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    Darrell Bryant Ketchner - Arizona


    Ariel Allison






    Murder suspect returned to scene of prior crime

    The man charged with attacking a woman and killing her daughter on the Fourth of July was arrested earlier this year for an incident at the same address where the murders occurred.

    Jennifer Allison, 35, was listed in guarded condition in the intensive care unit of a Las Vegas hospital Monday afternoon. Allison suffered multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the back of the head and was found unresponsive in her driveway in the 1800 block of Pacific Avenue shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday. Allison's daughter, 18-year-old Ariel Allison, was pronounced dead at the scene.

    Darrell Bryant Ketchner, 51, was arrested in connection with the attack by Kingman Police at the Cerbat Cliffs Golf Course Sunday morning.

    Police allege Ketchner broke into the Allison home through a side door Saturday around 10:45 p.m. and surprised the victims, who were seated at the dining room table. Sgt. Bob Fisk, public information officer with the Kingman Police Department, said four other people were in the house at the time of the attack. Jennifer Allison was stabbed several times and had made it out the front door to call for help when she was shot. Police found Ariel Allison in a bedroom.

    Jennifer Allison had a restraining order barring Ketchner from the property. Ketchner was arrested in April on suspicion that he broke out several car windows in front of the Allison home. Police said they don't have a motive for Saturday's attack.

    According to several people who know the family, Ketchner is the father of Jennifer Allison's three youngest children, who range in age from 10 to 2. A child's stroller was outside the residence Monday where police tape still surrounded the scene.

    Ariel Allison attended school in Prescott and was spending the summer in Kingman working at the Sonic Drive-In at Keno Avenue and Stockton Hill Road before transferring to Las Vegas in the fall to become a dental hygienist, according to her boss. She had worked off-and-on at Sonic for close to two years, said Manager Crystal Gudel.

    "She was very outgoing, very bubbly," Gudel said, "like the sweetest person you ever met. It's just a tragedy. She didn't even get to live her life."

    Ketchner's criminal record spans at least 30 years. He spent five days in a Maricopa County jail when he was 19 on misdemeanor counts of obstruction of justice and a reduced charge of driving while intoxicated.

    In 1999, Ketchner was arrested along with his father, Wayne Bryant Ketchner, after the pair took delivery of 50 pounds of marijuana from undercover officers. The eldest Ketchner pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess marijuana for sale.

    Darrell Ketchner was also arrested for a variety of offenses in 2008, including misconduct involving weapons and assault by domestic violence.

    Police found a pistol on Ketchner when he was arrested. He is being held without bail at the Mohave County Jail.

    http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/mai...rticleID=32315

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    Judge: Murder suspect can skip court when he wants

    Williams reverses decision forcing Darrell Ketchner to attend all court hearings

    Despite Judge Rick Williams denying Darrell Ketchner's request to not attend non-critical hearings, it appears the murder suspect is getting exactly what he wanted.

    Ketchner was a no-show for his hearing Nov. 9. His lawyers told the court that Ketchner was refusing to get dressed to come to court.

    The previous month, Williams denied a motion by Ketchner's lawyers to waive the defendant's appearance at non-substantive hearings. County Attorney Megan McCoy said the state was concerned that the defendant's absence could open the door for an argument during appeal. Williams at the time agreed, saying that Ketchner had nothing better to do than come to court.

    But after Ketchner failed to attend his Nov. 9 hearing, Williams issued a ruling in which he said the defendant wouldn't have to attend non-substantive hearings after all.

    "While some may find the thought of having the defendant brought to court every few weeks for status conferences satisfying on some visceral level, such a ruling by this court would have unintended and burdensome consequences," Williams said.

    The judge said he made his decision after consulting with other members of the bench as well as staff at the Mohave County Jail. He also expressed concern that transporting uncooperative defendants would create additional safety concerns for not only jail staff, but court security as well.

    That order was filed with the court Dec. 14. At Ketchner's hearing the next day, his lawyer, John Napper, said Ketchner wasn't refusing to come to court but was sick the day of his hearing Nov. 9. Ketchner attended Wednesday's hearing in person.

    Despite the explanation, Williams let the order allowing the suspect to miss hearings to stand.

    The defense is also ordered to file written notice within 10 days of any hearings not attended by the defendant indicating that he was informed of all issues discussed in his absence.

