Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Gregory A. Bowman - Missouri

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Gregory A. Bowman - Missouri




    Summary of Offense:

    Bowman, of Belmont, Illinois, was sentenced in the 1977 killing of Velda Rumfelt, 16, in St. Louis County. The jury that convicted Bowman, then 58, in October 2009 recommended the death penalty. Bowman was imprisoned 28 years for killing Elizabeth West, 14, and Ruth Ann Jany, 21, in separate cases in Belleville, Illinois, in 1978. The convictions were thrown out after a sheriff's deputy admitted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Bowman had been tricked into confessing.

    Bowman was sentenced to death on December 11, 2009.

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    December 11, 2009

    Gregory Bowman Resentenced To Death in 1977 Murder

    CLAYTON, MO (AP) - Gregory Bowman has been sentenced to death for killing a teenager in St. Louis County more than 30 years ago. Circuit Judge David Lee Vincent III on Friday agreed with the jury's recommendation for the death penalty. Bowman's attorney says he will appeal. Bowman had spent 28 years in prison for two killings in Illinois before his conviction was vacated.

    Bowman, of Belmont, Ill., was sentenced in the 1977 killing of Velda Rumfelt, 16, in St. Louis County. The jury that convicted the Bowman, 58, in October recommended the death penalty.

    Bowman was imprisoned 28 years for killing Elizabeth West, 14, and Ruth Ann Jany, 21, in separate cases in Belleville, Illinois, in 1978.

    The convictions were thrown out after a sheriff's deputy admitted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Bowman had been tricked into confessing.

    http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-gre...,4555559.story

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    MO. Supreme Court Hears Debate Over Use Of DNA in Murder Trial

    The role of DNA evidence in a cold case murder is now before the Missouri Supreme Court. Belleville resident Gregory Bowman was convicted a year ago in the 1977 murder of 16-year-old Velda Rumfelt.

    Gregory Bowman, who faces the death penalty in Missouri, has been the center of much media attention. He confessed to the murders of two young Illinois women and spent much of his life behind bars. But he won new trials in those cases.

    His release from prison prompted Illinois police to send his DNA evidence to St. Louis County police who were trying to solve the Velda Rumfelt murder.

    DNA tests showed a link to Bowman and last year a St. Louis County jury found him guilty of murder.

    But his attorney told the Missouri Supreme Court the conviction should be thrown out since Bowman never consented to have his DNA sent to Missouri and that violated an Illinois privacy law.

    A Missouri assistant attorney general disagreed.

    http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-dna...,4556704.story

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    State of Missouri, Respondent vs. Gregory Bowman, Appellant.

    Court reverses death sentence for Missouri inmate

    The Missouri Supreme Court has affirmed the murder conviction for Gregory Bowman, but reversed the sentence that put him on death row.

    The court ruled Tuesday that St. Louis County jurors should not have heard during the sentencing hearing about Bowman's convictions for killing a 14-year-old girl and a 21-year-old woman in Belleville, Ill., in 1978 because both convictions were overturned.

    After Bowman was released from jail in Illinois, St. Louis County police obtained his DNA profile and matched it to the 1977 killing of 16-year-old Velda Rumfelt. Bowman was convicted in that case in December 2009 and sentenced to death.

    In the ruling, the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the trial court for re-sentencing.

    It wasn't immediately clear if prosecutors would try again for the death penalty.

    http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Court...119713229.html

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    2,740
    The court ruled Tuesday that St. Louis County jurors should not have heard during the sentencing hearing about Bowman's convictions for killing a 14-year-old girl and a 21-year-old woman in Belleville, Ill., in 1978 because both convictions were overturned.

    Yeah I can agree with that. Surely that was an obvious pointer for the judge and prosecution in the first place.

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    A post from 2009

    Bowman jurors describe feelings after case

    Their work was done seven weeks before, but many of the jurors who recommended a death sentence for Gregory Bowman returned to court Friday to watch as a judge made it formal.

    "We're here to support each other in our decision and see it through to the end," said Dawn, who with the others revealed only her first name.

    They spoke of shock upon learning - after finding Bowman guilty Oct. 22 of the first-degree murder of a teenage girl in 1977 - that he was previously convicted of abducting two young women, accused of grabbing a third and awaiting trial for the murders of still two more.

    "It was absolutely horrific for us," Dawn said. "We had no clue."

    Those facts were revealed only in the penalty phase of the trial, after the jury had found Bowman guilty.

    Dawn said she was so overwhelmed by the news that it triggered an asthma attack during a break. She said she refused an ambulance because she wanted to finish her work as a juror.

    Testimony from three of Bowman's earlier victims led many jurors to weep, they said.

    "I wished they had given us some tissues," said one named Steve. "They had to take a recess because most of us were so upset. None of us expected anything like that."

    The moment also brought relief.

    "We knew we got it right," said a juror named Laura.

