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Thread: Stanley E. Jalowiec - Ohio Death Row

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    Stanley E. Jalowiec - Ohio Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    On January 19, 1994, Jalowiec and two accomplices, Raymond Smith and Danny Smith, murdered 30-year-old Ronald Lally in a Cleveland cemetery. Mr. Lally was a police informant who was scheduled to testify against Raymond and Danny Smith in a drug trafficking trial. On the morning of the trial, Jalowiec, Raymond Smith and Danny Smith shot Mr. Lally in the head, cut his throat, stomped on him and ran him over with a car. The defendants bragged about the murder to their friends.

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    No resentencing for Elyria death row inmate Stanley Jalowiec

    Death row inmate Stanley Jalowiec will not be resentenced by Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Rothgery, according to an entry filed by Rothgery yesterday.

    Jalowiec, 39, was convicted of murdering 30-year-old police informant Ronald Lally, whose body was found in Cleveland’s Woodland Cemetery on Jan. 19, 1994. This was the same day Lally was scheduled to testify against Jalowiec’s codefendants, Raymond and Danny Smith, in a drug trafficking trial in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Lally was shot in the mouth, cut along the throat and run over by a car.

    Jalowiec’s defense attorneys have said his sentencing entry lacked a final and appealable order, and therefore a resentencing was needed in order to correct the sentencing entry. In June, Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will filed a complaint to the Ohio Supreme Court asking for the high court to keep Rothgery from deciding on the resentencing motion because he lacks jurisdiction. The high court dismissed the suit earlier this month.

    Rothgery wrote in the order yesterday that the sentencing entry has the sentencing opinion and judgment of conviction, therefore it is final.

    Will did not return calls seeking comment.

    (Source: The Morning Journal)

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    Somewhat related

    Jury indicts alleged Elyria drug dealer, 39


    Daniel Smith, an alleged Elyria drug dealer, was indicted yesterday by the Lorain County grand jury on several drug charges.

    Smith, 39, was indicted for six counts of trafficking in drugs and a single count of possession of drugs. He also faces specifications stating he had cash and vehicles at the time of his arrest. The indictment lists the offenses happened on Nov. 19, 24 and 28 and Dec. 1, 2, and 3.

    Smith was arrested Dec. 4 at his Murray Ridge Road home in Elyria Township by Lorain police, who were working with county and federal officials, according to reports. Smith was acquitted more than a decade ago of similar drug trafficking charges, following the murder of a witness who was set to testify against him.

    Smith’s girlfriend and her two children were in the house when he was arrested, but no charges are being sought against anyone else in the case, according to Lorain police. Lorain police led the investigation because Smith has been suspected of distributing cocaine in Lorain, according to reports.

    Detectives Chris Colon and A.J. Mathewson headed up the investigation.

    “They’ve been working for months to put the search warrant together and execute it,” Lorain police Lt. Ed Super said in December. “We’ve had information on Smith’s dealing, on and off, for a long time, but this was our first opportunity to investigate and charge him.”

    According to the specifications listed on the indictment, Smith had $2,238 in cash, less than half a kilo of cocaine, a 2006 Chrysler 300 and a 2003 Dodge Ram seized at the time of the arrest.

    Smith was acquitted in a drug trafficking case in 1994 after police informant Ronald Lally was found dead the day he was scheduled to testify against Daniel Smith and his father, Raymond Smith, according to The Morning Journal archives. Lally had been stabbed, shot and run over by a car.

    Raymond Smith received the death penalty after being convicted of murder, but his sentence was changed to life in prison when a judge determined he was mentally disabled.

    Another defendant, Stanley Jalowiec, has been on death row since his conviction for murdering Lally, and his request for a resentencing was turned down in November.


    http://morningjournal.com/articles/2...8120447759.txt

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    Stanley Jalowiec v. Margaret Bradshaw

    In today's Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals opinions, the court AFFIRMED the district court's DENIAL of Jalowiec’s petition for habeas relief.

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    Jalowiec v. Bradshaw

    U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
    Opinion Date: November 23, 2011

    Petitioner was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. After Ohio courts denied appellate and post-conviction relief, the federal district court denied all 47 claims of error in a petition for habeas corpus. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, rejecting claims that petitioner was denied a fair trial due to wrongful suppression of Brady material (inconsistent prior statements by witnesses); that he was denied effective assistance of counsel at trial by virtue of defense counsel's undisclosed conflict of interest and, in the penalty phase, because counsel failed to object to hearsay evidence and failed to adequately prepare and present mitigation evidence; and that he was denied effective assistance of counsel on appeal, because counsel failed to assert claims based on trial counsel's conflict of interest and wrongful admission of hearsay evidence at trial. The court found some claims procedurally defaulted and others not material.