    McCoy requested that the court receive prior notice of any hearings Ketchner would miss. She said members of the victims' family would have attended Wednesday's hearing had they not been told the defendant wouldn't be present.

    McCoy had also filed a motion seeking a psychological screening of the suspect since the state is seeking the death penalty, but the defense balked at the request and Williams said he wouldn't order a prescreening.

    Ketchner is charged with stabbing 18-year-old Ariel Allison to death and shooting her mother in the head after breaking into the Allison home July 4.

    His next appearance in court will be Jan. 25. It is not clear if Ketchner will be present.

    http://gvgnews.com/main.asp?SectionI...rticleID=35215

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    Jury hears closing arguments in Ketchner murder case

    The jury in the Darrell Ketchner murder trial heard closing arguments from both sides Wednesday, and could deliberate on the case today.

    Both sides agree that Ketchner stabbed Ariel Allison to death and attacked her mother, Jennifer Allison, on July 4, 2009.

    At issue is whether Ketchner had a plan to kill someone in mind the night he went to the Allison home.

    It's the difference between first-degree murder, which could lead to the death penalty, and second-degree murder, which could lead to life in prison.

    "The defendant was angry and it wasn't the kind that was hot and passionate. It was the kind you nurse," County Attorney Megan McCoy told the jury.

    "He immediately moved to attack Jennifer. There is no talking. There is no knocking."

    The blows to Ariel and Jennifer were not glancing blows, she said.

    Ketchner's attorney, John Napper, admitted that Ketchner had killed Ariel and attempted to kill Jennifer Allison, but he said the government selectively used evidence to prove their case.

    "Much of this case is not in dispute," he said. "But it is unfair and unethical to cherry pick the facts."

    He pointed out that Ketchner had a bag with him containing prescription medications, a change of clothes and his reading glasses. It was an overnight bag. Ketchner also had his ID on him, Napper said.

    Napper pointed out that most people do not carry their reading glasses, ID and prescriptions with them when they attempt to commit murder.

    Ketchner had a key to the home and knew there was a gun in the back bedroom.

    "If he had pre-planned this, he would have used his key in the back door, gotten the gun and then executed everyone in the house," Napper said.

    "How (the murder) was done, that is the issue, not who did it," he said. "There is no pre-plan to kill. Convict him of what he did, but don't let the government go too far."

    http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/mai...rticleID=55355
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    Death penalty sought for Ketchner

    Prosecutors have filed their notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Darrell Ketchner.

    Prosecutors filed themotion late last week, citing the cruel nature of the crime, Ketchner's previous conviction of assault against Jennifer Allison and the fact that the July 4 attack occurred "in the custody of or on authorized or unauthorized release from the State Department of Corrections, a law enforcement agency or a county or city jail."

    Ariel Allison, 18, was murdered during the attack in her mother's home on the 1800 block of Pacific Avenue.

    County Attorney Megan McCoy said the third factor was a result of Ketchner's pending misdemeanor charges.

    Because the case is now a death penalty case, Ketchner's defense was transferred from the county Public Defender's Office to the county's Criminal Justice Services Department, where he will be represented by attorneys Stephen Glazer and John Napper.

    Ketchner himself filed a motion to have Judge Derek Carlisle removed from the case while he was still being represented by a public defender. Judge Steven Conn was assigned the case but Ketchner's attorneys have filed a motion to have him removed from the case as well.

    A call to Ketchner's attorneys about the request was not immediately returned.

    http://www.goldenvalleygazette.com/m...rticleID=32814

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    Jury convicts Darrell Ketchner

    After a nearly month-long trial, a jury found a Kingman man guilty Thursday of the brutal murder of a Kingman teenager and knife attack on her mother.

    Darrell Bryant Ketchner was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of 18-year-old Ariel Allison. He was also found guilty of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated assault for the attack of her mother, Jennifer Allison, on the night of July 4, 2009, at her Kingman home. He was also convicted of first-degree burglary.

    The case resumes Monday with the attorneys arguing aggravating and mitigating factors. The jury will then decide if Ketchner will be sentenced to death or be sentenced to life in prison. The penalty phase is expected to take about a week.