    The single issue Friday was whether Bowman, 58, should die for strangling and cutting the throat of Velda Joy Rumfelt, 16, of Kansas City, who disappeared from the Brentwood area on a visit to relatives on June 5, 1977. Her body had been found in a remote area of St. Louis County. The only direct evidence was testimony that Bowman's DNA matched semen in her underwear.

    There was little suspense Friday. It would be rare, if not unprecedented, for a Missouri judge to overrule a jury's death penalty recommendation. Circuit Judge David Lee Vincent III would have had only one alternative: life in prison without parole.

    Bowman declined comment before the judge read his sentence, but then objected when Vincent called him "cowardly."

    "I never," Bowman said softly, interrupting the judge. "I never. I am not guilty of this."

    Vincent suggested that Bowman had an opportunity but never explained during his testimony in the penalty phase of the trial how his DNA found its way into the victim's body. Defense lawyer Steve Evans corrected him, noting that it was found on her clothing.

    "Obviously the evidence shows that you preyed on young females for whatever reason," Vincent said. "It was a cowardly action. ... You can think about that for the rest of your life, until you are executed."

    Vincent denied a motion for a new trial from Evans, who argued that the DNA was illegally used in Missouri because Bowman only agreed to provide the sample for testing in Illinois cases. The lawyer said the issue likely would be highlighted in Bowman's appeal.

    Casey Rumfelt, 27, delivered the victim's family statement to the packed courtroom, even though he was born years after his aunt died. "Greg Bowman didn't just take a little girl off the street," he said. "He took my dad's best friend and the only person he had."

    Robert Haida, the state's attorney of St. Clair County, could not be reached Friday for comment on whether the sentence will have an impact on trials pending there.

    Bowman was in jail for a failed abduction in Belleville when he confessed to a fellow inmate that he had killed Ruth Ann Jany, 21, and Elizabeth West, 14, in separate abductions in the same city in 1978. He was later convicted of their murders in a deal by which prosecutors would not seek a death sentence in a bench trial and he would not contest the evidence.

    About two decades later, a Post-Dispatch investigation revealed how a detective plotted with the inmate to elicit the confession. An appellate court later cited that in ordering new trials, saying the defense should have been informed of it before trial.

    As the new trials were delayed for years, Bowman posted bail for a brief period in 2007. Investigators, trying to link him to other crimes, made the DNA match to the Rumfelt case. Officials said he had never before been a suspect in her murder.

    In interviews Friday, the jurors described 14 hours of deliberations spent re-enacting portions of the crime, drafting a timeline and sifting through every piece - including the victim's clothes.

    "You can't hold a piece of her and not be changed by that," said Dawn. "We gave her a voice."

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/article...ff0be6e7e.html

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    New sentencing hearing moving forward for Gregory Bowman

    Convicted murderer Gregory Bowman is returning to a St. Louis County courtroom this morning to begin the process of being resentenced in his 2009 conviction of murdering 16 year old Velda Rumfelt in 1977.

    Bowman was found guilty of killing the young girl by a jury who then sentenced him to the death penalty. That recommendation and sentence was then overturned in late 2011 by the Supreme Court on the grounds evidence of a previous murder conviction was wrongly entered into evidence during the punishment phase of the trial

    The court ruled prosecutors should not have presented testimony from an Illinois deputy who admitted he tricked Bowman into confessing he killed two young women in St. Clair County.

    Bowman was found guilty in the Illinois murders, but that conviction was later overturned.

    In the latest court action, Bowman will be represented by the public defender's office as they prepare evidence against Bowman being sentenced to die in the Rumfelt murder.

    Prosecutors continue to pursue the previous jury's recommendation that Bowman be given capital punishment for the crime.

    Court officials expect a final disposition sometime later this year.

    http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/330...Rumfelt-murder
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  8. #8
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Death penalty hearing in Missouri delayed a year for Bowman, who was linked to Belleville murders

    A hearing to determine whether convicted murderer Gregory A. Bowman would once again face the death penalty has been delayed for a year because he has a terminal illness.

    Bowman, 62, is facing sentencing for a murder 35 years ago in St. Louis County. Circuit Judge David Vincent, the judge presiding in Bowman's case, set the hearing for April 27, 2015.

    Bowman was convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 16-year-old Velda Rumfelt who was abducted from a busy Brentwood, Mo., intersection. DNA found in Rumfelt's underwear was a 1 in 459 trillion match to Bowman.

    Bowman, who also was convicted of killing two young women from Belleville, denied his guilt in the Rumfelt case from the witness stand to then-St. Louis County prosecutor Joe Dueker at the first sentencing hearing in 2009.

    The Missouri Supreme Court overturned his death sentence in 2011. The court ruled that during the sentencing phase of the trial, the judge erred when he allowed testimony regarding Bowman's conviction of the murders of 14-year-old Elizabeth West and 21-year-old Ruth Ann Jany, both of Belleville.