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    Elyria killer Stanley Jalowiec seeking new trial in 1994 murder case

    A killer on Ohio's death row wants a new trial and says police and the prosecutor withheld evidence proving his innocence.

    The request was filed Thursday in Elyria on behalf of 41-year-old Stanley Jalowiec by the Ohio public defender and the University of Chicago law school's Exoneration Project.

    They claim lead detective Alan Leiby of the Elyria police department and trial prosecutor Jonathan Rosenbaum withheld confessions by the real killers and witness statements helpful to Jalowiec.

    He was convicted in the 1994 killing of a drug informant about to testify against a father and son.

    The detective, police chief, trial prosecutor and Lorain County prosecutor could not be immediately reached for comment. Messages were left for police and the prosecutor. No phone listing could be found for Rosenbaum.

    http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/loc...#ixzz1z7kkGw00
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Jalowiec's petition for writ of certiorari was DENIED.
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    Judge Burge rejects request to remove himself from death row case

    Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge rejected a request from Assistant County Prosecutor Tony Cillo this morning that the judge remove himself from the case of convicted killer Stanley Jalowiec.

    Cillo said that Burge’s comments Tuesday to the Ohio Parole Board that he is being investigated by the Ohio Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel could create the appearance of impropriety.

    Burge said Tuesday that Cillo told the Disciplinary Counsel that he didn’t agree to indefinitely delay sending Nancy Smith back to prison after the Supreme Court ruled Burge overstepped when he acquitted Smith in the controversial Head Start child molestation case in 2011.

    Burge said Cillo and Jack Bradley, one of Smith’s lawyers, asked him not to do anything until he heard from them.

    Smith, who remains free, is currently seeking clemency from Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

    Disciplinary Counsel inquiries are considered confidential and Burge has declined to elaborate on the scope of the investigation beyond his public comments.

    The judge said for the purposes of today’s hearing at least he would remain on the Jalowiec case. Jalowiec, who is on death row for the slaying of police informant Ronald Lally in the 1990s, is seeking a new trial based on what his lawyers contend is newly discovered evidence and police and prosecutorial misconduct.

    http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2...eath-row-case/
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    Somewhat related

    Assistant prosecutor wants judge barred

    Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to bar county Common Pleas Judge James Burge from hearing any case he is handling.

    “Because a reasonable and objective observer would harbor serious doubts about Judge Burge’s impartiality, Judge Burge should step aside or be removed,” Cillo wrote in court documents filed Thursday.

    Burge said he isn’t biased against Cillo, with whom he frequently sparred when he was a defense attorney before taking the bench in 2007, or anyone else working for Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will, who declined to comment Thursday.

    Burge said while Cillo has lost arguments over legal issues in his courtroom, he doesn’t believe Cillo has ever lost a trial before him.

    He said he would challenge Cillo’s efforts to remove him from the cases of Albert Fine, who is facing a potential death sentence if convicted of killing and dismembering Catherine “Kat” Hoholski last year; Stanley Jalowiec, a death row inmate seeking a new trial; and Shannon Weber, a Wellington woman charged with twice trying to kill her son in 2010 and 2011.

    “I’m going to issue an affidavit that indicates that attorney Cillo can get a fair trial in my courtroom anytime,” Burge said.

    Disciplinary counsel

    Burge said the court filing asking for his removal from Cillo’s cases appears to be linked to an ongoing inquiry into his handling of the controversial Head Start child molestation case and other issues being conducted by the Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Burge said he’s been told the confidential inquiry is “prosecutor driven.”

    “It’s all part of their effort, I believe, to remove me from their lives,” Burge said.

    The inquiry became public in January when Burge appeared before the Ohio Parole Board to ask that panel to recommend clemency for Nancy Smith, the bus driver convicted of molesting children on her Head Start bus route in the 1990s. Burge acquitted Smith and her co-defendant, Joseph Allen, in 2009.

    Burge has since removed himself from the Head Start case, saying he has a “profound bias in favor of the defense” in that case.

    When he was asked why the pair wasn’t returned to prison after the Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that he’d overstepped his authority when he acquitted Smith, Burge replied that Cillo and Smith’s attorney, Jack Bradley, asked him not to do anything until he heard from them.

    But Burge also told the Parole Board that Cillo had informed the Disciplinary Counsel that he never said that.

    Cillo wrote that Burge’s actions demonstrate bias because the judge “at a minimum, suspects that (I am) involved in pending disciplinary proceedings against him (and) has recently spoken out publicly suggesting (I have) lied to the Disciplinary Counsel.”