    Attorneys spent about two weeks picking a jury in early February before opening statements began Feb. 19. The trial proceeded in fits and starts for about three weeks to work around Superior Court Judge Rick Williams’ other cases.

    During the trial, Deputy Mohave County Attorney Megan McCoy said that Jennifer Allison held a birthday party for one of the younger children, then the family watched fireworks that Fourth of July night. The prosecutor claimed that Ketchner, with an order of protection against him, broke into Allison’s home later that night with a knife in hand and wearing dark clothing. He then stabbed Jennifer and Ariel Allison as they sat at the kitchen table.

    Badly bleeding, Jennifer Allison, Ketchner’s former girlfriend, fled outside onto the driveway where neighbors testified that Ketchner, 55, shot her in the head. She survived the knife attack and gunshot wound but still suffers some physical disabilities.

    Ketchner then went back into the house where he stabbed Ariel Allison eight times in the front, back and head. She died in her mother’s bedroom. Ariel Allison had returned to Kingman that summer from college and had been staying with her grandmother, McCoy said.

    Ketchner and Jennifer Allison met a dozen years earlier, having three children of their own. Jennifer Allison already had several children while Ketchner also had other children. Ketchner moved into Allison’s home in 2005.

    Jennifer Allison got the first of three orders of protection against Ketchner in January 2008 before finally kicking Ketchner out of the house for good in January 2009. She dropped the protection order in March 2009, then reinstated it later that month.

    McCoy argued that the murders were premeditated since Ketchner planned to kill Jennifer and Ariel Allison that night. The next morning, Ketchner was found at the golf course in possession of Jennifer Allison’s gun and had blood on his pants. The bloody knife was also found near the home.

    Ketchner’s attorneys, David Shapiro and John Napper, conceded that their client was responsible for the death of Ariel Allison and the attack on her mother. But they argued against the death penalty, saying that the murder was not premeditated but that it was a result of a sudden, volatile quarrel with heated passion.

    Ketchner pleaded guilty in September 2010 to misconduct involving weapon for illegally possessing a gun at the time of the murder. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He also had a conviction for drugs in 1999, a drug conviction in 1992 and a conviction of illegally conducting an enterprise, also in 1992.

    http://www.mohavedailynews.com/artic...9601953556.txt
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Somewhat related

    Woman allegedly runs over girl with car

    A 22-year-old woman faces charges for reportedly running over a 17-year-old girl with her car.

    Ali Leigh Ketchner was jailed early Monday morning on felony charges of aggravated assault, leaving the scene of an injury accident and resisting arrest.

    Police say Ketchner showed up uninvited to the girl's house in the 2700 block of Tanner Street after midnight. Capt. Rusty Cooper said the pair got into an argument after Ketchner refused to leave.

    Ketchner was still reportedly arguing with the girl from behind the wheel of her car when she drove into the girl, hit her and dragged her for a short distance.

    Cooper said officers observed tire marks on the girl's leg and foot, along with a substantial amount of road rash.

    She was taken to the hospital for treatment.

    Ketchner was located at a relative's house in the 2300 block of Apache Street a short time later.

    Cooper said Ketchner fought with officers while being taken into custody.

    She also faces a drug charge after she was reportedly found to be in possession of prescription-only medication.

    Ketchner is the daughter of Darrell Ketchner, who faces the death penalty for the 2009 murder of 18-year-old Ariel Allison during a July 4 attack on Ariel's mother and other family members.

    http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/mai...rticleID=42703

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    Penalty phase begins in capital murder case

    A Kingman convicted murderer’s fate is expected to be decided this week in Superior Court.

    Darrell Bryant Ketchner was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder for the death of 18-year-old Ariel Allison. He was also found guilty of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated assault for the attack of her mother, Jennifer Allison on the night of July 4, 2009, as well as the burglary of her Kingman home.

    Deputy Mohave County Attorney Doug Camacho argued Monday three aggravating factors that if found by the jury could send Ketchner, 55, to death row or else be sentenced to life in prison. The prosecutor said that Ketchner had been released from custody on two bonds involving two pending criminal cases at the time of the murder. He also had prior felony convictions.

    But it was the third aggravating factor of cruelty that proved debatable. Camacho argued that Ariel Allison suffered physical and mental pain and anguish as she lay dying in her mother’s bedroom. The teenager was still alive by the time police and paramedics arrived.