    "It would be hollow if he passes away in prison but as long as he doesn't hurt any other women, we can live with that," said Teresa Rumfelt, Velda Rumfeldt's friend and sister-in-law. "He's the lowest of the low. We would rather see him executed, but, at this point, we will take what we can get."

    "We were aggravated about what happened with the (Missouri) Supreme Court," Teresa Rumfelt said. "We followed the rules and we did what we were supposed to do and he still slipped out just like he did over there."

    West was abducted from West Main Street in Belleville. Her body was found in a small creek near Millstadt on May 5, 1978. Two months later, Jany was abducted from a Belleville bank's parking lot. Her skeletal remains were found a year later in a field near Hecker.

    Both the St. Clair County convictions were overturned after St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporters questioned the manner in which his confession was obtained.

    The newspaper reported that Bowman was "tricked" into confessing by former investigator Robert Miller, who got jail prisoner Danny Stark to plot an escape with Bowman, who confessed to delay his transfer to Menard Correction Center where he was to serve a sentence for abducting another Belleville woman from a laundromat.

    Associate Judge Richard Aguirre found the confession to Miller was not given freely and gave Bowman a new trial. Bowman posted bond and was released from jail for the first time in 29 years.

    His freedom didn't last long.

    Former Belleville Police Chief James Rokita, then retired, took a DNA profile offered by Bowman in the Belleville cases to Missouri and urged investigators there to compare it to their cold cases.

    Scientists were able to discover the semen in Rumfelt's underpants. Prosecutors said Bowman allowed Rumfelt to dress after her rape, preserving the DNA that would eventually be matched to Bowman's DNA profile.

    Bowman was free just over a week before he was arrested for the Rumfelt murder. This time the trial would be in St. Louis County, where Bowman would face a capital murder case.

    Steve Evans, Bowman's defense attorney, argued that Bowman's conviction was the only one in the state based solely on DNA evidence. Evans argued further that the DNA evidence should have never been sent to Missouri for comparisons to cold cases there.

    Jurors voted to convicted Bowman of Rumfelt's murder. Her body was discovered June 6, 1977, in a field near the Six Flags amusement park in Eureka, Mo. She had been raped and strangled with a shoestring, and her throat had been slashed.

    After Bowman received the death sentence in Missouri, then St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida dismissed the West and Jany murder charges.

    Bowman remains in the Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri.

    http://www.bnd.com/2014/04/09/315333...#storylink=cpy
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  9. #9
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Death penalty sought again for St. Louis County killer

    CLAYTON, MO (KTVI) – A man convicted for the 1977 murder of a Brentwood teenager could go to death row in a penalty phase retrial, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. However, a hearing scheduled for Monday morning was delayed.

    Gregory Bowman was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and killing 16-year-old Velda Joy Rumfelt. The girl’s body was discovered in a remote area. She’d been strangled and her throat was cut.

    Originally, a judge sentenced Bowman to death, but the sentence was overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2011, citing tainted prosecutorial arguments involving the discussion of prior convictions in Illinois.

    Bowman, 63, is said to be terminally ill. It is unclear how long the penalty phase retrial will take.

    Bowman was arrested in 1978 following an attempted kidnapping in Belleville, but the would-be victim escaped. He was charged with the kidnap and murder of two other people from Belleville, 14-year-old Elizabeth West and 21-year-old Ruth Jany. Bowman made a plea deal with St. Clair County prosecutors. If they promised not to seek the death penalty, he would not make a defense.

    In the end, Bowman was convicted in both cases and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

    But things did not end there.

    About 20 years after the conviction and sentencing, a Post-Dispatch investigation uncovered the fact that Bowman’s lawyer was not made aware his client had been tricked into providing a confession to an undercover officer. That confession was the main evidence against Bowman.

    The confession was thrown out and an Illinois appeals court ordered new trials in 2001. Bowman was released in 2007 due to lack of witness testimony and forensic evidence linking him to either crime.

    However, DNA evidence linked him to Rumfelt’s murder, which helped prosecutors with the conviction in that case.

    http://fox2now.com/2015/04/27/death-...county-killer/

  10. #10
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Newport, United Kingdom
    Posts
    2,454
    Man convicted of 1977 murder of Brentwood teen dies in Missouri prison

    By Mike Lear
    Missouri.net

    A man once sentenced to death for the 1977 murder of a Brentwood teenager has died in prison.

    Gregory Bowman was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and killing 16-year-old Velda Joy Rumfelt. His death sentence was set aside in 2011 after the state Supreme Court ruled jurors improperly heard information about two Illinois murders Bowman had been sentenced to life for. He was set free in those cases after a court threw out his confession.

    Prosecutors as recently as last year were pursuing a new penalty phase against Bowman, intending to again seek the death penalty. DNA evidence linked him to Rumfelt’s murder.

    Bowman, 64, was reported last year to be terminally ill. The Department of Corrections says his death appears to be due to natural causes.

    http://www.missourinet.com/2016/03/1...ssouri-prison/

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •