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Thread: Timothy Robert Ronk - Mississippi Death Row

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    Timothy Robert Ronk - Mississippi Death Row


    Timothy Ronk


    July 10, 2010

    Ronk gets death for capital murder

    GULFPORT — A Harrison County jury has given Timothy Ronk the death penalty for the capital murder of Michelle Craite.

    The jury began deliberations at 1:55 p.m. today in the sentencing phase of the trial. They reached a verdict around 6:30 p.m., but asked for dinner before they returned the verdict in court.

    Circuit Judge Lisa Dodson gave the jury instructions for three different verdicts they could choose as punishment for capital murder: death, life without parole or to agree they’re undecided.

    They deliberated more than four hours on the penalty for the slaying. It took them about 2-1/2 hours Thursday to find him guilty on both counts.

    The judge also sentenced Ronk to 30 years for the armed robbery.

    In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Chris Schmidt told the jury few cases in Mississippi justify imposing the death penalty.

    “This is one of them,” Schmidt said.

    The jury had been sequestered since Tuesday.

    Craite, 37, was found dead in the ruins of her home Aug. 26, 2008. She lived on Timber Ridge Lane in Biloxi’s Woolmarket area. She had been stabbed and her home set on fire.

    Dr. Beverly Smallwood, a psychologist, testified Friday that Ronk has a history of mental disorders and of failing to comply with doctors’ orders for treatment.

    Smallwood said Ronk has bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and in her opinion, an antisocial personality.

    She said, however, his mental disorders did not overpower his will to make right decisions.

    “He made a behavior choice,” she said. “He knew right from wrong.”

    Unlike most types of felony cases, a sentencing phase is required in capital murder trials when the state seeks the death penalty; only a jury can decide a convicted killer should be put to death.

    http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/07/...e-updated.html

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    Death row inmate's appeal before Mississippi high court

    The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear oral arguments July 16 from death row inmate Timothy Ronk.

    Ronk was sentenced to death in Harrison County for the 2008 slaying of a woman with whom he'd been living. He was convicted of capital murder in 2010.

    Ronk, now 33, was accused of stabbing Michelle Craite and burning her house in the Woolmarket community, near Biloxi, to cover up the crime.

    Prosecutors say Ronk took items from the victim and gave them to a woman he'd met on the Internet. Prosecutors say police found Craite's ring and television at the other woman's home.

    Defense attorneys argued the stabbing was in self-defense.

    http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/v...ppi-high-court
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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Condemned inmate appeal before Miss. high court

    A Harrison County jury was prevented from considering the argument that a death row inmate killed a girlfriend because he feared for his life, his attorneys argued Tuesday to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

    Timothy Ronk, now 33, was sentenced to death in 2010 for stabbing Michelle Craite, with whom he was living, and burning her house in the Woolmarket community, near Biloxi, to cover up the crime in 2008. Court records show Craite was stabbed three times in the back.

    Prosecutors said Ronk took items from the victim and gave them to a woman he'd met on the Internet. Prosecutors said police found Craite's ring and television at the other woman's home.

    Alison Steiner, with the Office of State Public Defender, said the court instructed the jury on self-defense but the instruction did not go far enough in presenting Ronk's theory of the case.

    Steiner said the court record shows Ronk and Craite tussled when she tried to stab him with a knife. She said Ronk took the knife away and Craite threatened to shoot him.

    "He believed the gun was readily available. He thought the gun was at hand. He willfully responded to the force from Ms. Craite with lethal force ... in the mistaken belief he was in imminent danger of harm.

    "This is our theory of defense. No matter how improbable or contradicted a theory of defense is, the instruction should still be given," Steiner told the court.

    Assistant Attorney General Melanie Thomas told the justices that the defense of an honest but unreasonable belief of danger was properly barred because there was no evidence Ronk was in imminent danger.

    "The trial judge didn't err. What we have here is a man who stabbed an unarmed woman and, while she was still alive, set her on fire. He went there for the purpose of starting something. He disarmed her. He didn't run. He stabbed her and while she laid there doused her with gasoline. That is not fear that someone is going to kill you," Thomas said.

    http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/16/2...#storylink=cpy
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  4. #4
    Mississippi Supreme Court upholds conviction of Harrison County murderer

    The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Harrison County jury's guilty verdict of Timothy Ronk in the August 2008 capital murder of Michelle Craite.

    The court said it found no error in the culpability phase or in the sentencing phase of Ronk's trial.

    The justices found Ronk's arguments were without merit. He had claimed ineffective counsel, lethal injection being cruel and inhumane, no proof of aggravating circumstance and that the death sentence was disproportionate to the crime.

    A Harrison County jury in October 2010 sentenced Ronk to die by lethal injection.

    Arson was the underlying crime for capital murder. Ronk had admitted in a letter to his new girlfriend he'd stabbed Craite in an argument, stolen her property, set her Biloxi house on fire and left her for dead. He then drove off in a vehicle Craite had bought him the day before.

    Ronk, 31, has a documented history of lifelong mental disorders that require medication and therapy, Dr. Beverly Smallwood testified during his trial. The psychologist was an expert witness for the defense and the only witness called in the sentencing phase.

    Smallwood said Ronk has a bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and, in her opinion, an antisocial personality. Ronk has a history of failing to comply with doctors' orders for treatment, she said, as well as impulsive and aggressive behavior with no concern for the rights of others.

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    Last edited by GregFromSanJose; 05-08-2015 at 01:17 AM.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Ronk's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Mississippi
    Case Nos.: (2011-DP-00410-SCT)
    Decision Date: May 7, 2015
    Rehearing Denied: September 17, 2015

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/search.a...es/15-7479.htm

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On June 26, 2019, Ronk filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/mi...cv00346/104236

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    Mississippi Supreme Court won’t hear appeal from death row inmate convicted in 2008 killing

    By Associated Press

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled for the second time that it will not reconsider an appeal from a death row inmate convicted in the stabbing death of a woman with whom he was living.

    Timothy Ronk was convicted in 2010 of capital murder and armed robbery in Harrison County for the August 2008 killing of Michelle Craite. He received a death sentence for capital murder, plus a 30-year sentence for armed robbery.

    Prosecutors said Ronk stabbed Craite and burned her house in the Woolmarket community, near Biloxi, to cover up the crime.

    He then took items from Craite and gave them to a Florida woman he met online, prosecutors said. Defense attorneys argued Ronk stabbed Craite in self-defense.

    In a ruling Thursday, the state Supreme Court rejected Ronk’s new effort to argue that he had ineffective legal representation. It’s similar to the same court’s 2019 ruling in his case.

    No execution date has been set. Ronk, 44, is on death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

    https://apnews.com/article/mississip...4d58b5e281a179
    "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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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

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