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Thread: John David Stumpf - Ohio Execution - August 18, 2027

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    John David Stumpf - Ohio Execution - August 18, 2027




    Summary of Offense:

    On May 13, 1984, Stumpf murdered 54-year-old Mary Jane Stout and attempted to murder Norman Stout in their home adjacent to I-70 and County Road 44. The Stouts had invited Stumpf and his accomplice, Clyde Wesley, into their home to use the telephone. While Wesley ransacked the house, Stumpf shot Mr. Stout twice in the head, seriously wounding him. Stumpf then turned to Mrs. Stout, who had witnessed her husband's shooting, and fatally shot her four times.

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    August 23, 2007

    Ohio AG asks appeals court to make a decision in Stumpf case

    For 27 years, Chris Stout has watched his mother's murder case move through the court system.

    It didn't end with the conviction of those involved because of the appeals process. For the past five years, he has waited patiently for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to make a decision about one of the convicted murderers.

    Now his patience has run out.

    The Ohio Attorney General's Office agrees, as it recently sent a memorandum to the court asking it to finally render a decision.

    But there is no forcing the court to decide.

    A LONG PROCESS

    It has been five years since the Supreme Court sent the case revolving around John David Stumpf, who was found guilty of murdering Stout's mother and shooting his father, Norman, in 1984, back to the lower court.

    The Supreme Court asked the lower court to decide if Stumpf gave his guilty plea unknowingly and involuntarily and if his due process rights were violated.

    Appeals courts are under no time constraints to make decisions in cases. Francis King, court administrator for the 6th District, was unavailable for comment.

    And as each year has passed with no decision, Stout said he and his family continue to be tortured by the waiting.

    "This man killed my mother," Stout said. "The 6th Circuit has just been stalling. It's not right not making a decision. A decision. That's all I'm asking for."

    Stumpf was convicted in 1984 of the murder of Mary Jane Stout, of New Concord. Mary Jane was murdered May 14, 1984, and Stumpf received the death penalty by a three-judge panel for one count of aggravated murder. He was also sentenced to 25 years in prison, to run consecutively, for the attempted murder connected to the shooting of Mary Jane's husband, Norman.

    In 2004, the 6th Circuit vacated the conviction and death sentence based on an involuntary guilty plea and inconsistent prosecution theories and remanded the case back to Guernsey County for a retrial.

    Then in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and placed the case back in the hands of the 6th Circuit court.

    Stumpf, 49, is currently sitting on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary.

    BOTH SIDES WAIT

    "It's been torture for my family and I," said Stout. "My life has been consumed with this case and that's torture. I want the 6th Circuit Court to explain to me why they are continuing this."

    He thinks the Guernsey County and Muskingum County sheriff's offices, the prosecutors' offices and the Ohio Attorney General have done their jobs in the case.

    "Now this court needs to do theirs," he said.

    Stumpf has continually argued he did not shoot Mary Jane.

    Defense attorney Alan Freedman said he does not plan on filing a response.

    "It's not my place to tell the court when to make a decision," Freedman said. "We all want the court to make a decision."

    Freedman said he is sorry for the loss the Stout family has endured.

    "I'm sure this is very hard on them," Freedman said. "But my client doesn't believe he needs to be on death row, either. I think it's clear Mr. Stumpf was not the shooter in this case."

    Stumpf claims his conviction and that of his co-defendant, Clyde Wesley, were obtained by using inconsistent theories.

    Stumpf claims a cellmate of Wesley's, James Eastman, testified that Wesley admitted to killing Mary Jane during Wesley's trial and that Stumpf never shot her.

    FATEFUL NIGHT

    According to court documents, Stumpf and Wesley entered the Stout home that night on the pretense they needed to use a phone.

    Childhood friends, the pair and another man, Norman Leroy Edmunds, left Stumpf's home in Pennsylvania after drinking a considerable amount of beer and stopped on Interstate 70 when the car got low on gas. None of the men had any money.

