Anthony Sowell - Ohio

[Aaron]

Article

U.S. Supreme Court will not hear Cleveland mass murderer Anthony Sowell's appeal

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will not review Anthony Sowell's appeal, after the state's top court upheld the Cleveland mass murderer's convictions and death sentence.

The Supreme Court's denial of Sowell's case is just the latest in what will be a litany of challenges and court decisions in the years to come.

Sowell, 58, is on death row for killing 11 women and burying their bodies at his Imperial Avenue home on the city's southeast side.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in December and rejected Sowell's argument for a new trial on the grounds that the judge who presided over Sowell's 2011 trial had improperly suppressed evidence. Ohio Justice Terrence O'Donnell wrote that while the judge did not correctly document all of the findings necessary to close the proceedings, that failure did not warrant a new suppression hearing.

He is being held at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. His execution date has not been set.

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justi..._not_hear.html

[Helen]

Related:

Families of Anthony Sowell's victims can sue retired Cleveland detective following high court ruling

By Eric Heisig
cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court will not review a Cleveland appeals court's decision that said a jury should decide whether a former Cleveland police detective was negligent when investigating serial killer Anthony Sowell a year before authorities found the bodies of his victims.

The Dec. 20 decision from the state's high court to not review the case means the families of Sowell's victims, all of whom were strangled, can continue to pursue their lawsuits against retired Cleveland sex crimes detective Georgia Hussein. It leaves in place a decision from the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals from March.

Several family members of the victims filed the lawsuits in 2010 and 2011, after police found the bodies of 11 women at Sowell's home on Imperial Avenue on the city's southeast side.

The lawsuits claim Cleveland police and a city prosecutor were negligent and reckless in investigating and prosecuting Sowell for a December 2008 complaint made by Gladys Wade. Wade said Sowell tried to kidnap, rob and rape her, though Sowell was not charged and investigators released from custody.

The victims' families say a proper investigation and charges would have prevented Sowell from carrying out several of his murders.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Fuerst dismissed the lawsuits, saying the evidence presented did not prove negligence, recklessness or any of the other claims. A three-judge panel from the 8th District revived a claim against Hussein that said she was reckless, and said the families provided evidence that Hussein did not conduct a thorough investigation of Wade's complaint.

The claims against other police officers and a city prosecutor were dismissed.

Sowell, 58, was sentenced to death in 2011. The U.S. Supreme Court in October declined to hear his case.

He remains on death row in Chillicothe.

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justi...rt_river_index

[Aaron]

Ohio Supreme Court won't reopen Anthony Sowell appeal

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request by condemned Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell to reopen his appeal of his 2011 conviction and death sentence.

The move is the latest procedural step as Sowell moves closer to being executed for killing 11 women and hiding their bodies in his home on Cleveland's East Side.

The bodies were discovered in 2009. Sowell is currently on death row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. His execution date has not been set.

Wednesday's decision by the state's high court came after Sowell's lawyers in May filed an application asking the court to take a second look at the direct appeal of his conviction.

The application argued that Sowell's lawyers were ineffective during his first appeal, which was denied.

Sowell's lawyers, who are in the State public defender's office, did not raise the issue of a 2012 United States Supreme Court ruling that found Florida's process for imposing the death penalty -- in which a jury makes a recommendation to a judge, who has the final say -- is unconstitutional, the application said.

"Frankly, we blew it," the lawyers told the court during oral argument.

But Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley's office said that the Florida ruling does not apply to Ohio's process, which is similar to Florida's but has one major difference. In Ohio, judges can either accept the jury's recommendation or drop a death recommendation to life in prison. Judges here cannot impose death if a jury recommends life in prison.

The Supreme Court tossed Florida's process because a judge imposed death when a jury recommended life.

Sowell's application also asked the court to reconsider its December 2016 decision that, although Common Pleas Court Judge Dick Ambrose did not properly document his findings to justify closing to the public a hearing on whether certain evidence should be allowed to be submitted at trial, that error did not warrant a new trial.