    The prosecutor showed photos of Ariel Allison’s corpse with eight stab wounds, each one where she felt physical pain. Camacho also said the teenager suffered mental pain and stress since she likely heard her mother’s screams and the gunshot as Ketchner shot Jennifer Allison in the driveway.

    Ketchner’s attorneys, David Shapiro and John Napper, all but admitted that their client caused the death of Ariel Allison and the attack on her mother. But they argued against the death penalty, saying that the murder was not premeditated but rather that it was a result of a sudden, volatile quarrel with heated passion. Judge Rick Williams denied a defense motion to exclude cruelty as an aggravating factor.

    The jury found all three aggravating factors Monday afternoon. Today, the jury will hear opening arguments in the penalty phase as well as victim impact statements.

    During the trial, prosecutors argued that Ketchner, with an order of protection against him, broke into Allison’s home that night with a knife and wore dark clothing. He then stabbed Jennifer and Ariel Allison as they sat at the kitchen table.

    Jennifer Allison fled outside onto the driveway where neighbors testified that Ketchner shot her in the head. She survived the knife attack and gunshot. Ketchner also stabbed Ariel Allison eight times in the front, back and head. Ketchner was found the next morning, at the golf course with Jennifer Allison’s gun and blood on his pants. The bloody knife was also found near the home.

    Ketchner pleaded guilty in September 2010 to misconduct involving weapon for illegally possessing a gun at the time of the murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

    He also had a conviction for drugs in 1999, a drug conviction in 1992 and a conviction of illegally conducting an enterprise also in 1992.

    http://www.mohavedailynews.com/artic...6075543604.txt
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Trial set in January for murder suspect

    KINGMAN — A murder trial for a Kingman man charged with killing a teenage girl in 2009 was set Tuesday in Superior Court to begin in 2012.

    Darrell Bryant Ketchner, 53, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault and first-degree burglary. Ketchner is charged with the murder of 18-year-old Ariel Allison and the attack of her mother, Jennifer Allison, on July 4, 2009, at a Kingman home.

    Judge Rick Williams set Ketchner’s next hearing for April 22, with his murder trial to begin Jan. 23, 2012. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Ketchner. The trial is expected to take 12 weeks.

    In September 2010, Ketchner agreed to plead guilty to misconduct involving weapon but is still charged with the remaining charges. The misconduct charge states that he illegally possessed a gun at the time of the alleged murder. Ketchner pleaded guilty because he wanted to serve his time at the Arizona Department of Corrections rather than at the county jail awaiting trial on the remaining charges.

    The judge later sentenced Ketchner to 15 years in prison.

    http://www.mohavedailynews.com/artic...c819252158.txt

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    'She had a plan for life'

    Jurors who hold in their hands the fate of convicted murderer Darrell Bryant Ketchner heard how the July 4, 2009 killing of Ariel Allison has affected her family.

    "The night Darrell Ketchner murdered my daughter, he destroyed us," said Jennifer Allison, Ariel's mother and Ketchner's former girlfriend.

    On that Independence Day, Ketchner showed up at the Allison home on Pacific Avenue in Kingman. He stabbed Ariel Allison eight times, according to testimony, and stabbed and shot her mother in the back of the head.

    Ariel was on summer break from college and 21 days shy of her 19th birthday the night she died.

    Jennifer Allison, still suffering the lingering effects of her injuries, testified she was 15 years old when she became pregnant with Ariel.

    "I was 16 when I had her," she said. "I made a choice to have her and I married her father a year later."

    Shawn Allison would die in a car crash when Ariel was 4 years old, her little sister was 2 and her mom was 20.

    "It was just the three of us girls after that," she said. "Ariel grew up to be a beautiful young lady. She did gymnastics. She was outgoing and she had a million friends.

    "She turned out to be a better person than I ever could have imagined."

    Jennifer Allison said Ariel was the leader of the family and the glue that held it together.

    Ariel's grandfather, Bob Allison, spoke as a slideshow of photographs played on two television screens in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Rick Williams.

    The slideshow included photos of Ariel as a toddler, as a preteen with braces, a high school cheerleader and on her graduation day. There was another one taken at a Kingman park hours before she was murdered.

