers.

    “All you know I love that woman,” said McClellan. “I was just out looking at empty cars just to find some money, just to buy some weed. I came by a car that had a key and I just popped it open and I just took it for a drive. I didn’t know it was her car.”

    James was reported missing on Monday, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Her body was found in a shallow grave Wednesday evening near Snow Place and Crosby Street.

    Her car was found abandoned in the same area.

    On Saturday, investigators released affidavits for Laws and McClellan.

    According to the documents, Laws admitted that he and McClellan walked to James' house to get money for drugs. They told investigators that James opened the door when they arrived. McClellan admitted to hitting the elderly woman in the head, investigators said. Both men stabbed James multiple times and dragged her to the garage.

    Investigators say, the men put James in the back of her vehicle and drove to Snow Place where they buried her in a wooded area.

    Laws told law enforcement that they got $70 from the woman's home and spent it on marijuana.

    http://www.mynews13.com/content/news..._in_conne.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."
    - 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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    Prosecutors seek death penalty in murder of Rubye James

    By Millard Ives
    dailycommercial.com

    LEESBURG – Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against two suspects accused of beating and stabbing a 92-year-old Leesburg woman to death in February over $70.

    Krystopher Laws, 21, and Joshua McClellan, 20, are charged with first-degree murder and home invasion robbery in the death of Rubye Harrison James, a retired teacher.

    Hugh Bass, the assistant state attorney prosecuting the case, wasn't immediately available for comment Thursday. The motion to seek the death penalty was filed this week.

    Both suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges and during an interview with media members denied having anything to do with the murder. But according to an arrest affidavit, Laws admitted to detectives the pair burst into her home, he struck her in the head multiple times and they both repeatedly stabbed her during a robbery.

    Sheriff's officials said deputies conducted a well-being check on James early in the morning of Feb. 8 after neighbors said they hadn't seen her in a couple of days. Deputies found plants overturned on the porch, windows and blinds pulled down and blood splatters and bloody streaks from where the body was dragged.

    James' 2016 Hyundai Veloster was discovered later that night in the parking lot of Snow Place Apartments, and a police dog led investigators to her shallow grave nearby, just behind McClellan's home off of Snow Place in Leesburg.

    The pair were arrested a couple days later and have been in the Lake County Jail since without bail.

    http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/...of-rubye-james
    "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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    July trial for man accused of killing woman, 92, canceled, records show

    Two men charged with murder of elderly Leesburg woman

    LEESBURG, Fla. - The trial that was set to begin July 17 for two men accused of killing a 92-year-old Leesburg woman in February was canceled Tuesday for one of the men, according to Lake County court officials.

    Krystopher Laws, 21, and Joshua McClellan, 20, are charged with first-degree murder and home invasion robbery in the killing of Rubye James.

    During a court appearance Tuesday, McLellan's July trial date was canceled and a status hearing was scheduled for November 2, court records show.

    A pre-trial conference for Laws was scheduled to continue Thursday, officials said.

    Court documents also show that the state submitted new evidence against both men earlier this month. No details about that evidence were immediately available.

    The men were arrested after James' body was found buried in a wooded area behind McClellan's house, deputies said.

    An autopsy revealed that James' cause of death was "multiple sharp and blunt force injuries," according to the affidavit.

    Investigators said that the two men killed James over money they wanted to use to buy drugs.

    State prosecutors filed a motion in March seeking the death penalty against both men because the murder was committed during a robbery.

    http://www.clickorlando.com/news/jul...d-records-show
    "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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    Suspects in James murder get more time to prepare for trial

    By Millard Ives
    Daily Commercial

    TAVARES – The suspects in the bludgeoning and stabbing death of a 92-year-old Leesburg woman waived their right to a speedy trial this week to give them more time to prepare their defense.

    “The defense needs more time,” said Morris Carranza, public defender for Krystopher Laws, during a court hearing on Thursday morning at the Lake County Courthouse.

    His co-suspect, Joshua McClellan, had a similar motion granted on Tuesday.

    Laws reportedly admitted to detectives that he and McClellan went to Rubye James’ Edgewood Road home in February to get money for drugs. When James opened the door, they walked in and he beat her and then both repeatedly stabbed her.

