Margaret “Missy” Allen
Germaine Lamar Evans, Sr.
Prosecutors: Witnesses in death penalty case face danger
Prosecutors say Calvin McKelton, a Cincinnati man charged with killing a Fairfield attorney, has a history of intimidation and shot a witness in the head who could have linked McKelton to the attorney’s strangulation death.
They don’t want to chance losing any more witnesses.
McKelton, 33, appeared in Butler County Court Wednesday, June 9, for a hearing to exclude his defense team from knowing the identity of a witness in his death penalty trial.
The man known as “C-Murder” to police and associates, faces 11 felony counts, including murder, in the strangulation death of Margaret “Missy” Allen in 2008 and aggravated murder in the execution-style shooting death of 27-year-old Germaine Lamar Evans Sr. in February 2009. His trial is set for Oct. 4 before Butler County Judge Michael Sage.
Last month, Assistant Prosecutor Lance Salyers filed a motion for nondisclosure of witnesses before trial, citing names can be withheld if the state certifies the persons may be subject to physical harm or coercion.
Salyers pointed to the charges against McKelton stating Evans was killed because he was a witness who could tie McKelton to Allen’s death; McKelton is charged with threatening to harm witnesses if they continued to cooperate with the Cincinnati Police Homicide Unit; and McKelton has a long history of charges being dismissed because witnesses and victims failed to show up for court and McKelton was previously sentenced to prison after being convicted of intimidation of a witness.
The defense team, made up of attorneys Melynda Cook, Greg Howard and Richard Goldberg, object, stating it would be a “tremendous disadvantage to defense.”
“Although Mr. McKelton has been convicted of past intimidation of witnesses, it was while he was out of jail awaiting trial. Mr. McKelton is in jail and is unable to cause physical harm or coercion to any known witnesses,” Howard wrote in his response.
Butler County Judge Michael Sage requested Salyers re-file his motion after the state’s new rules of evidence go into effect next month. The judge will consult with one of the remaining five common pleas judges so that one of them can conduct a closed hearing on the issue.
A judge other than the one presiding over the trial will have to hear the prosecution’s argument to assure fairness at McKelton’s trial.
Salyers was given permission to take a deposition from Allen’s doctor, who will not be able testify at trial. The testimony, Salyers said, will include that the attorney had been pregnant and the pregnancy ended in the weeks leading up to her death.
According to court documents, alleged crimes McKelton committed against Allen include fracturing her ankle on May 4, 2008, strangling her on July 26, 2008, stealing her 2001 BMW, setting fire to carpeting in her home to destroy or conceal evidence and stuffing her body into her car and driving 23 miles to the banks of the Ohio River, where he dumped it in a wooded area at the end of Wenner Street.
http://www.journal-news.com/news/crime/prosecutors-witnesses-in-death-penalty-case-face-danger-754376.html
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