Ohio's Supreme Court justices rejected that argument.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...nt_reopen.html

[Helen]

Families of six Anthony Sowell victims reach $1 million settlement with Cleveland over detective's botched investigation

By Cory Shaffer
cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The City of Cleveland has agreed to pay $1 million to the families of six women who fell victim to condemned serial-killer Anthony Sowell after a botched police investigation into a 2008 rape accusation allowed Sowell to walk out of jail with no charges.

The families of Nancy Cobbs, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Le'Shanda Long, Diane Turner, and Janice Webb will divvy up the $1 million equally as part of an agreement to settle a lawsuit that was filed in 2010, dismissed by a county judge in 2014 and revived by an appeals court late last year.

The City of Cleveland, which will not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, also agreed to reimburse the families' lawyers for the cost of bringing the eight-year lawsuit.

Sowell was convicted in 2011 of raping and strangling 11 women and storing their bodies in and around in his home on Imperial Avenue, in the city's Mount Pleasant neighborhood. He was sentenced to death. His case is currently in the appeals process.

The lawsuit was set to go to trial on Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Fuerst's room.

The families were represented by lawyers from the law firms Friedman & Gilbert and Friedman, Domiano & Smith.

The settlement marks the latest major payout by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's administration to settle a lawsuit alleging misconduct by Cleveland police officers. Since 2004, the city has shelled out more than $21 million to settle such lawsuits.

Another $17.7 million in pending judgments in two police misconduct cases from 1999 and 2012 is being challenged in appeals courts.

The case could also pave the way for crime victims to sue police officers who failed in their duty to protect the public from foreseeable harm, Terry Gilbert, one of the lawyers who worked on the case, said.

"This lawsuit wasn't so much about money as it was about making sure that the system was held accountable," Gilbert said.

The suit revolves a Dec. 8, 2008 report from Gladys Wade, who ran up to a Cleveland police car and told them that Sowell had just attacked and raped her. Patrol officers tracked down Sowell and arrested him as they investigated. They found footprints, broken glass and droplets of blood in the yard outside of his apartment, and photographed Wade's injuries.

The case was assigned to Georgia Hussein, who admitted in a sworn statement that she failed to review the evidence gathered by patrol officers before she took the case to assistant city prosecutor Lorraine Coyne. Hussein found Wade was not credible and told Coyne there was no evidence to corroborate her claims.

Hussein also knew that Sowell, who had served 15 years in prison on prior rape conviction, was a registered sex offender, but did not tell Coyne.

Coyne determined there was not enough evidence to file charges and released Sowell two days after his arrest.

Eleven months later, in October 2009, police discovered the remains of two women decomposing inside Sowell's home. Investigators tore apart the interior walls and excavated the back yard looking for more bodies. They eventually unearthed 10 bodies and one skull, found in a bucket in the basement.

The gruesome discovery lured international media to Cleveland, and brought scorn to the police department's sex crimes unit.

Several family members of the victims filed lawsuits in 2010 and 2011 alleging that Hussein failed to conduct a thorough investigation into Wade's complaint, and if she had, police could have charged Sowell, held him in custody and prevented him from carrying out several of the murders.

The suit also claimed that other officers in the department did not follow up on missing persons reports and, in some cases refused to take them from family members of the women.

City lawyers who represented the detectives and Coyne argued in a December 2014 motion for summary judgment that they are immune from liability for criminal acts that Sowell committed after his release. Fuerst agreed and granted judgment in favor of all of the detectives and Coyne.

The 8th District Court of Appeals partially reversed that decision in December 2017 and reinstated the claims against Hussein.

The Sowell case also marked the first black eye for the department's sex crimes unit, which has been dogged by scandal in recent years.

Months after the macabre find on Imperial Avenue, Jackson convened a commission to review how the city could improve its handling of sex crimes and missing persons cases. The commission ultimately recommended two dozen changes, the majority of which were implemented.