    Both have submitted written pleas of not guilty, however.

    According to an arrest affidavit, Lake County sheriff’s deputies were conducting a well-being check on James’s home on Feb. 8 after neighbors said they hadn’t seen her in two days. Deputies found plants overturned on the porch, windows and blinds pulled down and blood splatters and bloody streaks where the body was dragged.

    James’ 2016 Hyundai Veloster was discovered later in the parking lot of the Snow Place Apartments off East Main Street, with blood on the exterior and a knife sitting on the center console.

    A police dog led investigators to a shallow grave yards from the home of McClellan, who occasionally did yard work for her.

    Laws reportedly told detectives during their arrest that they grabbed $70 from the home and spent it on drugs.

    http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/...pare-for-trial
    "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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    Life in prison for death of beloved teacher

    By Frank Stanfield
    Daily Commercial

    TAVARES -- Krystopher Laws, 24, one of two men charged with killing a beloved 92-year-old retired teacher for $70 to buy drugs, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and armed burglary Monday and was sentenced to life in prison.

    The Feb. 8, 2017 slaying shocked and enraged Leesburg residents, especially the African-American community, where Rubye James was known as the gentle, dignified teacher of so many students.

    Goodwin Orchids named an orchid for her last year. “I just did it because I did not want Miss Rubye to be forgotten,” Donna Goodwin said.

    “I’m glad it’s over,” said James’ son, Wayne Solomon. “At least this part of it.”

    Laws, 24, was facing the death penalty if convicted at trial next month. His co-defendant, Joshua McClellan, 22, still does face the possibility of the ultimate punishment. A trial date has not yet been set for McClellan.

    “I hope he gets the same thing,” Solomon said.

    Solomon, who declined to make a victim impact statement, said he is not for the death penalty for religious reasons, but said, “the law is going to do what it wants to do. What are his chances of rehabilitation? None. He will be locked up with other animals,” he said, but he won’t be getting out.

    Would Laws have pleaded guilty if he had not been facing the death penalty? “I doubt it,” said Assistant State Attorney Emily Curington.

    Laws’ family refused to comment.

    Circuit Judge Heidi Davis reviewed his signed plea deal and made sure he knew what he was doing.

    Assistant Public Defender Morris Carranza told the judge he had reviewed every piece of evidence.

    “The DNA actually implicates him, not excludes him,” he said of the genetic blood evidence.

    “I’m proud of him,” Carranza said. “He took it like a man. Not every 24-year-old would accept a life sentence.” He tried to get the state to accept a limited sentence but prosecutors would not budge.

    James knew McClellan. He sometimes did chores for her and she would occasionally feed him, investigators have said.

    Lake County sheriff’s deputies were called to James’ home at 2202 Edgewood Road by neighbors who had not seen her for two days. Officers found a house slipper on the front porch near two overturned potted plants.

    After knocking on the door and getting no response, deputies pried security bars off the door and went inside. There, they found blood on the floor and drag marks. Her purse had been emptied out in her bedroom and her white 2016 Hyundai Veloster was missing from the garage.

    The car was soon spotted in the parking lot of Snow Place Apartments off Sunnyside Road. There was blood on the outside of the car and a pocketknife, a Bible and a used adhesive bandage inside.

    A cadaver dog named Nutz alerted on the car. “There was grass hanging from underneath the car,” a sheriff’s deputy noted in his report. The dog was led to a dirt road marked with tire tracks. Soon, he reacted to a white sock, then another. Deputies then discovered a shallow grave.

    Deputies got a break when McClellan’s mother called to say she thought her son and Laws had stolen a car from the city parking garage.

    Laws, 24, and McClellan, 22, made baffling, contradictory confessions.

    McClellan claimed Laws had cut himself on the knife and used the Bible as a blotter.

    Detective Levi Burns told him that they had found an identical bandage in James’ bathroom.

    “I did not kill her,” McClellan said. “He did.”

    McClellan then claimed not to have been involved.

    Laws’ statement was also confusing.

    He said McClellan came up with a plan to rob her “for a few dollars,” then described going into the house.

    “Ms. Rubye, I’m so sorry I did it. I didn’t want to do it,” Laws said.

    “What did you do, Krys?” the detective asked.

    “I killed Ms. Rubye.” Then, he denied it. Later, he accused McClellan of stabbing her and handing the knife to him. He finally admitted kicking her and then stabbing her to make sure she was dead.

    Detective Burns wanted to know how a simple home invasion robbery plan exploded into a frenzied stabbing attack.

    “It was just the right thing to do,” Laws said.

    “Killing her was the right thing to do?”

    “No,” he said. Robbing was the right thing to do.

    The two men immediately spent the $70 on marijuana, investigators said.

    Prosecutors alleged the crime was committed during an armed robbery and the murder took place to hide the fact, it was cold, calculated and premeditated and the victim was especially vulnerable because of her age.

    As is her custom with young defendants, Davis wished Laws luck in the Department of Corrections, where he will die without ever being released.

    “God is on my side,” Laws said.

    https://www.dailycommercial.com/news...eloved-teacher
    "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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    He's accused of killing a beloved Lake teacher in 2017. The state seeks the death penalty

    By Frank Stanfield
    Daily Commercial

    TAVARES — One of two co-defendants in the frenzied slaying of a beloved 92-year-old retired teacher is scheduled to stand trial on Aug. 15.

    Joshua McClellan, 26, is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery in the slaying of Rubye James at her home in Leesburg in 2017. The state is seeking the death penalty.

    Co-defendant Krystopher Laws, 28, pleaded guilty in 2020 in a deal that sent him to prison for life without parole instead of death row.

    Authorities charged the two with breaking into James' Leesburg home in the 2200 block of Edgewood Road and beating and repeatedly stabbing her. Authorities say they stole her car and buried her body in a shallow grave. They reportedly netted $70 in cash, which they spent buying marijuana.

    The murder outraged the community.

    “This had no business happening,” the Rev. Haywood Richardson said at her funeral.

    “It ripped my family. I think about it every day," her son, Wayne Solomon, told the Daily Commercial in 2019. “I think, how did she feel? Did she suffer?”

    Goodwin Orchids even created a new hybrid in her honor: Vanda Memoria Rubye Harrison James.

    “I did it because I did not want Miss Rubye to be forgotten,” Donna Goodwin said in 2019.

    ‘Soft heart’ for students

    James taught in Lake and Sumter schools for more than 50 years, including Dabney Elementary in Leesburg and Webster Elementary in Sumter County. She also taught in Georgia. “I think it was when dinosaurs roamed the earth,” Solomon said with a chuckle during a recent interview with the Daily Commercial.

    She had a “soft heart” for the kids who were “slow,” Solomon said. “She was the type of person who would do anything for you.”

    McClellan, who had done yard work for James, wept and denied killing her when sheriff’s deputies took him and his co-defendant to the Lake County jail.

    “All you all know I loved that woman,” he told reporters. She sometimes fed him.

    He admitted breaking into her 2016 Hyundai Veloster to look for money. “I just took it for a ride,” he said.

    “You are putting on a show and I’m tired of it,” sheriff’s Detective Levi Burns told Laws during his interrogation, according to court documents. “Stop…stop the fake crying, let’s talk.”

    “I swear. I swear. I swear. And Josh wouldn’t kill Ms. Rubye. He loves her too much.”

    Bloody crime scene

    Deputies were called by neighbors on Feb. 8, 2017. They had not talked to her for a day or two. They found a house slipper and her glasses on the front porch, two potted plants that had been turned over, and security bars pried off the door. There was also blood spatter.

    Inside, they found droplets, a stained light switch, and puddles of blood. The contents of James' purse had been emptied onto her bed, and drawers and file cabinet doors yanked open. Her car was missing. There were drag marks and some blood-stained tools in the garage.

    Her car was found in the parking lot of Snow Place apartments on Sunnyside Drive. A resident noticed blood smeared on the outside of the vehicle.

    Deputies found a blood-stained knife on the console and a Bible that had been used to soak up blood. McClellan, who said Laws accidentally cut his hand when the blade folded on his hand, said the two originally eyed the Bible pages for marijuana rolling papers.

