Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 48

Thread: Richard James Beasley - Ohio Death Row

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Prosecutor makes his closing argument in Craigslist killing case

    Placing phony Craigslist job offers proves the alleged triggerman planned the killing of three "easy prey" men desperate for work, a prosecutor said Monday in his closing argument to jurors.

    Prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel repeatedly mentioned the three victims and a fourth jobseeker who survived an attack and told jurors there was no reasonable doubt that Richard Beasley, 53, plotted the killings.

    "They were desperate for a better life," Baumoel said in a hushed courtroom, with Beasley sitting in a wheelchair due to back problems. "They wanted a second chance."

    The case was headed to the jury for deliberations after closing arguments by both sides.

    Baumoel presented three possible theories for aggravated murder — planning the crimes, done with a kidnapping or done with a robbery.

    "This was clearly with prior calculation and design," a component of the death penalty aggravated murder charge, Baumoel said. "He was the mastermind behind this plot."

    Beasley, an ex-convict and one-time street preacher, could face the death penalty if convicted.

    His 18-year-old co-defendant, Brogan Rafferty, was convicted and sentenced last year to life in prison without chance of parole. Brogan was under 18 at the time of the crimes and was ineligible for the death penalty.

    Beasley said he knew nothing about the killings.

    "I had no idea that somebody, anybody, had been killed down on that farm. I had no way to know," Beasley testified in his defense.

    Beasley denied involvement in the 2011 attacks and said that the lone survivor was sent to kill him in retaliation for being a police snitch in a motorcycle gang investigation in Akron.

    Prosecutors said Beasley and Brogan used the job postings as bait in a robbery plot aimed at down-on-their-luck victims with few family ties that might highlight their disappearance. The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon.

    Rafferty has said the crimes were horrible but he didn't see any chance to stop the killings. Rafferty said he feared Beasley would kill him and his relatives if he tipped off police.

    Beasley testified that he met with the surviving victim, Scott Davis, but said Davis was the one who pulled a gun in retaliation for Beasley's role as a police informant in a motorcycle gang investigation.

    Davis, who was the star witness at Rafferty's trial, also testified against Beasley. Davis testified that he fled into the woods in Noble County, about 60 miles east of Columbus, after hearing the click of a handgun, getting shot in the arm, and pushing the weapon aside.

    "Only by the grace of God did he escape with his life," Baumoel told the jury.

    http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...closing_a.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  2. #22
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Jury gets case in Ohio Craigslist murder trial

    The case against the alleged triggerman charged in Ohio with killing three men by luring them with Craigslist job offers has gone to the jury.

    A judge in Akron turned the case against 53-year-old Richard Beasley over to jurors late Monday afternoon after closing statements. The judge suggested they deliberate until 9 p.m.

    Jurors will be sequestered in a hotel during deliberations

    http://ktar.com/23/1489526/Jury-gets...t-murder-trial
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  3. #23
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    No word of verdicts in Beasley capital case

    Jury deliberations continued Tuesday afternoon with no word of verdicts in the Summit County capital murder trial of Richard James Beasley, a court official said.

    Beasley, 53, of Akron, is charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, attempted murder and numerous death penalty specifications in the so-called Craigslist slayings.

    Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan gave the case to the jury late Monday afternoon following lengthy legal instructions and more than three hours of closing arguments by both sides.

    Instructions on the law, alone, were 128 pages long.

    The panel was sequestered overnight and returned to court at 9 a.m. today for the continuation of deliberations.

    http://www.ohio.com/news/no-word-of-...-case-1.380626
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  4. #24
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    An Ohio jury has reached a verdict in the murder case against an ex-convict charged in the deaths of three men lured with Craigslist job offers.

    The trial judge in Akron sent word Tuesday to all parties involved in the case against Richard Beasley to convene in her courtroom.

    Two men from Ohio and one from Norfolk, Va., were slain. A man from South Carolina was shot but survived.

    Beasley could face the death penalty if convicted.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  5. #25
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Richard Beasley convicted in Craigslist murder trial

    Richard Beasley has been convicted in the deaths of three men lured with Craigslist job offers.

