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Thread: Anthony Kirkland - Ohio Death Row

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Hamilton County prosecutor wants Ohio Supreme Court justice to recuse himself on death penalty case----Jeffrey Wogenstahl was set for execution in 2017

    Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said he's "extremely troubled" by recent decisions from the Ohio Supreme Court that could let 2 convicted killers escape the death penalty.

    So troubled, in fact, that he's asking one of Ohio's top judges to recuse himself from 1 of those cases.

    Jeffrey Wogenstahl was convicted in 1993 of murdering Amber Garrett 2 years earlier. She was 10 when Wogenstahl kidnapped her, killed her and dumped her body in a field near Bright, Indiana, prosecutors alleged.

    Martin Pinales, a legal expert, said the Ohio Supreme Court's new ruling to grant a new briefing is extremely uncommon. He said the court might be "very troubled" about some evidence in the case, perhaps hair analysis evidence.

    "At that time, a person was able to take a microscope and look at 2 pieces of hair samples and say, 'Ah, they look alike, so it must have been from the same person,'" he said. "That is all way past, and hair analysis samples are absolutely junk science now."

    The court also suspended Wogenstahl's execution date, which was set for Sept. 13, 2017.

    "The Supreme Court is saying, 'Hey, wait a minute. We are going to allow you to restart this case,'" Pinales said. "It is rejuvenated. Now you can go back to the Supreme Court on a direct appeal on facts."

    Deters filed a request for Justice William O'Neill to recuse himself from the Wogenstahl case, "given his repeated comments in the Wogenstahl decision and numerous other cases that he will not follow Ohio law and will never impose the death penalty."

    Pinales' take: "It's not going to happen."

    Deters has also filed a motion asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to grant Anthony Kirkland a resentencing hearing. Kirkland was sentenced to death in 2010 for murdering an SCPA 7th-grader and another Cincinnati teen -- the last of his 5 victims. He was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted rape and other charges in the girls' deaths.

    Before his trial, Kirkland also pleaded guilty to the slayings of 2 other Cincinnati women and received life sentences. He previously served a 16-year sentence for killing his girlfriend.

    At the sentencing phase, the prosecutor wondered whether the girls' killings were "just freebies for him," raising questions of whether that may have prejudiced the jury. Prosecutors argued in a 2011 filing with the court that the prosecutor's comment was appropriate because part of the death penalty case against Kirkland was that the girls' killings was part of a "course of conduct" involving 4 victims.

    If the Ohio Supreme Court won't reconsider, Deters has asked the justices to at least provide a written explanation on why they feel Kirkland should get another sentencing hearing.

    (Source: WCPO News)
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #12
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Convicted serial killer Anthony Kirkland due in court for new sentencing hearing

    Convicted serial killer Anthony Kirkland is scheduled to appear Wednesday in a Hamilton County courtroom for a new sentencing hearing.

    The 9 a.m. hearing takes place before Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Kubicki Jr.

    Earlier this year, the Ohio Supreme Court granted a motion allowing Kirkland to be re-sentenced by a jury.

    He was convicted of murder in the 2006 death of 14-year-old Casonya Crawford and 2009 slaying of 13-year-old Esme Kenney.

    Before his trial began Kirkland also pleaded guilty to killing two other women.

    Attorneys for Kirkland argued “prosecutorial misconduct” deprived the defendant of a fair sentencing phase.

    A panel of judges independently reviewed that claim and ultimately decided in 2014 to uphold his death penalty sentence.

    But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision set a new precedent requiring a jury - not a judge - to find each fact necessary to impose a death sentence, the defense argued in the motion filed March 3.

    Four of the seven justices agreed to grant the motion and send the case back to trial court for a new sentencing hearing.

    "I have hurt so many people with these for murders," Kirkland said. "I could not stop the rage and the anger and make the bad Anthony go away."

    If a jury re-hears the case, the victims’ families would likely be involved in the testimony, according to FOX19 NOW legal analyst Mike Allen.

    Kirkland's high profile trial began in March 2010 and lasted one month before jurors recommended he be put to death.

    Casonya's body was found in Avondale in May 2006.

    In March 2009, Esme was killed while jogging near the Winton Road reservoir.