    Burge, however, denied that the dispute is a factor when Cillo appears in his courtroom.

    “I disagree with his memory, just as he disagrees with mine,” Burge said.

    Convicted killer

    Cillo also accused Burge of already having made up his mind about the Jalowiec case, from which he asked Burge to step down in January, citing the disciplinary investigation.

    Jalowiec, who was given a death sentence for the 1994 slaying of police informant Ronald Lally, has asked for a new trial based on what he contends is newly discovered evidence, including police and prosecutorial misconduct.

    Cillo wrote that Burge was talking to another assistant county prosecutor when the subject of Cillo’s unsuccessful bid to get Burge to remove himself from the Jalowiec case came up.

    “To the APA’s recollection, Judge Burge then said (Cillo) thinks Judge Burge would make a ruling based upon (Cillo), when there is a man who certainly deserves a new trial,” Cillo wrote. “An evidentiary hearing on Jalowiec’s motion for a new trial has not yet been held and is pending in Judge Burge’s court.”

    Burge vehemently denied that he’s made any sort of decision in the Jalowiec case.

    “I’ve never said that in my life. I haven’t expressed an opinion because I haven’t heard the evidence,” Burge said. “I don’t believe an assistant told him that and if he did, it would be false.”

    Cillo also said that county Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery removed himself from the Jalowiec case last year after defense attorneys pointed out he filled in for any attorney representing a witness in the case during a hearing nearly two decades ago. Rothgery said he didn’t recall the incident but removed himself from the Jalowiec case to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

    At the time Cillo argued that Rothgery should remain on the case.

    The death penalty

    Burge has fought off previous attempts by Will’s office to remove him from death penalty cases, including in the run-up to the 2008 trial of now-convicted killer Manuel Nieves.

    Will argued that Burge’s ruling in two other death penalty cases that the state’s then-three-drug lethal injection method was unconstitutional should bar him from sitting on the three-judge panel that convicted Nieves but spared him a death sentence.

    Burge ruled in the cases of now-convicted killers Ruben Rivera and Ronald McCloud that the state should use a massive overdose of sedatives to execute condemned inmates. Ohio now uses execution protocols similar to what Burge suggested.

    Although Burge eventually turned over the Rivera case to another judge, he was on the three-judge panel that convicted McCloud. Burge was the lone judge in that case who voted against a death sentence, sparing McCloud, who raped and killed a woman in a church bathroom in 2005, and Cillo complained about how he handled that case.

    Burge said because Cillo handles all of the death penalty cases for Will, an order barring him from presiding over cases Cillo is involved in would effectively remove him from hearing any death penalty case.

    Attorney Dan Wightman, who is representing Albert Fine, said that’s a real concern about Cillo’s request, which he was aware of, but had not read, as of Thursday.

    “It would seem to give them the opportunity to judge shop to some extent,” Wightman said. “They could arbitrarily decide to have him taken off cases.”

    He said that Burge hasn’t done anything in the Fine case to make him think the judge favors one side or the other.

    Retaliation

    Cillo wrote that he fears retaliation from Burge in future hearings. Burge held Cillo in contempt of court in 2007 for calling one of his decisions “sheer lunacy” and for a court filing that accused the judge of deliberately “sandbagging” efforts to win death sentences for Rivera and McCloud.

    Cillo apologized and Burge dropped the contempt citation, saying Cillo had a “clean slate.”

    Cillo also wrote that in 2010 he was considering challenging Burge when he came up for re-election in 2012 and the judge sent his supervisors a letter, noting that Cillo was considering leaving his job to enter the race. Burge was unopposed in his re-election bid last year.

    The concern about retaliation is even more pronounced, Cillo wrote, because after the Disciplinary Counsel requested audio recordings of 10 days’ worth of proceedings in Burge’s courtroom, Burge ordered his court reporter to stop using the recording equipment.

    “Without those audio recordings, unless Judge Burge’s court reporter transcribes the every word and interaction between Judge Burge and (I), any evidence of retaliatory statements or actions taken against (me) in his courtroom may be lost,” Cillo wrote.

    He also wrote that “there have been instances in the past when conversations occurring in Judge Burge’s courtroom are noticeably missing from the transcripts.”

    Burge acknowledged that he told his court reporter, Tracy Reiman, to stop recording the proceedings in his courtroom for several reasons because the equipment picked up everything he and others in the courtroom said, even if it wasn’t on the record.

    For instance, Burge said he might make a comment to himself under his breath or engage in a private conversation and it would be recorded because the machine wasn’t turned off.

    But he also said Reiman takes down every word that is spoken on the record in his courtroom.

