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Thread: Keith LaMar - Ohio Execution - January 13, 2027

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    Keith LaMar - Ohio Execution - January 13, 2027




    Summary of Offense:

    During the riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (Lucasville), LaMar murdered five prison inmates, Darrell Depina, Bruce Vitale, William Svette, Dennis Weaver and Albert Staiano, whom LaMar believed were snitches. When prison inmates held prison guards and other inmates hostage, LaMar formed a group of prison inmates, called the "Death Squad," to kill snitches. Between April 11, 1993 and April 21, 1993, on five separate occasions, Lamar and his followers beat, strangled and stabbed each victim to death. At the time, LaMar was serving a sentence for a 1989 murder conviction. LaMar received the death sentence for the aggravated murders of Mr. Depina, Mr. Vitale, Mr. Svette and Mr. Weaver.

    Also sentenced to death for murders committed during the riot were Jason Robb, Carlos Sanders, George Skatzes and James Were.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Hunger strike of the Lucasville uprising prisoners starting Monday, Jan. 3

    Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur (Keith LaMar), Jason Robb and Namir Mateen (James Were) will start a hunger strike on Monday Jan. 3 to protest their 23-hour a day lock down for nearly 18 years. These four death-sentenced prisoners have been single-celled (in solitary) in conditions of confinement significantly more severe than the conditions experienced by the approximately 125 other death-sentenced prisoners at the supermax prison, Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

    http://news.infoshop.org/article.php...01231173038125

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    Death-Row Inmates Go On Hunger Strike Over Conditions

    3 Ohio inmates sentenced to death have begun a hunger strike to press for less restrictive prison conditions.

    Carlos Sanders and Keith Lamar stopped taking meals Monday at the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown and Jason Robb joined the protest Tuesday. They are taking water and coffee.

    Prison spokesman Brian Niceswanger said Thursday that medical staff was monitoring the inmates' conditions and that forced-feeding might be considered, depending on their health.

    The 3 want transfers to less restrictive units allowing them contact visits with relatives and giving them more access to materials for their appeals.

    The 3 are under death sentences for killings during the 1993 Lucasville prison uprising that left 1 guard and 9 inmates dead.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    According to Denis O’Hearn of San Franciso Bay View National Black Newspaper, LaMar has started eating again.

    http://sfbayview.com/2011/a-great-ra...nger-strikers/

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On February 8, 2011, LaMar filed an appeal in the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals over the denial of his habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...s/ca6/11-3131/

  6. #6
    Keith LaMar was granted habeas relief on his death sentence by a Federal District Court Judge. Mr. LaMar is cross appealing the denial of his habeas petition as it concerns his conviction. The state of Ohio is cross appealing the grant of habeas relief issued by the District Court as it concerns Mr. Lamar's death sentence.

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    3 convicted in historic Lucasville prison riot in Ohio launch hunger strike for media access

    Three of five Ohio inmates sentenced to death for an historic prison riot plan a hunger strike starting on the uprising’s 20th anniversary Thursday to protest the state’s refusal to allow them sit-down media interviews on their cases.

    The state has had two decades to tell its side of the story and the inmates known as the Lucasville Five should have their chance, Siddique Abdullah Hasan said in an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

    “We have been suffering very torturous conditions for two decades,” said Hasan, formerly Carlos Sanders. “We have never been given the opportunity completely to speak about our cases, to speak to the media — because the media has an enormous amount of power. They can get our message out to the court of public opinion.”

    Twelve staff members were taken hostage on April 11, 1993, Easter Sunday, when inmates overtook the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Hasan was convicted for helping plan the murder of Corrections Officer Robert Vallandingham, among 10 who died during the 11-day uprising, the longest deadly prison riot in U.S. history. Hasan denies he was involved in planning or carrying out the killing.

    Hasan, Keith LaMar and Jason Robb, all sentenced to death after the uprising, will take their last meals Wednesday evening ahead of their protest at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Hasan said. Also participating will be Gregory Curry, a participant in the rebellion sentenced to life in prison.

    James Were, another of the Lucasville Five, is diabetic and will not take part. The fifth man sentenced to death after the riot, George Skatzes, is at a different prison in Chillicothe.

    Hunger strikes have been periodic among high-security prisoners in recent years. Some 12,000 prisoners in California went without food for about three weeks twice in 2011, winning a new process for leaving indefinite solitary confinement.

    Hasan, LaMar and Robb staged a short hunger protest in 2011 that resulted in access to full contact visits with their families. Hour-long phone calls, like Wednesday’s with the AP, were also permitted after that protest, Hasan said. LaMar used that access to speak about the riot to a recent gathering at Youngstown State University.

    Factors considered when deciding whether an inmate can be interviewed include the nature of the case, his behavior while in prison, the safety of the facility, and potential impact on staff and victims, said JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

    The department denied an AP request for sit-down interviews ahead of Thursday’s anniversary.

    Among the department’s concerns have been that the five would bring up prison conditions such as overcrowding that led to the 1993 riot or try to elicit sympathy for being held in super-maximum security, Hasan said.