A 2013 Plain Dealer Publishing Co. investigation found the department's detectives had never sent thousands of rape kits in for DNA testing, and as recently as this year a top supervisor in the department was demoted and reassigned after more than 60 cases went uninvestigated.

The city razed Sowell's house and plans to build a memorial to the women on the site have snagged.

Coyne is now a defense lawyer and candidate for Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge this November.

https://www.cleveland.com/court-just...rt_river_index

[Helen]

Cleveland settles lawsuit with living victims of serial killer Anthony Sowell, refuses to disclose amount

By Eric Heisig
cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The city of Cleveland agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by two living victims of serial killer Anthony Sowell on behalf of a retired sex crimes detective, but the city refuses to disclose how much it agreed to pay.

The settlement, reached Monday between city attorneys for detective Georgia Hussein, as well as Latundra Billups and Gladys Wade, is for a lawsuit the city faced over its handling of complaints against Sowell, who is on death row for rapes and murders he committed while living at a house on Imperial Avenue in the city’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

However, the city on Tuesday declined to say how much it agreed to pay on behalf of Hussein.

A court filing shows the settlement was reached following a conference that lasted more than six hours Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Greenberg. The filing does not say what either side agreed to as part of the settlement. It says a notice to formally dismiss the lawsuit is due by Aug. 15.

City spokesman Dan Williams said in a text message that “the court order speaks for itself.” When a reporter asked how much the city agreed to pay, Williams replied, “not final yet.”

Law Director Barbara Langhenry echoed Williams’ texts in an email and said the settlement agreement will be a public record when it is finalized.

Blake Dickson, an attorney representing both women, declined comment.

The lawsuit said Hussein botched investigations into Sowell, which allowed him to remain free and victimize more women.

In December 2008, Wade ran up to a Cleveland police car and told officers that Sowell had just tried to kill her.

Sowell was arrested. However, shoddy detective work by Hussein, who decided along with Assistant City Prosecutor Lorraine Coyne that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute, led police to release Sowell without criminal charges, Wade’s lawsuit said.

Hussein later admitted in a sworn statement that she failed to review the evidence gathered by patrol officers before she took the case to Coyne. She did not tell Coyne that Sowell had served 15 years in prison for rape and was a registered sex offender.

It would be several more months and several more murders until police started another investigation, which led to the discovery of 10 bodies and a skull in and around Sowell’s house.

In that time period, Billups was raped and assaulted by Sowell, and Sowell attacked other women, according to the suit.

Wade and Billups first filed separate suits in 2010 and 2011. The suits were combined and eventually moved from state court to federal court.

Sowell, 59, was convicted in 2011 of raping and strangling 11 women and storing their bodies in and around in his home. He was also convicted of charges related to Hussein and Billups. A Cuyahoga County judge sentenced him to death.

The city agreed in September to pay a combined $1 million to the families of six women murdered by Sowell. It also previously paid $2,500 for a claim made by the family of Sowell victim Crystal Dozier.

The settlement is the latest in a long line of dozens of settlements for lawsuits alleging poor policing, shoddy detective work and use of excessive force.

It joins the $6 million settlement the city reached with the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was gunned down by a police officer, and a combined $3 million to the families of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. The unarmed couple was killed in their cars when police officers fired 137 shots at their car following an extensive chase.

https://www.cleveland.com/court-just...se-amount.html

[Helen]

New court date for Cleveland serial killer exactly 10 years after bodies were found

By Ed Gallek
Fox 8 Cleveland

CLEVELAND-- There is new outrage swirling around Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell 10 years after police started finding the bodies of 11 women at his home, the FOX 8 I-Team learned.

Tuesday marks the date 10 years ago when police discovered the first victims. Also on Tuesday, lawyers will argue the next appeal for Anthony Sowell, the I-Team learned. They are not trying to prove he’s innocent, but they are trying to get him off of death row.