    A cadaver dog sniffed out a trail leading to her shallow grave, covered with vegetation.

    Detectives got some unexpected help from McClellan’s mother, Sara Collins, who lived at Snow Place, according to court documents. She went to the Leesburg Police station on Feb. 10 with her son and Laws. She told Lake investigators Burns and Danny Morales that the two had stolen a car from the Leesburg parking garage.

    Conflicting stories

    “I did not kill her,” McClellan told investigators when they turned up the heat. “He did.”

    “Then what happened?” the investigator asked, according to documents in the court case. “If he killed her, tell me what happened.”

    “I don’t know because I was not there,” he said.

    Prosecutors, however, are seeking the death penalty, stating that “the defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice.”

    Detectives began their questioning of Laws by taking a DNA swab of his mouth. He claimed he cut himself while playing with his fiancee’s nephew.

    “Why would your blood be on Ms. Rubye’s car?” Burns asked.

    “It’s not on the inside of the car, is it?”

    “Yeah, it is,” Burns replied.

    Crime scene investigators also found an adhesive bandage on the floorboard that matched ones found in the house.

    The detective then asked why his palm print was on a mirror in the living room. Laws cursed. Asked why his sweater with his DNA was found in the house, he denied it was his.

    “It was Josh’s plan,” he said.

    “What was the plan?”

    “I don’t know.”

    He claimed he thought she needed him for something, then claimed he didn’t go in the house with McClellan. Then, he admitted going inside.

    “Josh said he was going to get a few dollars.”

    He said the plan was to rob her, though he could not say how that would work since she would certainly recognize McClellan.

    “Ms. Rubye, I’m so sorry I did it. I didn’t want to do it,” he exclaimed.

    “What did you do, Krys?”

    “I … killed Ms. Ruby.”

    When asked how he killed her, he denied saying he had.

    “You just did.”

    Brutal attack

    He said McClellan hit her head with his hand. Later, he admitted striking the first blow.

    McClellan closed the door, he said, adding, “he started stabbing her and then he handed me the knife.”

    He said she was lying face down when he “kicked her a couple of times and stuff like that … the back of her head or something. He told me to make sure … he told me to make sure she was dead.”
    How did he make sure?

    “I … stabbed her.”

    The autopsy report cited “multiple sharp force injuries,” including several head wounds, a large neck wound, and injury to the spine, five stab wounds to the back, including injuries to the ribs, left lung and spine, two stab wounds to the buttocks, multiple blunt force injuries, broken ribs and several cuts and bruises.”

    Burns asked how a robbery plan ended up as a frenzied stabbing.

    “It was just the right thing to do.”

    “Killing her was the right thing to do?”

    “No,” he said, robbing her seemed like the thing to do.

    Cry for justice

    “It’s going on six years. It’s unbelievable,” Solomon said during the interview.

    His oldest daughter, Tanika Palle, wanted the death penalty, “but she died two years ago.“

    The state and the defense have been granted delays. Covid delayed the case by at least two years.

    Solomon is not in favor of the death penalty. “When I face my maker, I don’t want anything on my slate," he said.

    “They’re going to do what they’re going to do,” he said of the State Attorney’s Office. “That’s on them.”

    Seeking the death penalty was a decision made by the now retired elected State Attorney Brad King.

    What Solomon does want is to ensure that McClellan never gets a chance to walk the streets again.

    He was pleased when Laws was sentenced to life in prison.

    “What are his chances of rehabilitation?” he asked of Laws. "None. He will be locked up with other animals,” he said at the time.

    “One good thing, he’s got to face the Lord above,” he said last week. “If he gets a chance to repent, he’ll still pay for it.”

    https://www.dailycommercial.com/stor...5/70516646007/
    "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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    Retired teacher, 92, was killed in 2017. A trial is underway for one of the accused killers

    By Frank Stanfield
    Daily Commercial

    TAVARES — It was the final insult.

    The ranch-style home that 92-year-old Rubye James kept so neat and clean in Leesburg was ransacked and smeared with blood. Even a bottle of orange juice inside the refrigerator and a cooking pot on the stove were stained.