    “I’m not concerned about overcrowdedness. It doesn’t affect me because I’m always going to be isolated,” Hasan said. “They said they didn’t want us to talk about indefinite confinement in a super-max prison. I could care less about that. I’m not trying to make prison a paradise for myself. I’m trying to get the hell out of prison.”

    Hasan, now 50, was 10 months from his parole hearing at the time of the riot.

    He was among Muslim inmates in Lucasville who objected on religious grounds to a mandatory test for tuberculosis containing phenol alcohol. Hasan said they never envisioned their protest would reach such proportions.

    “We didn’t ever have an intention to have a full-scale rebellion, just barricade ourselves inside a pod, get the attention of Central Office to hope that we could resolve the situation amicably,” he said.

    Instead, the violent uprising involving more than 450 inmates ultimately prompted then-Gov. George Voinovich to call in the National Guard. Vallandingham was murdered on the fourth day of the standoff after inmates’ threats they would kill a hostage if certain demands weren’t met.

    Hasan said he became involved in negotiations after Vallandingham’s death, in his role as prayer leader for the Muslim inmates, after several representatives were appointed and talks faltered.

    In contradiction to accounts provided by the state, Hasan claims that inmates never got together and decided a guard should be murdered.

    “Prior to the guard’s murder, there was not any discussion for a guard to be killed. There was never a vote,” he said. “The prosecutor sold that line to the jury and they swallowed the hook, the line and the sink.”

    He said the Lucasville Five are uniquely classified to deny them in-person media interviews and other privileges that fellow death row inmates earn through good behavior.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...695_story.html
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    Ohio defends policy banning riot inmate interviews

    Allowing prisoners convicted for their role in Ohio's deadly 1993 prison riot to conduct face-to-face media interviews could give them too much "notoriety and influence" among fellow prisoners and cause problems throughout the correctional system, the state argues in a new court filing.

    The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction calls a lawsuit seeking such interviews frivolous and wants a federal judge to throw it out.

    The interviews are banned because of the state's concern "regarding safety and security and the fear that these prisoners would thereby gain a disproportionate degree of notoriety and influence among their fellow inmates," according to documents the state filed Monday in a Columbus court.

    That influence could lead "to substantial disciplinary problems that could engulf large portions of the prisons," the filing said.

    The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state in December, arguing the prison system's policy is inconsistent, especially when the backgrounds of other high-security prisoners granted access to reporters is reviewed.

    The only plausible reason for granting interviews to other prisoners while denying access to the Lucasville ones "is the desire to stifle public discussion of the 1993 Lucasville prison uprising," according to the ACLU.

    Under recent policy changes, Lucasville riot prisoners may make telephone calls of up to an hour, including to reporters. But the prisoners have argued that in-person meetings captured on video are a more powerful way to tell their side of the story.

    The ACLU lawsuit was brought on behalf of Noelle Hanrahan, director and producer of Prison Radio in Philadelphia; Christopher Hedges, an author and former New York Times reporter in Princeton, N.J.; Derrick Jones, a former Bowling Green State University professor now at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo.; and James Ridgeway, co-editor of a website, "Solitary Watch" in Washington, D.C.

    The lawsuit was also brought on behalf of death row inmates Siddique Abdullah Hasan, George Skatzes, Keith Lamar and Jason Robb, and prisoner Gregory Curry, who is serving a life sentence for the Lucasville riots.

    http://www.the-news-leader.com/ap%20...ate-interviews
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Court To Hear Appeal Of Inmate Charged In 1993 Prison Riot

    A 45-year-old inmate convicted and sentenced to die for the slayings of fellow inmates during the 1993 Lucasville prison riot is challenging his convictions and death sentences before the 6th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals in Cincinnati today.

    The state says Keith Lamar of Cleveland, a drug dealer who had been serving 15 years to life for murder, ordered the deaths of five inmates during the 1993 Lucasville prison riot. In an interview from the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Lamar says he hopes the appeals court will order a new trial, because he says there’s no evidence to tie him to those deaths.

    “It’s been a hell of a journey to get to this point so part of me, I’m relieved but I’m cautiously optimistic.”

    Lamar’s execution date hasn’t been set as he continues his appeals. Meanwhile, Lamar has been monitoring the discussions at the Statehouse about legislation that would shield the names of the makers of execution drugs – and even the comments about whether other methods should be considered, such as the electric chair or a firing squad.

    “To hear those type of conversations, the debate going back and forth on whether we should bring back the shooting squad or the electric chair – it’s just incredible to hear those type of stories and to be a part of that and to be on death row and to be directly affected by those decisions.”

    If the 6th Circuit rules against him, Lamar could take his case to the US Supreme Court, which could decline to hear it. Three other inmates were sentenced to death along with Lamar for their roles in the riot – another of the so-called Lucasville five is serving life.

    http://wcbe.org/post/court-hear-appe...93-prison-riot
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  10. #10
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's opinions, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit DENIED LaMar's appeal.

    http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions...5a0193p-06.pdf

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