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Thread: Phillip L. Jones - Ohio Death Row

  1. #1
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    Phillip L. Jones - Ohio Death Row


    Susan Marie Christian-Yates





    Summary of Offense:

    On April 23, 2007, Phillip Jones raped and strangled 33-year-old Susan Marie Christian-Yates in Mount Peace Cemetery in Akron. Ms. Christian-Yates' body was found in front of a gravestone with a plastic cross over her right eye. Phillips had given an identical cross to his wife in 2006.

  2. #2
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    January 31, 2008

    Jones gets death penalty in rape-slaying

    A Summit County judge sentenced Phillip L. Jones to death this afternoon for the April slaying of 33-year-old Susan Marie Christian Yates at Mount Peace Cemetery.

    Jones, 37, was found guilty last month of aggravated murder, murder, 2 counts of rape and various criminal specifications attached to the offenses. A jury took only 4 hours to return the verdicts.

    Common Pleas Judge Mary F. Spicer told Jones she was imposing the death penalty because the aggravating factors of the offenses convincingly outweighed the mitigating factors presented by defense lawyers earlier this month in the penalty phase of the trial.

    Spicer also gave Jones 30 years in prison for the offenses of rape.

    The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office determined Yates was beaten and strangled and that the cause of death was asphyxiation. Autopsy photos viewed by the jury at Jones' trial showed the victim's body was badly bruised from head to foot and that her clothes were torn.

    A jogger discovered the body on a Monday morning, April 23, near several headstones under a large tree in the eastern section of the cemetery off Aqueduct Street.

    Willie Yates of Akron — the victim's husband — briefly addressed the court before sentencing, saying Jones ''took a beautiful person and turned her into something she wasn't.''

    Jones testified at his trial that he accidentally killed Yates while they were having rough sex on a blanket on the cemetery grounds.

    He said he simply ''went too far'' and heard a crack or popping sound as he placed his hands around the victim's neck after she asked him to heighten her arousal by restricting her breathing.

    In the government's closing arguments, Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Brian LoPrinzi called the story told by Jones ''absurd.''

    After today's proceedings were adjourned, Willie Yates and the victim's sister, Lois Christian, briefly spoke to reporters.

    Willie Yates said he was hoping Spicer ''would do the right thing'' by sentencing Jones to death.

    ''Knowing the type of lady my wife was,'' Willie Yates said, ''she's probably up there forgiving this fool.''

    Jones did not show much emotion as Spicer sentenced him. Standing before the bench in orange-striped jail clothes and shackles, with 6 sheriff's deputies in the courtroom, he bit his lip, tilted his head backward and briefly closed his eyes.

    Spicer scheduled the execution date for Jan. 30, 2009.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

  3. #3
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    Appeals courts sides with condemned Akron killer

    An Akron man on Ohio’s death row should get a hearing on claims his taxpayer-funded attorneys and defense experts failed to properly investigate his troubled childhood, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

    New public defenders representing inmate Phillip Jones in his post-conviction appeals contend he was denied a fair sentencing hearing during his trial in late 2007 and early 2008.

    They argue that Jones’ trial attorneys failed to hire a mitigation investigator until after the trial began and that another court-appointed expert spent scant time interviewing family members about the defendant’s background.

    Further, the lack of a thorough and timely investigation allowed allegations of childhood sexual abuse committed against Jones to go unreported to a Summit County jury, which ultimately sentenced the defendant to death.

    On Wednesday, the 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals called the circumstances around the mitigation investigation “troubling.” They granted Jones’ appeal, which could lead to a new sentencing hearing before a new panel of jurors.

    “If Mr. Jones’ defense team did not do much mitigation investigation by the time the trial started, they could not have formed an appropriate trial or mitigation theory,” Judge Claire Dickinson wrote in a 3-0 decision. Judges Beth Whitmore and Donna Carr agreed with the finding.

    Social worker Thomas Hrdy performed the majority of the mitigation research, a process designed to uncover potential facts — such as sexual abuse or drug use — that might sway jurors to impose a penalty other than death.

    According to the court opinion, Hrdy spent about 10 hours interviewing family members, some of them during a televised football game, the court wrote. His work began during the trial.

    “That’s pretty unusual, and the court recognized that,” said Robert Barnhart, an assistant state public defender represening Jones.

    Hrdy worked about 38 hours on Jones’ case overall and was paid about $3,800 for his work. The hours are typical for most capital murder cases in Summit County.

    In some other cases, mitigation experts spend more time working for the defense. For example, a Cuyahoga County judge this year approved $160,000 for similar research into the life Anthony Sowell, a Cleveland mass murderer.

    In their decision Wednesday, the appeals court also found that Jones’ trial attorneys, Kerry O’Brien and Donald Hicks, did not seek a delay of the trial that would have allowed for more mitigation work.

    Jones was convicted of aggravated murder, murder and two counts of rape for the 2007 slaying of Susan Marie Christian-Yates, a 33-year-old Akron woman whose body was found in Mount Peace Cemetery.

    The original case was tried before Judge Mary Spicer, who has since retired. Judge Lynne Callahan replaced Spicer and last year denied Jones’ request for a new mitigation hearing, setting up the appeal.

    Summit County prosecutors have 45 days to decide whether to appeal. No decision has been made, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

    If the appeal is upheld, Callahan would have to gather a new jury to determine Jones’ sentence. He could again face either a death sentence or life in prison with various parole eligibilities.

    Barnhart said facts about the sexual abuse of Jones as a child could have changed the outcome of his sentencing hearing.

    “That information could have made a difference to a jury,” he said. “It basically takes Phillip’s case from sort of the standard bad life you hear about to the bad life that’s almost unimaginable.”

    http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/...iller-1.247006

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Ohio high court upholds man's death sentence

    The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the aggravated murder conviction and death sentence of a man found guilty of raping and strangling a woman in a northeast Ohio cemetery.

    The court ruled 6-1 Thursday in Phillip Jones' appeal. The Akron man was convicted of murdering and raping Susan Yates who was found dead April 23, 2007, in Summit County.

    Jones testified he accidentally killed Yates in the midst of "rough" consensual sex. He appealed to have his conviction overturned or the sentence reduced to life in prison.

    The court rejected claims including that Jones' fair trial rights were violated when he was asked to demonstrate on a life-sized doll how he accidentally killed the woman. The court noted Jones didn't object.

    Jones' attorneys didn't immediately return a call for comment.

    http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/...ty-upheld.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Will be interesting to see if Jones' attorneys raise ineffective assistance of counsel on failure to object to the lifesize dummy scenario. Could be a potentially interesting appeal issue there.

  6. #6
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    The State v Jones

    In today's orders, Jones was appointed new counsel.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On September 9, 2019, Jones filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/oh...cv02063/258249

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    On November 25, 2019, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Jones' petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Court of Appeals of Ohio, Summit County
    Case Numbers: (28063)
    Decision Date: January 30, 2019
    Discretionary Court Decision Date: June 26, 2019

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-6061.html

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