    Jurors on Monday looked at dozens of photos of the crime scene, her body and her bloody clothing marked by multiple stab wounds.

    No doubt the 12 jurors and alternates wanted to look away, but their duty is clear. They must decide if Joshua McClellan, who was 19 at the time, is guilty and, if so, whether he should be executed for the crime against the defenseless, beloved retired teacher in a crime that shocked the community.

    Co-defendant Krystopher Laws, who was 21 at the time, pleaded guilty in 2020 in exchange for a life prison sentence. Before entering his plea, he identified McClellan as his partner. McClellan was well known to James. He had done yard work for her and she sometimes fed him.

    Background of the case

    The horror began unfolding on the morning of Feb. 8, 2017 when three concerned friends gathered at James’ home at 2202 Edgewood Road. Her glasses and a single house slipper were on the porch and a potted plant was turned over.

    “Ms. Rubye was very particular about her plants,” Carlean Crawford testified.

    Runette Fulmore talked to James, an early riser, every day. “If I had not talked to her, I would look up and see her at my door.”

    She called the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and asked for a well-being check.

    There were bars on the front and back doors, so the fire department had to pry the set off the back door to gain entry. Once the door was opened, she went inside with a deputy. One of the first things she saw was that the bed was not made. “She made the bed as soon as her feet hit the floor,” Fulmore said.

    The next thing she knew, a deputy was ordering everyone out of the house. It was no longer a home, but a crime scene.

    Jurors learn more about the case

    Jurors looked on silently at photos of dried pools of blood, drippings, smears and drag marks throughout the house. The trail ended in the garage, where there was blood on a shovel, edger and carpeting. There were also bloody shoe print impressions.

    James' white 2016 Hyundai Veloster was missing. It would be found that evening, smeared with blood on the outside, parked at Snow Place Apartments about five miles away. It was where McClellan lived.

    Former sheriff’s K-9 handler Kirk Dumond said he was called to the house and then the car with his cadaver dog named “Nuts.”

    He saw grass hanging from beneath the car, the same kind of grass that was growing beside a nearby dirt road.

    The dog “alerted” on the car by sitting down and staring at the car. The two then headed down the road and followed tire tracks leading toward a wooded area.

    The dog alerted on one sock, then another, They stopped when Dumond realized he was standing on the shallow grave that had been covered with uprooted ferns and other vegetation.

    The car was towed to an evidence garage, where investigators found a red firefighter’s knife on the console with her blood on it, an opened pocket Bible on the dashboard, and a larger Bible in the back seat. Contrary to early reports, no blood was found on the Bibles.

    However, there was one important clue on the floorboard. There was a small bandage there, the same type that was found on the bathroom sink of the home. Most importantly, the blood matched McClellan’s, prosecutors say.

    Earlier coverage:'The right thing to do'

    McClellan denied killing James, but Laws was talkative when confronted by investigators two days later.

    “It was the right thing to do,” Laws said, according to a recording of his interview with law enforcement.

    “Killing her was the right thing to do?” Detective Levi Burns asked.

    “No,” he said, “robbing her was the right thing to do.”

    The total take was $70, which they immediately spent on marijuana, he said.

    The trial is expected to last several days. If McClellan is found guilty of first-degree murder, mental health experts for both the state and the defense will testify in the penalty phase.

    https://www.dailycommercial.com/stor...s/70661196007/
    "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

  9. #9
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Edited:

    Man found guilty of murdering beloved teacher Rubye James. What will the punishment be?

    By Frank Stanfield
    Daily Commercial


    A jury Wednesday found Joshua McClellan guilty of first-degree murder and armed burglary in the slaying of beloved 92-year-old retired teacher Rubye James in 2017.

    The 12-member panel will hear more evidence next week to determine if McClellan should be executed or serve life in prison.

    Defense attorney Frank Bankowitz argued in his closing argument that the state’s giant computer screen, showing evidence and witnesses’ names, should have read, “Florida vs. Krystopher Laws.

    Laws is the co-defendant in this case. He pleaded guilty in 2020 to his role in the frenzied murder in return for a life prison sentence.