    Burge said he has no intention of retaliating against Cillo.

    http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2...-judge-barred/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Lorain County judge James Burge removed from Jalowiec case

    Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor has disqualified Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge from the Stanley Jalowiec case, but Burge can remain on the Albert Fine and Shannon Weber cases.

    O’Connor wrote in an affidavit that another judge will be assigned to Jalowiec’s case and that Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Anthony Cillo did not bring any specific allegations of bias or prejudice in the Fine or Weber cases. O’Connor also denied Cillo’s request for Burge to be disqualified from all of Cillo’s cases.

    According to the decision, Cillo has claimed that his “complex and often contentious history” with Burge, combined with recent public comments by Burge involving Cillo’s involvement in an alleged disciplinary investigation of Burge, has created impropriety.

    Cillo recently submitted an affidavit from Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Nick Hanek who stated that Burge said to him, “he (Cillo) thinks that I would make a ruling based on him when there’s a man (convicted killer Stanley Jalowiec) who certainly deserves a new trial ...”

    Burge has denied making the statement stating he never expressed his thinking in Jalowiec’s case. Jalowiec, from Elyria, is a death row inmate asking for a new trial, claiming evidence favorable to him was withheld by prosecutor’s during his trial. Weber, a former Lorain County jail nurse is accused of trying to kill her son; and Fine is accused of the murder of his girlfriend, Catherine “Kat” Hoholski, in July 2012. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

    O’Connor wrote that Burge did not rest with just submitting a response to Cillo’s affidavit, but has commented to the media about Cillo’s allegations which then “triggered the filing of Cillo’s supplemental affidavit with more allegations of bias and prejudice against the judge.”

    The result has been a public dispute and could cause someone to believe that Burge has become “Cillo’s adversary,” thereby making a possibly “intolerable atmosphere” in the courtroom, wrote O’Connor.

    The media statements aren’t the sole factor of disqualifying Burge. O’Connor wrote that Burge also did not respond to some of the allegations in Cillo’s supplemental affidavit, which include a claim that Burge “discarded the traditional route of reassignment in Jalowiec’s case in order to preside over the case himself.”

    O’Connor wrote that the reassignment of the case should not imply that Burge actually expressed an opinion, holds a personal bias against Cillo or engaged in any unethical conduct.

    “Judge Burge steadfastly denies making the alleged comment to Hanek, and it is quite possible that there was a misunderstanding of what was said and meant,” O’Connor wrote. “Nevertheless, even in cases where no evidence of actual bias or prejudice is apparent, disqualification is often necessary to avoid the appearance of impropriety and to ensure the parties’ and the public’s ‘absolute confidence in the fairness of the proceedings.’”

    Jalowiec’s attorney, Kim Rigby, said she and Jalowiec’s other attorney just want to move Jalowiec’s case forward. “We feel confident that whatever court is assigned to Stan’s case will hear the evidence and conclude that Stan is innocent and that his constitutional rights were violated, and will determine that he deserves a new trial,” she said.

    Burge, who preferred to not comment much about the matter, said he just wants to move forward.

    “It’s just time for everyone to move on,” Burge said.

    Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said they have to put their arguments and opinions aside and have to follow what was ordered.

    “We will abide by the decision and move forward,” Will said. “It’s not unusual when you’re practicing law that you don’t agree with some of the decisions, but we will do our jobs and move forward just like we always do.”

    Cillo did not return a call seeking comment.

    When requesting for Burge to be off his cases entirely, O’Connor wrote that Cillo’s arguments are unconvincing. Cillo contended that Burge hurt his integrity in a public comment to the Ohio Parole Board about an alleged disciplinary investigation. Burge had spoken to the parole board during Nancy Smith’s clemency hearing, requesting that she gets clemency. Smith and co-defendant Joseph Allen were convicted of molesting Lorain Head Start students in 1994 and spent 15 years in prison. Burge acquitted the two in 2009. A hearing about resentencing the pair will be held June 4.

    Burge has said that Cillo and another one of Smith’s attorneys told him to hold off on sending Smith back to prison. But Burge stated that the disciplinary counsel told him that Cillo denies saying that. Cillo argued that it makes him seem like he is an “untruthful person.”

    As for Burge’s comment to the parole board, O’Connor wrote that it is a stretch to interpret the as suggesting Cillo lied to investigators.

    Burge has previously contended in his own affidavit that he has no bias against Cillo. Burge wrote that he knows Cillo only to be a “capable trial attorney that is always prepared, organized, technically sound, credible and dedicated to his cause.” He also wrote that no transcript would show evidence other than Burge has treated Cillo as a professional.

    http://morningjournal.com/articles/2...mode=fullstory
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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