    The coroner determined that she was raped and strangled to death. Then, Kirkland set her body on fire.

    While searching for Esme, police found Kirkland in a wooded area with her watch and iPod in his pocket.

    Kirkland killed three of his victims by strangulation and burned their bodies.

    http://www.fox19.com/story/34048525/...encing-hearing
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  3. #13
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Convicted serial killer's new sentencing hearing will begin in May 2017

    Attorney trying to avoid death penalty

    By Kristen Swilley
    WCPO News

    CINCINNATI -- Convicted serial killer Anthony Kirkland will have a chance to avoid the death penalty when his new sentencing hearing begins May 8, 2017.

    Kirkland was found guilty of and sentenced to death in 2010.

    In May 2016, the Ohio Supreme Court decided Kirkland should be re-sentenced due to remarks made by the prosecutor during his trial.

    Kirkland has a new attorney after his original attorney withdrew himself from the case due to a heavy workload of other capital cases. Judge Charles Kubicki, the same judge who sentenced Kirkland to death in 2010, "disqualified" himself from the re-sentencing trial on Wednesday.

    In 2010, prosecutors argued that without a death sentence, the killings of 13-year-old Esme Kenney in 2009 and 14-year-old Casonya Crawford in 2006 would go unpunished.

    Kirkland was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted rape and other charges in the Kenney and Crawford deaths. Before his trial, Kirkland also pleaded guilty to the slayings of two other Cincinnati women, 45-year-old Mary Jo Newton and 25-year-old Kimya Rolison, and received life sentences. He previously served a 16-year sentence for killing his girlfriend.

    Kirkland kidnapped Kenney, a cello player at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, as she jogged alone around the Winton Hills reservoir close to her home on Saturday afternoon, March 7, 2009. Her parents had called police when she didn't come right home, and police were already out looking for her when they came upon Kirkland in the woods. He had Kenney's iPod and her watch. They found her body nearby.

    At the sentencing phase, the prosecutor questioned whether the killings of the Kenney and Crawford were "just freebies for him." This was the comment that would lead to Kirkland's chance to be re-sentenced.

    Prosecutors argued in a 2011 filing with the court that the prosecutor's comment was appropriate because part of the death penalty case against Kirkland was that the girls' killings was part of a "course of conduct" involving four victims.

    "The significance is that one of the reasons death was appropriate was the number of victims," William Breyer, Hamilton County chief assistant prosecuting attorney, said in the filing.

    Potential jurors in the case will report to the Hamilton County Courthouse to fill out questionnaires on May 3.

    http://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/convi...in-in-may-2017
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    New judge, jury to decide convicted serial killer's fate

    By Kevin Grasha
    cincinnati.com

    A new jury in August will begin deciding whether to recommend the death sentence for a convicted serial killer.

    That timetable was outlined Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, where Anthony Kirkland appeared with his attorneys.

    Kirkland, 48, was sentenced to death in 2010, but last year the Ohio Supreme Court ordered a new mitigation and sentencing hearing. In all, Kirkland has been convicted of killing five women and girls and burning their bodies.

    He told detectives he burned the bodies of his victims because “fire purifies,” court documents say.

    Four of the killings happened between 2006 and 2009. He also killed a woman in 1987 – for spurning his sexual advances, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty and served 16 years in prison.

    A jury will be selected for the resentencing. The hearing, initially scheduled for this month, is now set to begin Aug. 21 before Judge Patrick Dinkelacker, who will ultimately decide whether to impose a death sentence. The previous judge recused himself from the case.

    Among the challenges to Kirkland’s death sentence was that prosecutors, in arguments during the trial’s penalty phase, made numerous statements to the jury that were improper.

    In 2014, the Ohio Supreme Court found that the prosecution's statements “were improper and substantially prejudicial.” But the court conducted its own evaluation and determined that Kirkland deserved the death penalty.

    After a 2016 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which said a death sentence must be based on a jury’s verdict – not a judge’s findings – the Ohio Supreme Court ordered the resentencing.

