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Thread: Timothy Shults Sentenced to LWOP In the Murder Of Deborah Marsch

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    Timothy Shults Sentenced to LWOP In the Murder Of Deborah Marsch

    State to Seek Death Penalty in Murder of Union Woman

    Franklin County prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of a Washington man charged with murdering a woman in a Union city park last summer.

    Prosecuting Attorney Bob Parks filed the notice of intent to seek the death penalty for Timothy D. Shults, 45, in court Thursday afternoon. During the status hearing, Shults declined a plea bargain in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole.

    Shults is charged with first-degree murder in the July 3, 2009, death of Deborah Marsch, 53.

    Authorities say Shults strangled Marsch in Union's Autumn Hill Park in an apparent random act of violence.

    The suspect told police that he did not know Marsch but that he was angry and she was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

    Investigators allege that Shults approached Marsch from behind, strangled her, then threw her body into the bed of his pickup truck and drove off.

    Shults, according to reports, confessed to police on Sunday, July 5, that he killed the woman, then took detectives to the location where he dumped her body on land off Judith Spring Road west of Union.

    The notice to seek the death penalty states that the prosecution intends to prove the following statutory aggravating circumstance in the murder:

    "The murder in the first degree was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture or depravity of mind in that the defendant's selection of the person he killed was random and without regard to the victim's identity and that defendant's killing of Deborah Marsch thereby exhibited a callous disregard for the sanctity of human life."

    Shults remains in custody in the Franklin County Jail on a $1 million bond.

    Authorities allege that the day after the murder Shults broke into his wife's home, waited for her to return, then told her that he wanted her to go with him and she consented.

    He then drove her car to the Labadie area and told her to walk with him into the woods but she refused and eventually convinced him to release her, authorities allege.

    Later Saturday, after the abduction was reported, Washington police began an investigation and on Sunday contacted Union police who were familiar with Shults and his ex-wife who lives in Union.

    Detectives went to the ex-wife's home and found Shults there, according to police.


    http://www.emissourian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20406806&BRD=1409&PAG=461&dept_id= 33071&rfi=6?fromrss=1http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_3g3R2Nll0

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    Timothy Shults goes to trial on murder, will let Judge decide his fate

    Union, Missouri (KSDK)-- A man charged with murdering a woman walking her dog in a random act of violence is going to trial today, leaving his fate in the hands of a Judge to decide his guilt or innocence.

    48 year old Timothy Shults of Washington is charged with first degree murder on the July 2009 strangulation of 53 year old Deborah Marsch of Union.

    Authorities found Marsch dead in Autumn Hill Park where she had gone to walk her dog. Police allege Shults snuck up behind the victim and strangled her before tossing the woman's body into the back of his pick-up truck and driving away.

    Investigators say Shults admitted to the crime several days later and took detectives to the location where he had dumped Marsch's body.

    According to police reports, Shults did not know the victim but that he was angry and she was in the wrong place at the right time for him to commit the crime.

    Judge Gael Wood is presiding over the trial which is expected to last through the end of the week.

    Shults waived his right to a jury trial in exchange for the State not pursuing the death penalty against him.

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    Murder Suspect’s Mental State Argued

    Circuit Judge Gael Wood will take under advisement arguments from the state and defense team before issuing a verdict for the murder trial of a Union woman.

    The three day bench trial in front of Wood concluded Friday morning. Attorneys from the Franklin County prosecutor's office and the defense team for Timothy D. Shults presented closing arguments that morning.

    Shults, 47, is charged with the first-degree murder in the death of Deborah Marsch, 53, Union. Marsch was strangled to death July 3, 2009, in Union’s Autumn Hill Park in an apparent random act of violence.

    Judge Wood did not say when he would issue a verdict.

    Shults recently waived a jury trial and is being tried before Circuit Judge Gael Wood. In exchange for waiving a jury trial, the prosecutor’s office agreed to not seek the death penalty for Shults.

    Robert Wolfrum, who is representing Shults, said during closing arguments that in the murder of Marsch, Shults did not show "deliberation."