    Bankowitz pointed to 12 pieces of evidence with Laws’ DNA, and only one, “a tiny Band-Aid” lying on the floor of her car, that contained McClellan’s.

    Some samples were inconclusive. “I submit to you that if it can’t be included it must be excluded,” the defense lawyer said.

    Assistant State Attorney Nick Camuccio said that’s not true. DNA doesn’t always show up or be easily identified, but there was plenty of evidence showing the two young men went to James’ house and attacked her the minute she opened her front door.

    https://www.dailycommercial.com/stor...2/70670656007/
    "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. #10
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Jury deciding punishment recommendation for man convicted of killing Rubye James

    Frank StanfieldFor the Daily Commercial | USA TODAY NETWORK

    Mental health experts Tuesday described Joshua McClellan as “impaired” because of childhood neglect, physical and mental abuse.

    The experts testified on behalf of McClellan, who was convicted last week of first-degree premeditated murder in the 2017 slaying of 92-year-old retired teacher Rubye James. McClellan, who was 19 at the time, could face the death penalty if the experts do not sway jurors. The jury will recommend either capital punishment or life in prison.

    Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Maher noted that McClellan was in the bottom 3 percent of his graduating class, with a 1.47 grade point average.

    His reading skills were poor from an early age, which affects brain development. He said he had an IQ score of 78. “This is what we used to call mentally retarded,” he said. He used another term: “slow.”

    He had bathroom accidents at school, something no child wants, which shows he couldn’t control himself. He had poor impulse control because he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Maher said.

    Maher, who said McClellan also had a personality disorder, said brain abnormalities can lead to bad behavior.

    But Assistant State Attorney Nick Camuccio fired back on cross-examination, pointing out that one of the defense experts concluded McClellan had an IQ of 86. That’s low average, the prosecutor said. Average, but on the lower end.

    He also got Maher to admit that McClellan did well in the ninth grade, earning A’s, B’s and C’s on his report cards. It was after that that his grades plummeted.

    Some children choose to engage in bad behavior, the prosecutor said.

    Maher also conceded that he had to take some of what McClellan said in an interview with a grain of salt. He kept maintaining his innocence, he said.

    Another expert who testified was Micah Johnson, Ph.D., a sociologist who specializes in how childhood trauma affects people throughout their lives.

    McClellan scored an almost unheard score of 10 on the Adverse Childhood Experience test. The higher the score the more troubled the person is. He said the score showed “an extreme risk of bad behavior.”

    He conceded that the test is self-administered. He also admitted that several alarming reports to the Department of Children and Families were “unsubstantiated.”

    Not in all cases, however. McClellan’s mother, Sara Collins, testified that McClellan and his sister ended up in foster homes twice because, in her words, “I was smoking marijuana.”

    McClellan’s father was largely absent, and when he wasn’t McClellan and his sister witnessed him beating his current girlfriend, she said.

    He was a difficult child, she said.

    “I tried meetings, I tried to speak to him at home. He never really wanted to listen. He couldn’t. It wasn’t clicking.”

    She admitted choking him when he was about 14 for showing “disrespect.”

    On cross-examination, Camuccio asked if she choked him as a young child, possibly cutting off oxygen to the brain. She said no.

    McClellan had few friends, and just one close one, Krystopher Laws, who lived with them, she said.

    She always said to the two, “Please don’t get into trouble.”

    Laws always assured her he would make sure no one harmed her son.

    But sometime in the middle of the night, on Feb. 8, 2017, the two got into serious trouble. They not only robbed James at her home, but they stabbed and pummeled her, threw her body in the trunk of her car, and buried her in a shallow grave. Their take was $70, which they used to buy marijuana.

    Laws pleaded guilty in 2020 to his role in the murder in return for a life prison sentence.

    Jurors also heard from James’ friend, Runette Fulmore.

    “I miss her so much that it hurts” she testified, reading from a prepared statement. “It hurts that someone would come and take her away from me, from so many that loved and adored her. All they had to do was ask and she would have given whatever to them. That was the type of person she was.”

    https://www.dailycommercial.com/stor...s/70715419007/
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