    Bob Allison told about filling in for Shawn whenever Ariel needed a father. In first grade she invited him to a father and daughter breakfast at school.

    "She had a plan for life," said Bob Allison. "A real plan. She worked at Sonic and took all the hours she could get. She never forgot to call us on the holidays and our birthdays."

    In 2005, when she was 15, Ariel left her mother's home to live with her grandparents. Ketchner had just been released from prison on drug charges and moved in with Jennifer. The two have children in common, but Ariel didn't want to be there.

    "She was a neat and organized person," he said. "Her room looked like she was expecting company."

    Bob Allison and his wife were in Kingman the day Ariel died and Jennifer was grievously wounded.

    At the park, they sat where they normally did during the fireworks show.

    There was a lot of tension, he said, and they were glad the police trailer was parked near them. Ketchner had a protective order against him and had threatened to murder Jennifer Allison and all of her children.

    He partially made good on those threats.

    "That was the last time I saw Ariel alive," said Bob Allison, his voice catching in his throat.

    "Our daughter saw the news on Facebook. She said there's been a shooting and we heard Jennifer and Ariel were at the hospital."

    Bob Allison said when he saw all the blood in the driveway he knew no good news would be heard when they got to the hospital.

    Earlier in the day, defense attorney John Napper told jurors that Ketchner, the son of a prominent optometrist who served on political boards in Kingman, lived in a "hellhole" with an abusive father who repeatedly beat his wife in front of their four children.

    He spoke of one incident in particular. According to Napper, Wayne Ketchner couldn't get his wife to stop bleeding after a beating and put her in an ice-filled bathtub.

    Eventually, the wife would take two daughters and go back home to Oregon, but she left Ketchner with his father.

    "Wayne Ketchner was a hateful, mean, son of a bitch," Napper said to jurors.

    Napper said his client lived with a lot of anger and spent his life in and out of prison, but he also said Ketchner was not the "worst of the worst" offenders.

    Prosecutor Megan McCoy painted a different picture.

    "Sure, the defendant didn't have a great childhood. He wants you to blame his dad," she said.

    "He chose his path. This is a man who at 51 (years old) murdered an 18-year-old. He had lots of choices between childhood and 51. He's the father of adult children ... no mitigation can lessen his moral culpability.

    "The death penalty is the appropriate penalty. Darrell Ketchner has earned it."

    Testimony in the penalty phase of Ketchner's trial continues today. He faces the possibility of death by execution or life in prison.

    http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/mai...rticleID=55433
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

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    Ketchner trial could be put on hold

    The murder trial for a Kingman man charged with killing a teenage girl in 2009 may be postponed until later in 2012.

    John Napper, the attorney for Darrell Bryant Ketchner, 53, said Friday he has another death penalty trial that is taking place in October. That trial may also be postponed until late spring. Since death penalty trials take three months or longer, that could interfere with Ketchner’s trial that is scheduled to begin Jan. 23, 2012. Ketchner’s trial is expected to take 12 weeks.

    Ketchner is also facing the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault and first-degree burglary. He is charged with the murder of 18-year-old Ariel Allison and the alleged attack of her mother, Jennifer Allison on July 4, 2009 at a Kingman home.

    Judge Rick Williams set Ketchner’s next hearing for July 15. The judge previous set a deadline of June 24 for all evidence to be disclosed to the attorneys. Deputy Mohave County Attorney Megan McCoy said most of the interviews have been conducted.

    On Wednesday, prosecutors in Mohave County’s only other capital case took the death penalty off the table because of the cost to the county of having two death penalty cases at the same time. Jonathan Edward Vandergriff, 24, now faces life in prison if he is convicted of the murder of his infant son in June 2010.

    Ketchner pleaded guilty in September 2010 to misconduct involving weapon, one of the charges in his case. He illegally possessed a gun at the time of the alleged murder. Ketchner pleaded guilty because he wanted to serve his time at the Arizona Department of Corrections rather than at the county jail awaiting trial on the remaining charges. The judge later sentenced Ketchner to 15 years in prison.

    Ketchner also had a conviction for drugs in 1999, a conviction for conspiracy to sell cocaine in 1992 and a conviction of illegally conducting an enterprise also in 1992.

    http://www.mohavedailynews.com/artic...3892071719.txt

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