    "If we don't know exactly what happened here, how can we say there was cool reflection," Wolfrum said.



    In an effort for a ruling of the lesser conviction of second-degree murder, Wolfrum argued that Shults’ actions were not deliberate, but instead triggered by psychological problem resulting, in part, from a “traumatic brain injury” he suffered in May 2000 after falling through a floor while working at a construction site.

    Wolfrum argued that his client was not in the mental state to commit first-degree murder.



    "There is no independent proof of the mental state of deliberation," Wolfrum added.

    He also blamed Shults’ actions on depression and a syndrome that causes anxiety caused by medication.

    The state presented much of its evidence Wednesday morning and the defense called witnesses Thursday. The trial was concluded Friday following testimony from forensic psychiatrist Dr. John Rabun, an expert witness for the state.

    "It is my opinion that Mr. Shults had the capacity to form intent as charged," Rabun said.

    According to reports, Shults confessed to police on Sunday, July 5, 2009, that he killed the woman, then took detectives to the location where he dumped her body off Judith Spring Road.

    State’s Argument

    Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Brianne Barr, in her opening statement Wednesday, said that the state would prove that Shults showed deliberation prior to the death of Marsch.

    Barr said that it would have taken three minutes of “constant pressure” to strangle Marsch.

    “Deborah Marsch was an innocent, defenseless human being who did not deserve to lose her life because he was fed up with his,” she said.

    She added that Shults reacted calmly enough to drag Marsch’s body from the murder scene to the parking lot of Autumn Hill Park, put her body in the bed of his truck and drive it to the site where the body was dumped.

    Shults then removed Marsch’s clothing and dumped it in a different area so it would be harder to identify Marsch, Barr said.

    Marsch had been missing for two days when authorities questioned Shults about an unrelated incident. Police knew Shults would sometimes go to Autumn Hill Park and asked about the woman’s disappearance, according to Barr.

    “He had such a strong reaction to the victim’s photograph that police took him for further questioning,” she said.

    ‘Mindset’ of Suspect

    Wolfrum said that Shults had bouts of depression and was prescribed medication that led to Aakathisia, a syndrome that causes restlessness, paranoia and panic. Wolfram said Shults checked out of a VA hospital July 2, 2009 — the day before Marsch was murdered — against a doctor’s recommendation.

    During the opening statements, Wolfrum stated that three doctors would testify as expert witnesses in an effort to prove that Shults should not be convicted of first-degree murder due to his mental state.

    He noted that Shults showed behavioral and health changes following his fall in 2000. He became more “impulsive” and was suicidal and depressed.

    Wolfrum said in early July 2009, Shults was homeless and unemployed and in a “down point in his life.”’

    “None of this is an excuse,” Wolfrum said, but it shows Shults’ “mindset” prior to the murder.

    During police interviews, the suspect said he did not know Marsch but that he was angry and she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

    Shults also is charged in a separate case with burglary, kidnapping, armed criminal action and violation of an order of protection. A trial on those charges has not yet been scheduled.

    Authorities allege that the day after the murder Shults broke into his estranged wife’s home in Washington, waited for her to return, then told her that he wanted her to go with him and she consented. He drove her car to the Labadie area and told her to walk with him into the woods but she refused and eventually convinced him to release her, authorities allege.

    Later Saturday, after the abduction was reported, Washington police began an investigation and on Sunday contacted Union police who were familiar with Shults and his ex-wife who lives in Union.

    Detectives went to the ex-wife’s home and found Shults there, according to police.

    http://www.emissourian.com/news/top_...4748c4bf0.html

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    Judge Expected to Rule on Murder Case

    A judge is expected to deliver his decision next month that determines if the brutal slaying of a Union woman was premeditated, or the murder was part of a larger “psychotic features” shown by the suspect.

    Circuit Court Judge Gael Wood is expected to issue the verdict of first-degree or second-degree murder Monday, Oct. 3, against Timothy D. Shults, who authorities said murdered Union resident Deborah Marsch, 53, at Autumn Hill Park July 3, 2009.