“And on that day, I don’t want their memory and the remembrance of them to be overshadowed by talking about him and another appeal," said Donnita Carmichael, daughter of victim Tonia Carmichael.

The I-Team went to the court of appeals. We were told the hearing ended up set on Oct. 29 by total coincidence. Cuyahoga County prosecutors don’t plan to ask to change the date since appeals take so long in death penalty cases.

“I don’t want to do anything that will deny these victims justice for one more day than is absolutely necessary. I wish this argument had been done two years ago," said Chris Schroeder, assistant county prosecutor.

Sowell has lost previous appeals. Later, he can still go through federal appeals. So, what’s happening now could keep dragging on for years.

“He’s not denying that he killed all 11 women. He’s not denying he committed any of the crimes in the indictment. He’s trying to say that he should be off death row," Schroeder said.

“I don’t want to know anything other than his execution date," Carmichael said.

But right now, Sowell’s execution date is, simply, someday.

A new prison photo shows how much his appearance has changed over the years.

One thing that hasn’t changed, how he haunts the families of his victims at every turn even a decade later.

“We’re all, like, trying to mentally and emotionally prepare for 10 years later, and then we get this news today?” Carmichael said.

Prosecutors said Sowell is unlikely to be at the hearing next week. A three-judge panel will hear arguments.

https://fox8.com/2019/10/25/new-cour...es-were-found/

[Heidi]

Man convicted of killing 11 women loses latest appeal

A Cleveland man sentenced to die for killing 11 women and hiding the remains in and around his home has lost his latest attempt to overturn his conviction and death sentence.

In a ruling issued Thursday, a three-judge panel with the 8th District Court of Appeals unanimously held that Anthony Sowell (SOH’-wehl) failed to present enough evidence that he did not receive a fair trial and that his trial attorneys ineffectively represented him during the penalty phase. The panel also upheld a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge’s 2018 dismissal of Sowell’s petition for post-conviction relief without holding a hearing.

The appellate judges also rejected arguments that the death penalty is unconstitutional and that Sowell was barred from hiring enough expert witnesses and investigators to properly defend himself from a death sentence properly.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...es-latest-app/

[Moh]

On December 9, 2020, Sowell filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/oh...cv02737/272761

[Mike]

Anthony Sowell, convicted Cleveland serial killer of 11 women, dies in prison

Dave DeNatale
WKYC

Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland man sentenced to die for killing 11 women and hiding the remains in and around his home, has died in prison due to a terminal illness.

He was 61 years old.

A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Corrections confirmed Sowell's death to 3News on Monday, adding that he did not die of COVID-19. Sowell was admitted to the end-of-life care unit at the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus last month and was pronounced dead at 3:27 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

On Oct. 29, 2009, police entered the home of Anthony Sowell and made a grisly discovery that left Imperial Avenue forever changed.

Body after body was discovered in Sowell's home. Soon, investigators realized Sowell had taken 11 lives in total. His victims were all women, and while several of them lived high-risk lifestyles, authorities ignored their families' concerns for their missing loved ones. The putrid smell of decaying bodies emanating from Sowell's home was first blamed on a meat shop nearby.

Sowell was released from jail after serving time for rape only to kill more. Since then, activists are trying to bring more attention to missing persons cases.

Sowell had been on death row, where he had continued to appeal his sentence.

The Ohio Supreme Court declined to reopen Sowell's case in 2018. Sowell's attorneys argued that he had poor legal assistance from the attorneys handling his case before the state Supreme Court.

Tonia Carmichael, Nancy Cobbs, Tishana Culver, Crystal Dozier, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Leshanda Long, Michelle Mason, Kim Yvette Smith, Diane Turner, and Janice Webb left behind families and friends who loved them – who still mourn them.

In 2018, the city of Cleveland reached a $1 million settlement with the families of six women who were murdered by Sowell. The money was divided equally among the families.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/cr...9-7d577c88a9fc

[FFM]

Good riddance. Serial-killing POS.