    Kirkland was found guilty in 2010 of killing Casonya "Sharee" Crawford, 14, and Esme Kenney, 13. Before the trial began, he pleaded guilty in the deaths of Kimya Rolison, 25, and Mary Jo Newton, 45.

    Sharee was killed in May 2006 while walking home from a friend's house. A month later, the burned remains of Newton's body were found in Avondale. In 2008, Rolison’s body was discovered. She had been stabbed and burned.

    Kirkland was caught on March 7, 2009, the same day he killed Esme as she jogged around the reservoir in Spring Grove Village. He choked her to death with a rag, court documents say, then set her body on fire.

    During the penalty phase of Kirkland's trial, prosecutors told jurors that Kirkland already was going to prison for the rest of his life for killing Rolison and Newton.

    "So I guess Casonya and Esme are just freebies for him,” a prosecutor told jurors, according to an Ohio Supreme Court decision.

    The high court said those statements were improper. It said a prosecutor can't argue that "a sentence less than death is meaningless and would not hold the defendant accountable for a victim’s death when he is already serving a life sentence."

    The court also found that prosecutors improperly talked about what the victims might have felt and also referenced facts that were not presented during the trial.

    http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news...ate/101242996/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    October 9, 2017

    Serial killer Anthony Kirkland has second chance to avoid death row

    CINCINNATI — Serial killer Anthony Kirkland has a second chance to avoid death row.

    He was convicted of four murders, including the death of 13-year-old Esme Kenney, but a successful appeal has brought his case back before a judge.

    Motions were heard Thursday before Judge Patrick Dinkelacker as prosecutors and the defense prepare for an unusual re-sentencing hearing
    November 13th.

    Kirkland was convicted of murder and a list of other charges in the deaths of Cassonya Crawford, MaryJo Newton, Kimya Rolison and Esme Kenney. The jury that heard the case in 2010 recommended the death penalty in two of those murders.

    After an appeal, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Kirkland was entitled to a new sentencing hearing.

    The jury that considers his fate will get to hear about the horror of his crimes, including visiting the crime scenes.

    “This is one case where I think it’s particularly important for the jury to actually go and see where this happened,” prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said.

    Because of the unusual circumstances, the sentencing hearing will play out much like a brand new trial for Kirkland.

    http://www.wlwt.com/article/serial-k...h-row/12786974

  6. #16
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Defense attorneys for convicted serial killer Anthony Kirkland quit the case

    Deters blames public defender's interference

    An angry prosecutor Joe Deters is blaming a public defender in Columbus for interfering in the resentencing case of serial killer Anthony Kirkland and forcing 2 defense attorneys to quit.

    Jury selection was supposed to begin Thursday, but instead, attorneys Perry Ancona and Norm Aubin told Judge Patrick Dinkelacker that they had to withdraw. Deters was riled because the attorneys revealed that Rachel Troutman from the Ohio Public Defenders Office had advised Kirkland that she was trying to get Aubin taken off the case.

    Kirkland was originally sentenced to death for killing 13-year-old SCPA student Esme Kenney and 14-year-old Casonya Crawford in 2009 and 2006, respectively, and burning their bodies.

    According to Ancona, Troutman talked to Kirkland about his attorneys in 2 phone calls.

    "We're placed in the ridiculous situation this morning here," Ancona told the judge. Ancona said prosecutors just this week gave him and Aubin CDs of Kirkland's conversations with Troutman. They were calls Kirkland made from the Justice Center almost a year ago on Dec. 15, 2016 and last month on Oct. 10.

    "A person he referred to as Rachael Troutman on Dec. 15, 2016, indicated and said she has been working behind the scenes to get rid of Mr. Aubin - get him off the case," Ancona said in court.

    In the 2nd call last month, Troutman used an expletive to describe the 2 attorneys.

    "This person said that Norm and Perry may not necessarily do a good job explaining how Anthony got where he is. I think that's clearly undermining our efforts to work on his behalf," Ancona said.

    Kirkland told the judge he only called Trautman because he couldn't get hold of Ancona and Aubin.

    "Your Honor, I haven't been able to contact these dudes - my attorneys. Made efforts to contact them," Kirkland said. "I tried to put them on my phone list to get their numbers in so I could talk to them. It was always denied. When I seen them in court, it was only for a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes during the time here and then they're off. Other times when I tried to contact them, I sent them letters. I didn't get a response to my letters.