    The jurors convicted the ex-convict on their second day of deliberations.

    Beasley's 18-year-old co-defendant, Brogan Rafferty, was convicted and sentenced last year to life in prison without chance of parole. Rafferty was under 18 at the time of the crimes and was ineligible for the death penalty.

    Two men from Ohio and one from Norfolk, Va., were slain. A man from South Carolina was shot but survived.

    Prosecutors took more than 300 items of evidence to court from last year's trial of Rafferty. The items included autopsy photos, surveillance video, DNA analysis and bullets.

    Prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel urged jurors in a closing statement on Monday to use common sense and follow the "straight line" of truth and convict Beasley.

    One of Beasley's defense attorneys, James Burdon, asked jurors to put aside any pressure they may feel to convict Beasley because of the notoriety of the case and instead decide on the evidence.

    Beasley, who returned to Ohio from Texas in 2004 after serving several years in prison on a burglary conviction, denied involvement in the 2011 attacks and said that the lone survivor was sent to kill him in retaliation for being a police snitch in a motorcycle gang investigation in Akron. He said investigators targeted him based only on a hunch.

    Prosecutors said Beasley and Brogan used the job postings as bait in a robbery plot aimed at down-on-their-luck victims with few family ties that might highlight their disappearance. The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon.

    Rafferty has said the crimes were horrible but he didn't see any chance to stop the killings. Rafferty said he feared Beasley would kill him and his relatives if he tipped off police.

    http://www.cleveland.com/news/index....cted_in_c.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  6. #26
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    The jury that convicted Beasley will return March 20 to consider whether to recommend the death penalty for him.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  7. #27
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Ohio jury gets death penalty issue in slayings of 3 lured with Craigslist job offers

    A jury began deliberating on Wednesday whether to recommend the death penalty for a self-styled preacher convicted of killing three down-and-out men lured by bogus Craigslist job offers.

    The same jury that convicted Richard Beasley, 53, last week could also recommend that he spend life in prison without the chance of parole or get life with a chance for parole after 25 or 30 years.

    If jurors recommend death, Judge Lynne Callahan may sentence Beasley to death or one of the lesser options, likely life without parole. If the jury recommends prison, the judge may not toughen the sentence to death.

    Beasley’s co-defendant, then 16 years old, was too young to face the death penalty. Brogan Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on his conviction last year.

    In closing arguments, both sides highlighted Rafferty’s life sentence in contrast to a possible death sentence for Beasley. The defense said that issue should factor into the jury’s deliberations, but the prosecution said it wasn’t an issue because Rafferty’s age, by law, had ruled out death as an option.

    Jurors will be sequestered in a hotel nightly until they reach a decision. The judge said jurors may deliberate until 9 p.m. if they want.

    The jury received the case after hearing two hours of testimony from witnesses, including Beasley’s tearful mother, who were called to portray him sympathetically and to press for leniency.

    Carol Beasley testified that her son had a troubled childhood and had suffered physical and sexual abuse. “I love Richard with all my heart,” she said.

    As she testified, Beasley slumped forward, his chin on his chest and his right hand covering his eyes. He uses a wheelchair because of back pain.

    She described a difficult childhood for her son, with a verbally and physically abusive stepfather whom Carol Beasley characterized as a mean drunk.

    She testified that she learned only within the past year that her son had been sexually abused by neighborhood youngsters when he was a boy. She had known that the boys had forced him to remove his pants in a large drainage pipe but hadn’t known about the abuse at the time, she said.

    “I always felt there was much more than he told me,” she testified. Her son apparently kept the abuse secret out of fear he would be held responsible for it, the mother said.

    Her first husband neglected Richard and her, Carol Beasley testified, and her second husband broke dishes and a window while drinking and whipped Richard as a toddler. “Richard was very mistreated by him,” she testified.

    Carol Beasley testified that Richard and the couple’s own two daughters would be put to bed early and sometimes were sent to relatives for the weekend to avoid contact with the father.

    “Everybody was afraid when he came home,” she said.

