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Thread: Maurice Lyons Sentenced to LWOP in 2010 OH Slaying of Wife

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Maurice Lyons Sentenced to LWOP in 2010 OH Slaying of Wife

    Maurice Lyons was indicted by a grand jury Monday on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and endangering children in the July 25th murder of his wife, Tonya Hunter, a highly respected, Cleveland-area marriage counselor.


    The 38-year-old man also faces a litany of other indictments - tampering with evidence, misuse of credit cards, domestic violence, disrupting public service, intimidation of a crime victim and telecommunications harassment.

    Unfortunately, the couple had dug themselves in to a financial hole and were in dire straits with creditors.


    On that fateful day of murder in the detached garage of their home, a violent argument ensued between the couple, and the child was ordered to get in to the car.

    Lyons reportedly demanded money, which Hunter refused to give him. In retaliation, Lyons viciously stabbed his wife a total of 17 times then stole her credit cards, covered her with plastic, left her in the garage and took the car with the boy still in the back seat. The child was abandoned on a Cleveland street corner.

    According to police reports, Lyons went to his mother's house on the day of the murder and changed clothing. He then went to a Walgreens and gas station, using Hunter's credit cards to make the purchases. Lyons was arrested just one day after the murder in front of a major Cleveland shopping area.

    Currently Lyons is being held on an $8-million bond and is expected to face arraignment on Thursday.



    http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/08/10/prosecutor-husband-of-ohio-marriage-counselor-faces-death-penal/


    The Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office gives this account of Hunter's last days

    Lyons assaulted Hunter, 42, at their Walden Avenue home July 13 and prevented her from calling police. He took the phone away from her and threatened her, but Hunter did contact police and Lyons was charged with felony domestic violence, his second offense.

    Five days later, Lyons assaulted Hunter in her driveway. He then called her repeatedly for two days, making more threats.

    On July 25, Lyons confronted Hunter as she was leaving her house with her 4-year-old son. The child got into the back seat of Hunter's car and listened as she and Lyons argued.

    Lyons demanded money and started stabbing Hunter. He stabbed the marriage counselor 17 times. He then covered her body with plastic in the garage and left with her credit cards and car.

    He abandoned the boy near East 28th Street and Cedar Road and drove to his mother's house, where he changed out of his bloody clothes.

    He used Hunter's credit cards at a Walgreen store and a gas station before Cleveland police arrested him July 26 in front of Tower City.

    Lyons first assaulted and intimidated his wife March 26. He was sentenced to 80 days in jail, two years of probation and fined $300. On June 17, he was drug tested and ordered to wear a GPS monitor.

    He tested positive for cocaine and failed to get the monitor from the probation department. He then failed to appear in Cleveland Municipal Court June 22 and an arrest warrant was issued with a special alert that police arrest him as soon as possible.

    A court official lost the arrest order and Lyons remained free to attack his wife July 13. An arrest warrant was issued again July 19 and sent to Cleveland police. Hunter was killed six days later.

    Lyons' other convictions in Cleveland Municipal Court include disorderly conduct while intoxicated, having an open container, littering and loud noise in 2005, when he lived in the 3200 block of West 31st Street.

    http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/husband_stabbed_tonya_hunter_1.html

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judges Mull Husband's Guilty Plea in Counselor Wife's Murder

    A Cleveland man accused of stabbing his wife 17 times in front of her 4-year-old son has plead guilty to her murder and now must wait to see if a three judge panel accepts his plea.

    Maria Russo, Public Information Specialist with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, tells Fox 8 News that Maurice Lyons entered a guilty plea in the murder of his wife, Tonya Hunter, before a three judge panel on Monday morning.

    Russo says the judges are currently meeting to comb over all evidence and review statements before deciding whether or not to accept the plea.

    Lyons was arrested after Cleveland Police found the body of Hunter, 42, under a tarp in the garage of her Walden Avenue home. She had been stabbed to death.

    Hunter's 4-year-old son led police to the scene after he was dropped off at the corner of East 28th Street and Cedar Road by Lyons. The boy told police that his mother had been hurt.

    Police say Lyons stabbed and killed Hunter in front of the child.

    Hunter, a well respected marriage counselor, had recently filed for divorce after only seven months of marriage to Lyons. Records show Hunter filed two restraining orders against her husband prior to the divorce.

    Lyons faces the death penalty if found guilty of aggravated murder charges associated with Hunter's death.

    http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-ma...,6005548.story

  3. #3
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    A Cleveland man who raped and killed his wife in front of her 5-year-old son will be spared the death penalty after taking a plea deal Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

    Maurice Lyons, 39, admitted stabbing his wife, Tonya Hunter-Lyons, 17 times in the chest, neck, abdomen and back July 26 and covered her body with a tarp. Hunter-Lyons was a family and marriage counselor. She died the victim of unmitigated domestic violence that escalated to a deadly conclusion.

    Judges Janet Burnside, Stuart Friedman and Joseph D. Russo are scheduled to return to the courtroom this morning to hear statements from Hunter-Lyons' family before issuing a sentence. As part of his plea agreement, Lyons is expected to receive life in prison without parole.

    Before the judges accepted Lyons' plea, they heard testimony from Cleveland police detective Kathleen Carlin, who described her investigation and her interview with the only witness to Hunter-Lyons' murder -- her son, who was 4 at the time.

    The little boy said he and Hunter-Lyons were preparing to go to the store on the night of July 25 when they were ambushed in the garage by Hunter, who he called "daddy."

    Hunter-Lyons, 42, had lodged several domestic violence complaints against her husband of seven months and indicated to friends that she could no longer handle the abuse. She planned on divorcing him, prosecutors said. She had banned him from the house in the meantime, and e-mails to a friend implied she had changed the locks to protect herself.

    Hunter, who later admitted to having spent that evening high on cocaine, told the boy to get in the car, forced his wife into a chair in the garage and demanded money, Carlin said. Hunter-Lyons started to cry as the confrontation became more violent, Hunter-Lyons' son told the detective.

    He cowered in the backseat of the car and watched in terror as his mother was raped and stabbed.

    When asked "where daddy cut mommy?" the boy turned around and pointed to his back, Carlin said.

    Then Lyons jumped in the drivers seat, drove the little boy to the corner of East 28th Street and Cedar Avenue just after 10 p.m., opened the back door and ordered the boy out.

    The car took off at high speed, witnesses said, with the stranded boy chasing after it.

    Four women sitting outside their nearby home saw Lyons abandon the boy and called the police.

    As the detective recounted the interview, the defendant's mother, Dorothy Macon, stood to leave the courtroom, sobbing audibly. When she reached the door, she collapsed, prompting family to rush to her assistance and Burnside to call 911.

    Macon was taken by EMS to an area hospital, where her family said she was treated for anxiety. And the hearing continued.

    Carlin said Lyons was arrested the following day when police spotted his wife's car at Tower City Shopping Center.

    By then he had withdrawn money from his wife's bank account. He had Hunter-Lyons' debit card and her wedding ring. The diamonds were spattered with blood.

    http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011...ilty_to_4.html

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