    "The only way that I could make contact through them was going through familiar territory where I was at."

    Nevertheless, Deters called Troutman's actions "reprehensible" and said he would take action against her.

    "This borders on the most reprehensible conduct I've ever seen an attorney do in all my years of practicing law," Deters said after the hearing. "This was unconscionable for her to interfere and obstruct in this case and we're going to find out what the remedies are.

    "I mean, I'm not going to sit back and just let this go by. She clearly was undermining the defense to the point where they can't even represent him anymore? This is a very serious matter."

    Deters wasn't finished. He went off on the Ohio Public Defenders Office and state officials who oppose the death penalty.

    "We're down in Cincinnati. We don't pay attention to what goes on in Columbus, and it's my belief that the Ohio Public Defender's Office creates a culture where these attorneys feel enabled to do whatever the heck they want, any means to an end," Deters said.

    "Now, we've got 100 jurors waiting and they're being excused because of her behavior. She slandered 2 very good defense attorneys with Perry and Norm and she needs to be held accountable.

    "But, the problem is we've got judges and bar association people that may have some political bent that they don't believe in the death penalty and they enable people to behave like this.

    "So, we again, after bringing the family back in, they have to resume all the pain and agony they went through when their loved one was murdered and we've got to do it again because of the behavior of someone from the state public defender's office.

    "If you don't want the death penalty, go to the legislature and end it, but this activity in the courts that they're permitted to get away with so many times over and over again is unconscionable. It makes you lose your faith in the system. It really does."

    Deters said $250,000 has already been spent on the case and it could take months for new lawyers to get up to speed.

    Dinkelacker said he would appoint new attorneys on Monday.

    WCPO has reached out to the Ohio Public Defender's Office for comment.

    Kirkland was already serving a 70-year sentence for killing 2 women when he got the death sentence in 2010 for murdering Kenney and Crawford. But the Ohio Supreme Court decided that Kirkland should be resentenced because of a comment by Deters during Kirkland's sentencing.

    "So I guess Casonya and Esme are just freebies for him," Deters said at the time. The court found that Deters' comment insinuated that Kirkland would go unpunished for the teens' murders unless he was put to death.

    4 of the 7 Ohio Supreme Court Justices voted in favor of a resentencing hearing.

    "It is improper for prosecutors to incite the jurors' emotions through insinuations and assertions that are not supported by the evidence and that are therefore calculated to mislead the jury," the Ohio Supreme Court decision said. "Although the crimes Kirkland is alleged to have committed are horrific, due process requires that a jury be free from prejudice before recommending the death penalty."

    Kirkland's guilt isn't on trial this time around -- just his sentence.

    Retired judge Norbert Nadel said this type of hearing is extremely rare. He also said jury selection may take longer than the resentencing hearing itself.

    "The prosecution will put on a synopsis and put on the investigators and all that sort of thing," Nadel said. "It will be done in a brief fashion. (The defense attorneys) have a great hill to climb because of the facts of that case, the horrible facts of the case. They have a horrible, difficult hill to climb -- as they should have."

    (source: WCPO news)
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #17
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    I hope Deters goes after the woman from the Public Defenders Office that caused this mess.

    Lawyers that pull these stunts and are found to be in the wrong should have to pay any costs incurred from their actions.
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #18
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutor: Serial killer Anthony Kirkland's resentencing to begin in July

    By Marais Jacon-Duffy
    WCPO News

    CINCINNATI -- Convicted serial killer Anthony Kirkland's resentencing is set to begin July 19, according to Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters.

    Kirkland's resentencing was supposed to begin last month, but Kirkland's defense attorneys abruptly quit the case after telling the court that a public defender "interfered" with the case.

    At a Nov. 9 hearing -- which was supposed to be the start of jury selection -- attorneys Perry Ancona and Norm Aubin told Judge Patrick Dinkelacker that they had to withdraw. The attorneys said Rachel Troutman from the Ohio
    Public Defender's Office had advised Kirkland that she was trying to get Aubin taken off the case.

    "We're placed in the ridiculous situation this morning here," Ancona told the judge. "A person he referred to as Rachel Troutman on Dec. 15, 2016, indicated and said she has been working behind the scenes to get rid of Mr. Aubin -- get him off the case. This person said that (Aubin) and (Ancona) may not necessarily do a good job explaining how Anthony got where he is. I think that's clearly undermining our efforts to work on his behalf."

    Kirkland said he only contacted Troutman because he couldn't contact his own attorneys.

    "Your Honor, I haven't been able to contact these dudes -- my attorneys. Made efforts to contact them," Kirkland said. "I tried to put them on my phone list to get their numbers in so I could talk to them. It was always denied."

    Deters was livid at the Nov. 9 hearing.

    “This borders on the most reprehensible conduct I've ever seen an attorney do in all my years of practicing law,” Deters said after the hearing. “This was unconscionable for her to interfere and obstruct in this case and we're going to find out what the remedies are.

    "I mean, I'm not going to sit back and just let this go by. She clearly was undermining the defense to the point where they can't even represent him anymore? This is a very serious matter.”

    On Nov. 13, Rich Wendel and Tim Cutcher were assigned to represent Kirkland in the resentencing hearing.

    Kirkland was originally sentenced to death for killing 13-year-old Esme Kenney and 14-year-old Casonya Crawford in 2009 and 2006, respectively, and burning their bodies.

    Kirkland was already serving a 70-year sentence for killing two women when he got the death sentence in 2010 for murdering Kenney and Crawford. But the Ohio Supreme Court decided that Kirkland should be resentenced because of a comment by Deters during Kirkland's sentencing.

    “So I guess Casonya and Esme are just freebies for him," Deters said at the time. The court found that Deters' comment insinuated that Kirkland would go unpunished for the teens' murders unless he was put to death.

    Four of the seven Ohio Supreme Court Justices voted in favor of a resentencing hearing.

    “It is improper for prosecutors to incite the jurors’ emotions through insinuations and assertions that are not supported by the evidence and that are therefore calculated to mislead the jury,” the Ohio Supreme Court decision said. "Although the crimes Kirkland is alleged to have committed are horrific, due process requires that a jury be free from prejudice before recommending the death penalty.”

    Kirkland's guilt isn't on trial this time around -- just his sentence.

    Deters said the resentencing hearing is now set to begin July 19, nearly a year after the original resentencing start date.

    https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/pros...in-july?page=2
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #19
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Serial killer Anthony Kirkland killed 5 women. Will jury go for the death penalty (Again)?

    By Sharon Coolidge
    Cincinnati.com

    Anthony Kirkland was 18 years old when he bumped into his uncle's girlfriend, Leona Douglas, alone on the stairs outside her Walnut Hills apartment.

    He propositioned the 28-year-old woman. When Douglas said no, he fatally beat her, doused her with lighter fluid and set her on fire while she was still alive.

    Firefighters found her body, still burning.

    Kirkland was arrested for the 1987 killing and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, for which he could have served up to 25 years in prison.

    Instead, he served 16 years and was set free in 2003.

    He was 34 and free to kill again.

    And he would. Four more times.

    Three years later, Kirkland fatally choked Casonya "Sharee" Crawford, 14, after Kirkland propositioned the teenager for sex and she said no.

    One month later, he killed Mary Jo Newton, 45.

    Then in December of that same year he killed Kimya Rolison, 25.

    Finally, on March 8, 2009, Kirkland killed 13-year-old Esme Kenney after she ran into him while out on a run around the reservoir near her home in Winton Hills.

    It would be his last crime. And the moment when police and prosecutors realized a serial killer had been preying on the community.

    From there, police traced Kirkland's path during the six years he had been free, piecing together a string of crimes in which Kirkland preyed on women, yet repeatedly slipped through the cracks of the criminal justice system.

    Kirkland, now 49, confessed to all the killings. He pleaded guilty to killing Newton and Rolison and was sentenced to spend life in prison for those crimes. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to killing Newton and Rolison and a jury found him guilty of killing Casonya and Esme. The jury recommended the death sentence and a judge imposed it.

    That should have been it -- the end of a long, terrible story. But last year, Kirkland got a reprieve.

    During his murder trial for the deaths of the two teenage girls, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters told jurors during his closing arguments that Kirkland deserved to die. Kirkland had already been sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of the Newton and Rolison, but that wasn't enough, Deters told jurors. Esme and Casonya shouldn't be "freebies," he said.

    The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Deters went too far with that remark. The court kept Kirkland's conviction but tossed out the sentence.

    Now, a new jury, starting Thursday, will have to answer the same question: Does Kirkland deserve to die?

    "When I argue cases in front of a jury about someone like Kirkland, I always tell them, 'You need to understand sometimes there is just pure evil in this world,'" Deters said. "I've been trying cases in this community for a long time. And I believe when jurors hear the horrible nature of what he did to these women, they'll do the right thing."

    To him, that's again recommending a death sentence.

    Kirkland is the fourth serial killer Deters has prosecuted, following Donald Harvey, John Fautenberry and Joseph Paul Franklin.

    Kirkland's attorneys, Tim Cutcher and Rich Wendell, declined to comment for this story, but Deters said he'll push again for the death penalty.

    Expert evaluation: Kirkland is a psychopath

    Kirkland has confessed to each of the five killings, the most recent four during a nine-hour interview with Cincinnati police after Esme's body was found.

    University of Cincinnati psychologist Scott Bresler examined Kirkland prior to his trial and testified that Kirkland had the characteristics of a psychopath.

    Bressler spoke to Kirkland and his family and combed through Kirkland's criminal history. He found that for some of his childhood, Kirkland was physically beaten by his father and forced to watch his father beat and rape his mother.

    His father left when Kirkland was 9, but Kirkland seemingly never recovered. He was a loner, abused alcohol and drugs and then, later in high school, got mixed up "in the wrong crowd," Bessler testified.

    But when you talk him, you'd never know it, Bressler said.

    "If you didn't know anything about Anthony Kirkland and sat down and spoke with him, you would never know that he is potentially very dangerous," Bressler testified. "In fact, he is very graceful... He's a gentleman. He'll cough and he'll say excuse me...

    He is refined... He certainly can be superficially charming."

    Free too soon and on the prowl

    After being freed from prison for killing Douglas, Kirkland met a woman in church, and they had a son. He'd slip in and out of her life after that. She declined to talk about Kirkland, saying it was too difficult.

    "All I really wanted was a family," Kirkland would later tell police. He supported his family with a series of jobs, working at a pickle factory, a Finneytown car wash and as a knife salesman.

    But Kirkland continued to prowl Cincinnati's streets, driving his dad's gray van around looking for women, seeking sex, sharing drugs with the women he found.

    It's how, he told police, he met his next two victims, Newton and Rolison.

    And there were other crimes, too.

    Sixteen months after Kirkland was freed for killing Douglas, he was arrested again, accused of raping a neighbor woman at knifepoint in January of 2005. Kirkland was wearing welding gloves.

    "He had this crazed look about his eyes and he didn't seem himself,'" the woman said during the trial.

    A jury acquitted him.

    Kirkland still had the urge to kill, Deters said.

    A run-in with a 14-year-old girl

    On May 4, 2006, Casonya sneaked out of the house wearing SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas. She was talking to a friend on her cell phone when suddenly the line went dead.

    Kirkland would later tell police he offered the teenager money for sex. Casonya refused and tried to fight off Kirkland. Kirkland said he grabbed and choked her. Then, he dragged her body to the woods along Blair Avenue in Avondale, set her on fire and left.

    Casonya's charred corpse was found a week later. Kirkland had already moved on.

    Kirkland kills again during a fight over drugs

    Kirkland had been seeing Newton occasionally, including the night after he killed Rolison.

    The two were together in Kirkland's van the night of June 14, 2006, parked in Eden Park. Newton grew angry that Kirkland was out of drugs, and she hit him.

    Kirkland flew into a rage, he told police. He sat on Newton's back and choked her to death.

    As he choked her, Kirkland would later tell police, Newton "turned around and she looked at me, and she told me that death would probably be a good thing the way her life has been."

    Fears realized, after no calls home

    Rolison grew up in Southern California and moved to Cincinnati when she was 21.

    She had two kids and struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine. Her youngest child was put in foster care. In the fall of 2006, Rolison entered a six-week rehabilitation program and called her parents in California often, talking about regaining custody of her child and returning to California to live.

    Then one day the calls stopped.

    Kirkland would later tell police he and Rolison knew each other and he didn't like how Rolison was getting into his business. So one day he took her to a parking lot where he fatally stabbed her in the neck. Her bones were found in December 2006 in North Fairmount, near where Casonya's body was found.

    Three killings. Three burned bodies. And no suspects

    Kirkland laid low, but not for long.

    On May 14, 2007, he grabbed his 18-month-old son away from his girlfriend and held a three-pronged skewer to the child's throat, threatening to kill the toddler. It led to a SWAT standoff with police before Kirkland finally gave up.

    Cincinnati Police Officer Don Meece told The Enquirer in 2009 that Kirkland told him "prison didn't bother him because he'd been to prison before."

    Kirkland was convicted of a lesser charge of unlawful restraint and released, sentenced to the 115 days he'd already spent in jail between his arrest and the trial.

    Looking at Kirkland's record, homicide detectives wondered, "Could Kirkland have killed Casonya and Newton?" They were both burned. Just like Douglas.

    Detectives questioned Kirkland, but there wasn't enough evidence.

    It's a moment police look back on now, wondering what might have happened had they put the pieces of the puzzle together earlier. Maybe they could have stopped him before he killed again.

    On Sept 5, 2007, Kirkland was free again.

    Twenty-one days later, Kirkland was back in jail for soliciting sex from his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter. Kirkland was sentenced to a year in prison and designated a sex offender.

    Already having served six months in jail awaiting trial, Kirkland was released in October of 2008. He had nowhere to go, so probation officers suggested the Pogue Rehabilitation Center's eight-month sex offender program, located in Over-the-Rhine.

    Kirkland, the following February, punched another resident, and the center kicked him out. They didn't call Kirkland's probation officer, and they had no reason to keep Kirkland, since he was there voluntarily.

    Kirkland walked away and disappeared. It was the start of his final crime spree.

    The next sighting of him was on March 1, 2009, He broke into his girlfriend's house, where he found Frederick Hughes. Kirkland stabbed Hughes 10 times with a pair of scissors. Hughes survived, but Kirkland fled, finding refuge in an abandoned house in Winton Hills.

    Esme lived nearby.

    Warrants were issued, but there was no sign of Kirkland.

    On March 5, he threatened the mother of his child with a knife but again escaped before police could get there.

    A deadly run-in with Esme Kenney

    The afternoon of March 7, 2009, Esme was out for a run around the reservoir across the street from her house.

    It was the place where she had learned to ride a bike. The place where she and her family would play catch. But she had never before been allowed to go there alone. Just this once, her mother, Lisa Kenney, told Esme as she headed out.

    Esme was listening to Hilary Duff on her iPod when she bumped into Kirkland by accident. As she apologized, anger flowed through the killer in front of her.

    "All my anger, it just, I called it up," Kirkland would later tell police.

    Esme ran, but Kirkland caught up to her when she fell over a small brown fence.

    Kirkland ignored her pleas to live. He beat, kicked and raped Esme, killing her.

    Esme hadn't been gone long when Lisa Kenney suddenly had a premonition something was wrong. She ran barefoot out of the house looking for her daughter, screaming for her daughter.

    But Esme was nowhere on the path. Kirkland later said he could hear the frantic mother.

    He choked Esme, then later, when it grew dark, he burned her body.

    Lisa Kenney returned home and called the police. Officers searched for Esme into the night. They found Kirkland sleeping against a patch of fir trees near the reservoir.

    Kirkland lied about his name. He said he was homeless. Officers handcuffed him when they spotted two steak knives in his pockets. That's when they found Esme's purple watch in his pocket, along with a gray iPod. The pink iPod case was monogrammed with "Property of Esme Kenney."

    Kirkland was arrested. Esme's body was found in the nearby brush.

    https://www.cincinnati.com/story/new...lty/778754002/
    "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."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #20
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    I know this case.
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