    There were three guns in the car -- Edmunds had two guns, a Fratelli 9mm semi-automatic pistol he had purchased a few days before and a Raven .25-caliber semi-automatic chrome pistol, while Wesley had a Armi .25-caliber semi-automatic black pistol.

    Stumpf and Wesley approached the Stout home 9 p.m. and asked if they could use the phone.

    Stout said his parents were good-hearted people and allowed the pair into their home.

    Stumpf did use the phone, and Norman Stout testified at the first trial he noticed Stumpf wiped off the receiver with a handkerchief after using it.

    The two men then took out guns and told the couple "this is a stick-up." Wesley found Norman's wallet and then asked for the elderly couple's car keys. The Stouts were taken to a bedroom while Wesley searched the house for more money. Wesley also asked Norman where any guns were in the home.

    While Wesley searched the house, Stumpf held the couple at bay with a black .25-caliber handgun.

    When Norman stood up and began to move toward Stumpf, Stumpf shot Norman between the eyes, court records show, and Norman was able to push Stumpf out of the bedroom before he fell to the floor, and was then shot in the head.

    Stumpf he dropped the gun and Norman began to struggle with Wesley. Wesley told Stumpf to pick up the gun and shoot Norman.

    Four shots were fired, and Mary Jane was shot four times -- three times in the left side of her head and once through the wrist.

    Stumpf maintains he did not shoot Mary Jane and after he shot her husband, he ran out of the house.

    Wesley, 51, was convicted of aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He is currently at Marion Correctional Institution.

    "I just want the court to make a decision," Stout said. "Our lives have been completely turned upside down because of this and they're just sitting on it. It's not right. We're being tortured daily by not having any decision. What's so hard about making a decision. Just do it."

    http://www.coshoctontribune.com/arti...308/1002/rss01

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    Death Penalty Cases Stalled In Appeals Court

    They have been convicted of murder and sentenced to death but in many cases their appeals and their death sentences -- are stuck on hold.

    Proceedings at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers several states including Ohio, often stall, even after all of the arguments have been made, 10 Investigates' Paul Aker reported on Thursday.

    The delays leave question marks and heartache for many of the people involved.

    Three men broke into Norman Stout's home 26 years ago. They attacked him and fired two gunshots at his head, one of them striking Stout between his eyes.

    "They had destroyed my family," Stout said. "I made the attempt to take the guy out of the room, well he shot me first, right here. That's the hole from across the bed. And the bullet is in the back of the head."

    The attackers then went after his wife of 34 years, Mary Jane Norman.

    "I did hear the last four shots that killed her," Stout said. "She meant everything. Every moment you relax, it pops back into your head. So this is not something that happened 26 years ago, this is something that happens every day to me."

    The court sentenced two of the attackers to prison, but decided one of them, David Stumpf, should die for the crime.

    While Stout was spending his years visiting his wife at the cemetery, Stumpf spent them appealing his death penalty ruling.

    Finally, Stumpf got a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, but it sent the case back to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

    The case was argued more than three years ago but there is still no decision.

    Ohio's Attorney General recently filed a motion asking the court to rule, Aker reported.

    Stumpf is still alive and Stout still waits for an answer.

    "I want them to do their job," Stout said. "To earn the money they're drawing monthly."

    The court's chief judge told 10 Investigates that the code of ethics prevents judges from commenting on specific cases.

    But it is not just one case being delayed. 10 Investigates scoured thousands of court records and isolated cases involving death penalty issues.

    We then pulled out only cases that have been waiting for a year or more for the Sixth Circuit Court to make a decision.

    The investigation revealed six cases, five from Ohio, that all involved murders committed in the 1980s or early 1990s.

    10 Investigates also examined four nearby circuit courts and between all of them, there were only two cases that had waited anywhere near a year, Aker reported.

    Johnida Barnes' uncle was murdered in 1985. His killer's case hit a snag at the Sixth Circuit Court, where it has been awaiting a decision since April 2009.

    "It's unconscionable that we've had to wait 25 years for justice," Barnes said.

    Earlier this month, the court finally made a decision, ruling that the convicted murderer will get the death penalty.

    Officials could not talk about the specifics of the case, but Chief Judge Alice Batchelder said death penalty cases often take a long time because judges need to thoroughly review records and the outcomes are so important.

    Batchelder also said the court has to deal with an extremely high caseload.

    Until the court finds a way to speed up the process, an 80-year-old man with lead in his brain and a hole in heart has no choice but endure the pain of waiting.

    "The system is broken," Stout said.

    Next week it will be three years and four months since the court heard Stumpf's appeal but there is no indication when it might finally rule.

    http://www.10tv.com/live/content/ten...s.html?sid=102

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    DeWine Demands Action In High-Profile Death Penalty Case

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a second demand for the U.S. District Court of Appeals to take action in a high-profile death penalty case.

    David Stumpf was sentenced to death in 1985 after he was convicted of shooting Norman Stout in the head multiple times and murdered Stout's wife.

    The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered the U.S. Sixth Circuit court to decide the issue.

    The last arguments in the case were presented nearly four years ago, but there is still no ruling in the case, 10 Investigates' Paul Aker reported.

    Stout's son, Chris Stout, said that he hopes DeWine's second demand will finally stop the wait.

    "(My) nerves are totally shot," Chris Stout said. "Every time we turn around, we think we're going to get justice on my mom's murder and dad's shooting. The same thing keeps going over and over. The justice system is not working, period."

    In the past, the chief judge declined to speak about the case directly but said that death penalty cases take a long time because they are complicated. Previous findings by 10 Investigates showed that the Sixth District court is far more delayed than other nearby circuits.

    http://www.10tv.com/live/content/ten...e.html?sid=102

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    JOHN DAVID STUMPF V MARC C. HOUK, Warden

    In today's opinions the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals REVERSED and REMANDED Stump's case to the district court.

    MARTHA CRAIG DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge.

    Recent polling results and statistical compilations support many of the economic and penological arguments that have long been raised in opposition to the imposition of the death penalty in the United States. Other statistics bolster objections to a form of punishment that, possibly because of its finality, has been shown to have been misdirected. Such polemical discussions, while interesting, are, however, better suited for the deliberations in the chambers of our state and national legislatures. In this appeal, we are not asked to involve ourselves in those debates, or even in a discussion of the constitutionality of the death penalty. Instead, we are required to examine only the constitutional ramifications of court proceedings that are alleged to have infringed John David Stumpf’s right to be sentenced in accordance with longstanding principles of due process and fundamental fairness. We conclude that those principles were violated by the state in seeking to execute Stumpf even after it became clear that the basis for the imposition of the death penalty had been seriously compromised in the subsequent prosecution of Stumpf’s accomplice, as further explained below. Indeed, the facts of this case exemplify the arbitrariness that prior decisions of the United States Supreme Court and of this court have decried as violative of fundamental constitutional safeguards. As a result, we once again reverse the judgment of the district court and remand this matter for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, unless the State of Ohio conducts a new sentencing hearing for Stumpf within 90 days of the issuance of this opinion.

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    Appeals court overturns conviction of man accused of killing New Concord woman

    COLUMBUS — John David Stumpf could be released from prison until a new hearing takes place on his death penalty case involving a New Concord woman.

    Stumpf was convicted in 1984 of murdering Mary Jane Stout at her home on May 14, 1984.

    This morning, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Stumpf’s due process rights were violated.

    For the murder, Stumpf received the death penalty and was also sentenced to 25 years in prison, to run consecutively, for the attempted murder connected to the shooting of Mary Jane’s husband, Norman.

    In 2004, the 6th Circuit vacated the conviction and death sentence based on an involuntary guilty plea and inconsistent prosecution theories and remanded the case back to Guernsey County for a retrial.

    Then in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and placed the case back in the hands of the 6th Circuit Court.

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.c...Concord-woman-

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    Attorney General's Office gets stay for convicted killer's resentencing

    John David Stumpf will not be released from death row anytime soon.

    The Ohio Attorney General’s Office was granted a stay by a federal court in the resentencing for Stumpf, a convicted killer.

    In August, the 6th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals overturned the death penalty for Stumpf and sent the case back to a Guernsey County Common Pleas court for resentencing.

    Stumpf, still eligible for the death penalty and who has been sitting on death row since 1984, was convicted of the murder of Mary Jane Stout, of New Concord.

    The Attorney General’s Office also is asking that all 19 judges from the appeals court hear the case, instead of three.

    Chris Stout, Mary Jane’s son, has waited a long time for justice for his mother.
    He said he wants the appeals court to make a decision and “do their jobs.”

    “I want them to be accountable,” Stout said. “The 6th Circuit Court hasn’t done it yet. Make them do it.”

    Stout said it shouldn’t go back to Guernsey County.

    “Guernsey County did their jobs,” Stout said. “Why make the taxpayers of Guernsey County pay for another sentencing. Make these judges do their jobs like everyone else has done.”

    The appeals court decision in August determined Stumpf’s due process rights were violated because of an unfair sentencing after the prosecution led jurors to think Stumpf killed Mary Jane, when it might have been Stumpf’s co-defendant, Clyde Daniel Wesley, 52.

    The case was to be sent back to Guernsey County in 90 days from Aug. 11, but that has been continued until the Attorney General’s office can have a hearing before the court.

    In its motion, the Attorney General’s Office said it plans to appeal the court’s decision and said a rush to a new sentencing would not give ample time to file the appeal or force them to rush through a new sentencing phase or even give Stumpf a lessor sentence.

    The case has been in the court system for 28 years.

    After Stumpf’s conviction in 1984, the 5th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals vacated the conviction and death sentence based on an involuntary guilty plea and inconsistent prosecution theories and remanded the case back to Guernsey County for a resentencing.

    Then in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and placed the case back in the hands of the 6th Circuit.

    Stumpf’s attorney, Alan Michael Freedman, who is with the Midwest Center for Justice in Illinois, said he thinks Stumpf isn’t the one who shot and killed Mary Jane. And for that, Stumpf doesn’t need to be on death row, Freedman said.

    Stumpf claims a cellmate of Wesley, James Eastman, testified that Wesley admitted to killing Mary Jane during Wesley’s trial and that Stumpf never shot her.

    Wesley was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years after being convicted of aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated murder. He is in Marion Correctional Institution.

    According to trial records, Stumpf and Wesley went to the Stout home with guns after their car ran out of gas on Interstate 70. They asked if they could use their phone and were let in.

    Once inside they kept the Stouts at bay with guns.

    Norman Stout, Mary Jane’s husband, stood up and began to move toward Stumpf, and Stumpf shot him between the eyes. Norman was able to push Stumpf out of the bedroom before he fell to the floor and again, Norman was shot in the head.

    Stumpf dropped the gun, court records show, and Norman began to struggle with Wesley. Wesley told Stumpf to pick up the gun and shoot Norman again.

    Four shots were then fired, hitting Mary Jane — three times in the left side of her head and once through the wrist.

    Stumpf has said he didn’t shoot Mary Jane. Instead, he said, he ran out of the house.

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.c...s-resentencing

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    Appeals court to look at death sentence

    In another twist in one of Ohio’s most convoluted murder cases, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether John David Stumpf should get the death penalty again for killing a New Concord woman 27 years ago.

    It is a mixed blessing for Chris Stout, a Dublin man whose mother, Mary Jane Stout, was shot to death during a robbery at her home about 70 miles east of Columbus on May 13, 1984. His father, Norman, was shot and survived but is permanently disabled.

    Stumpf, 51, will not go free or get a new trial — at least not now.

    But it also means painful memories will return to haunt Stout and his family, as they do each time there is a hearing or a decision in a case that began when Ronald Reagan was president.

    In the latest development, the Cincinnati-based federal appeals court on Oct. 26 accepted Attorney General Mike DeWine’s request that the full court reconsider a 2-1 decision made in August by a 6th Circuit panel. After a four-year wait, the panel overturned Stumpf’s death sentence, concluding that his constitutional rights had been violated by a prosecutor who told the jury he was the triggerman in Stout.