    The defense also called a psychologist, John Fabian, who testified that Beasley suffers from depression, alcohol abuse, low self-esteem and a feeling of isolation, all possible results of a troubled, abusive childhood.

    “These are all potential mitigating factors” in favor of leniency, Fabian testified.

    Fabian said Beasley’s issues should be considered in multi-generational terms involving him and his family life. “This is all his personality development,” he said.

    One of Beasley’s victims was killed near Akron, and the others were shot at a southeast Ohio farm during bogus job interviews.

    The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon. All were down-and-out men looking for a fresh start in life, the prosecution said repeatedly during the trial.

    The survivor, Scott Davis, now 49, testified that he heard the click of a gun as he walked in front of Beasley at the reputed job site. Davis, who was shot in an arm, knocked the weapon aside, fled into the woods and tipped police.

    Beasley, who returned to Ohio from Texas in 2004 after serving several years in prison on a burglary conviction, testified that he met with Davis and Davis had pulled a gun in retaliation for Beasley serving as a police informant in a motorcycle gang investigation.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...b49_story.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  8. #28
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    An Ohio jury has reached a decision about whether to recommend the death penalty for a self-styled preacher convicted of killing three down-and-out men lured by bogus Craigslist job offers.

    The jury in Akron informed the judge Wednesday evening that it had reached a sentence recommendation for 53-year-old Richard Beasley. The judge directed all parties to gather in her courtroom by 6 p.m.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  9. #29
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Ohio jury recommends death penalty in Craigslist killings

    An Ohio jury has recommended the death penalty for a self-styled preacher convicted of killing three men lured by bogus Craigslist job offers, according to a tweet from the Akron Beacon-Journal.

    The jury in Akron reached a sentence recommendation this evening for 53-year-old Richard Beasley. The judge directed all parties to gather in her courtroom by 6 p.m.

    The jury's options were to recommend execution, life in prison without parole or life in prison with a chance for parole after 25 or 30 years.

    Judge Lynne Callahan may sentence Beasley to death or one of the lesser options, likely life without parole.

    If jurors recommend death, Judge Lynne Callahan may sentence Beasley to death or one of the lesser options, likely life without parole. If the jury recommends prison, the judge may not toughen the sentence to death.

    http://hamptonroads.com/2013/03/ohio...slist-killings
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  10. #30
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Beasley’s death-penalty hearing rescheduled

    By Malcolm Hall
    CantonRep.com staff writer

    AKRON — Convicted Craigslist killer Richard Beasley will wait until next week to find out if a Summit County judge will uphold a jury’s recommendation that he get the death penalty.

    Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan was scheduled to issue a sentence Tuesday, but following a request for a delay, rescheduled the proceeding for 10 a.m. April 4.

    “I apologize for the delay,” Callahan told a full courtroom awaiting the hearing. “We had hoped we could continue this afternoon. That is not the case.”

    No explanation was offered. But only one of Beasley’s defense attorneys, Lawrence Whitney, was on hand.

    A jury convicted Beasley earlier this month of 26 counts, including nine counts of aggravated murder. The same jury recommended the death sentence last week.

    Beasley was convicted of killing three men who responded to fake job offers posted on Craigslist, a classified advertisement website.

    Among Beasley’s victims was Timothy Kern, 47, who lived in Jackson Township. The other two were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron and David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.

    Another intended victim, Scott Davis, who was shot in his arm, managed to escape Beasley.

    The job was to oversee some property in Noble County in southeastern Ohio.

    The killings occurred in 2011. The body of Kern, 47, was discovered in November of 2011 near the former Rolling Acres mall in southwest Akron.

    His parents, Jack and Ellen Kern of Jackson Township, were on hand Tuesday.

    When his son, Timothy Kern, was lured to the Craigslist job-offer posting, “he was working, but he wanted a better job,” Jack Kern said. “Sympathy for him (Beasley)? Of course not. He murdered our son.”

    A teenage co-defendant, Brogan Rafferty, was convicted in 2012 for his role in the crimes and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Rafferty, 18, had been a high school student in Stow.

    http://www.indeonline.com/news/x1711...s?rssfeed=true

Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

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

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

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