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Thread: James Were - Ohio Death Row

  1. #1
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    James Were - Ohio Death Row



    Robert
    Vallandingham




    Summary of Offense:

    During the riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility ("Lucasville"), Were murdered Robert Vallandingham, a prison guard. Were was an inmate, who along with other prison inmates, held prison guards and inmates hostage. On April 15, 1993, Were, Jason Robb, who was the leader of the prison's Aryan Brotherhood, and Carlos Sanders, who was the leader of the prison's Muslim group, ordered inmates to strangle Mr. Vallandingham to death with a cord and baseball bat. Robb and Sanders also received a death sentence for the aggravated murder of Mr. Vallandingham.

    For more on Robb, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...ght=jason+robb
    For more on Sanders, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...carlos+sanders

    Also sentenced to death for murders committed during the riot were Keith LaMar and George Skatzes.

  2. #2
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    June 18, 2008

    Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Conviction for James Were OH DR in 1993 Prison CO Murder

    COLUMBUS -- The Supreme Court of Ohio has unanimously upheld the conviction and death sentence of inmate James Were for the aggravated murder of corrections officer Robert Vallandingham during the 1993 prisoner uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

    In the decision, written by Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, the Supreme Court unanimously overruled all 33 allegations of legal and procedural error by the lower courts Were submitted as grounds for reversal of his conviction or reduction of his death sentence.

    Though the Were case was handled by the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, Lynn Grimshaw was Scioto County Prosecutor at the time of the riot and oversaw assignment of the numerous cases among a group of prosecutors from throughout the state. Grimshaw said he is pleased with the ruling.

    "My belief, and I believe this with every fiber in my being, is that every effort was made to be aggressive in our prosecution and yet scrupulously fair to all individuals being prosecuted," Grimshaw said. "I believe all the prosecutors who handled these cases did so very professionally."

    Among the arguments Were used to try to beat the death penalty was that he is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for capital punishment under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Justice Pfeifer noted that, after finding Were guilty of the kidnapping and aggravated murder of Vallandingham, the trial court followed proper guidelines by conducting a hearing to evaluate whether Were was in fact retarded.

    Citing hearing testimony by Dr. W. Michael Nelson, a clinical psychologist who testified as the state’s expert witness, Justice Pfeifer wrote, "Nelson’s testimony and Were’s school records support the trial court’s findings that Were is not mentally retarded. Nelson testified that Were’s scores of 69 on the Stanford-Binet IQ test were not indicative of mental retardation. Moreover, Were’s school records completed at the time of his first IQ test stated that Were was functioning in the ‘slow learner’ range of mental ability, not that he was mentally retarded."

    Pfeifer also denied Were’s claim that witness testimony placing him in the shower room where Vallandingham was strangled at the time of the killing was insufficient.

    "Were also argues that his ‘mere presence’ in the company of others who killed Vallandingham does not establish his guilt," Pfeifer wrote in his ruling. "Were was not an innocent bystander when Vallandingham was killed. He advocated killing a corrections officer and voted to do so. Subsequently, Were orchestrated Vallandingham’s murder by removing Vallandingham from his cell, taking him to the shower area, and overseeing the inmates who killed him. Were’s argument is without merit."

    In April 1993, a group of prisoners began a riot and took control of the prison’s "L Block."

    Vallandingham and seven other guards were taken hostage and the rioting inmates held authorities at bay for 11 days.

    Before prison officials regained control, several nine prisoners and Vallandingham were killed.

    Were, a leader of one of the prisoner factions involved in the riot, was originally convicted for his role Vallandingham’s murder and was sentenced to death by the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court two years later. The First District Court of Appeals upheld that conviction in 1998, but in 2002 the Supreme Court of Ohio overturned the conviction and Were’s case was remanded to the lower court for a new trial.

    The state’s highest court ruled that the trial court had failed to conduct a required hearing to determine whether Were was mentally competent to stand trial.

    Following a hearing, at which the trial court found Were competent to face charges, he was retried before a new jury in 2003 and again found guilty of aggravated murder and sentenced to death.

    Were was one of several inmates convicted in connection with the Vallandingham death. His attorney, E. Fred Hoefle, was contacted for comment on this story, as was Vallandingham’s widow, Peggy Vallandingham. Neither were immediately available for comment.

    http://www.irontontribune.com/articl...ws/local01.txt

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On October 8, 2010, Were filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/ohi...v00698/141451/

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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

  5. #5
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    From the Vault: Nine inmates, one guard killed in 1993 Lucasville prison riot

    By WCPO News Staff

    Twenty-five years ago, Ohio prison inmates killed nine of their own and one corrections officer during an 11-day riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio.

    About 450 prisoners took part in the riot that started on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1993. Lucasville was the state’s only maximum-security prison and housed the most dangerous offenders, many of whom had psychological disorders. The riot ringleaders were identified as members of various gangs, including Black Muslims and Aryan Brotherhood.

    On the first day, rioters took over Cellblock L and brutally beat and stabbed five inmates to death and tossed their bodies in the exercise yard. The victims were considered snitches. Four others were killed over the next few days. One was strangled with cords after paper and plastic were shoved in his mouth.

    Rioters also took eight prison guards hostage. When they didn’t think prison officials were taking their demands seriously, they strangled guard Robert Vallandingham on the fifth day.

    On the same day, a police helicopter crashed outside the prison. Three officers were injured.

    Ringleaders insisted on talking to TV and newspaper reporters to make their complaints and demands known. Chief among them: Abusive treatment and overcrowding. In addition, Black Muslims wanted mandatory tuberculosis testing stopped, saying it violated Islam, along with other concessions to their faith. Rioters also demanded the warden be fired and amnesty for all who participated.

    Two of the Muslim leaders were allowed in the recreation yard to negotiate with two prison officials. They sat across each other at a table with a microphone that broadcast their conversation live to TV and radio stations across the state.

    Gov. George Voinovich, whose father had designed the prison, called in the Ohio National Guard to support police and sheriff units from around the state. There was no place for them to sleep, so they took up with hogs, cows and sheep in the prison barns.

    Officials shut off electricity and water to Cellblock L when the riot began. A breakthrough occurred on the sixth day when food and water was sent in.

    Over time, two guards were released and most of the inmates in the cellblock walked out and surrendered. About 60 remained when the standoff entered its second week. When officials eventually agreed to review their demands, the rest of the rioters released the remaining guards and gave up on April 21, 1993.

    Once reporters were allowed inside, they found Cellblock L trashed and in ruin. Lt. Gov. Mike DeWine described it as “devastation.” Rioters caused more than $40 million damage, smashing sinks, toilets, water pipes and anything breakable, and setting fires to mattresses and whatever they could burn.

    Five inmates were sentenced to death for their roles in the riots but remain on death row. Out of 50 inmates who faced charges, 47 were convicted.

    https://www.wcpo.com/news/our-commun...le-prison-riot
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

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  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Were's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Ohio
    Case Numbers: (2006-1578)
    Decision Date: November 7, 2018

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-7809.html

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