    Now, all available judges will hear the case sometime next year.

    “I’m glad we’re getting in front of all the judges,” said Stout, a former state prison corrections officer. “I can’t wait to see all of them in the same room to do their job.”

    Stout has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the courts’ handling of his mother’s murder case. It has been up and down since September 1984, when Stumpf was convicted and sentenced to death.

    Twenty years later, a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court overturned Stumpf’s conviction and death sentence.

    A year after that, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and sent Stumpf’s case back to the appeals court for action.

    That set the stage for the August decision and, ultimately, the new hearing by the full court. Stumpf’s attorney must file briefs by Dec. 1 and DeWine’s office by Jan. 6.

    Stumpf pleaded guilty to shooting Mr. Stout but denied killing his wife. He said the triggerman was his accomplice, Clyde Daniel Wesley, who was sentenced to life in prison.

    Stumpf’s attorney, Alan M. Freedman of the Midwest Center for Justice in Evanston, Ill., said it’s rare when the defendant who did not do the killing gets the death penalty.

    http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...-sentence.html

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    Death-penalty case drags on for decades

    More than 28 years after three .25-caliber bullets ended Mary Jane Stout’s life, two of her sons sat in the front row of a federal courtroom yesterday for yet another hearing.

    Chris Stout, 53, of Hilliard, and Chuck Stout, 54, of northeastern Ohio, have been through hearings in multiple settings, from Guernsey County Common Pleas Court to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the story and its sad ending remain the same: Mary Jane Stout, daughter of Italian immigrants, mother of three sons, dies. Norman Stout, Air Force veteran of the Korean War and her husband of 30 years, is shot in the head and permanently disabled.

    The case against John David Stumpf, 51, the man convicted of killing Mrs. Stout, is one of the oldest capital-punishment cases in Ohio, beginning when Ronald Reagan was president.

    Yesterday, in an unusual proceeding, 12 judges of the multistate 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing in Stumpf’s case. The court typically meets via conference calls or in three-judge panels but rarely as a full court, known as “en banc.”

    During the one-hour proceeding, the court heard arguments by Alan Friedman, Stumpf’s attorney, that his client deserves a new sentencing hearing because prosecutors made “inconsistent” arguments during his trial and in subsequent appeals.

    Friedman said prosecutors claimed that Stumpf was the shooter, then later said he should be convicted even if he wasn’t because he pleaded guilty. His accomplice, Clyde Wesley, was most likely responsible for killing Mrs. Stout, officials now say, although that is uncertain. (Wesley, 52, is serving a life sentence in an Ohio prison.)

    “The question is not whether he (Stumpf) could get the death penalty, but whether he should get the death penalty,” Friedman said. “Being the trigger person is the critical factor in who gets the death penalty.”

    Alexandra T. Schimmer, the state solicitor general in Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office, countered that prosecutors were using “alternative arguments” and did not make misleading or inconsistent statements.

    “The state laid all the cards on the table ... and said that he deserved the death penalty either way,” Schimmer told the appeals judges.

    She characterized Friedman’s arguments as going “back through a cul-de-sac that we’ve already circled at least three times.”

    The case has been through the gantlet, including one point where the death sentence was overturned only to be reinstated. It has been to the U.S. Supreme Court, then back to the 6th Circuit. At one point, the federal appeals court announced it would reconsider an earlier ruling, then said it had made a mistake and there would be no reconsideration.

    The court will make a decision in the case at a later date.

    After yesterday’s hearing, Chris and Chuck Stout stood in the hallway of the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse with Guernsey County Prosecutor Daniel G. Padden to discuss the case.

    “I started to get sick to my stomach in the last five minutes,” Chuck Stout said.

    Chris Stout, a former prison guard who contemplated killing Stumpf with his bare hands at his trial, seemed more relaxed. “You’ve got to remain calm,” he said.

    http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...o-drag-on.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Stumpf v. Robinson

    In today's Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals opinions, on remand from the United States Supreme Court, the court AFFIRMED en banc by a nine-to-eight vote the district court's DENIAL of Stumpf's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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