    Shults may also be sentenced the day the verdict is issued. He could receive life in prison with no chance of parole if he is convicted of first-degree murder.

    Shults is charged with first-degree murder, however his defense team argues that Shults did not exhibit cool deliberation — required in a first-degree murder conviction — during the strangling death of Marsch. The murder was an apparent random act of violence, authorities have said.

    A bench trial in front of Judge Wood was held June 29 through July 1.

    Shults had waived a jury trial and is tried in a bench trial, and in exchange the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office agreed to not seek the death penalty for Shults.

    During the trial and a subsequent memorandum filed in court, public defender Robert Wolfrum said Shults suffered a personality change, and that claim was “uncontested” by the state’s expert witness Dr. John Rabun.

    In an effort for a ruling of the lesser conviction of second-degree murder, Wolfrum also argued that Shults’ actions were triggered by a psychological problem resulting, in part, from a “traumatic brain injury” he suffered in May 2000 after falling through a floor while working at a construction site.

    Wolfrum further stated in the memorandum that the state did not prove deliberation beyond a reasonable doubt during trial.

    According to reports, Shults confessed to police on Sunday, July 5, 2009, that he killed the woman, then took detectives to the location where he dumped her body off Judith Spring Road.

    During police interviews, the suspect said he did not know Marsch but that he was angry and she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

    The Franklin County prosecutor’s office argued that it would have taken three minutes of “constant pressure” to strangle Marsch, which shows deliberation on the part of Shults.

    The prosecution stated that Shults reacted calmly enough to drag Marsch’s body from the murder scene to the parking lot of Autumn Hill Park, put her body in the bed of his truck and drive it to the site where the body was dumped.

    Shults then removed Marsch’s clothing and dumped it in a different area so it would be harder to identify Marsch, authorities said.

    Marsch had been missing for two days when authorities questioned Shults about an unrelated incident. Police knew Shults would sometimes go to Autumn Hill Park and asked about the woman’s disappearance.

    Shults also is charged in a separate case with burglary, kidnapping, armed criminal action and violation of an order of protection. A trial on those charges has not yet been scheduled.

    http://www.emissourian.com/news/top_...155799c88.html

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    A hearing is scheduled Monday, Oct. 3, for a Washington man who authorities say murdered a Union woman in 2009.

    Circuit Court Judge Gael Wood is expected to issue the verdict of first-degree or second-degree at 1:30 p.m. against Timothy D. Shults, who authorities said murdered Union resident Deborah Marsch, 53, at Autumn Hill Park July 3, 2009.

    Shults may also be sentenced the day the verdict is issued.

    Read More http://www.emissourian.com/news/top_...d8a30baf8.html

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    Shults Given First-Degree Murder Verdict

    Circuit Court Judge Gael Wood issued a first-degree murder verdict Monday afternoon against Timothy D. Shults, who authorities said murdered Union resident Deborah Marsch, 53, at Autumn Hill Park July 3, 2009.

    Shults was given a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. He waived a jury trial and was tried in a bench trial earlier this year. In exchange, the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office agreed to not seek the death penalty for Shults.

    http://emissourian.com/news/breaking...cc4c002e0.html

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    Appeals Court Upholds 2011 Trail Verdict in Shults Case



    The Eastern District Missouri Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction and sentence of a Washington man who murdered a Union woman in 2009.

    In a memorandum handed down Tuesday, the appellate court held that there was no judicial error by the trial court in the case of Timothy D. Shults who was sentenced Oct. 3, 2011, to life in prison with no chance of parole for the murder of Deborah Marsch, 53, at Autumn Hill Park. The woman was strangled to death July 3, 2009.

    Attorneys for Shults argued on appeal that the trial judge should have suppressed statements made by Shults to detectives because he did not understand his Miranda rights and that he was coerced into making statements to police.

    The appeals court judges disagreed.

    The Missouri attorney general’s office represented the state in the appeal. Shults was represented by the Missouri public defender’s office.

    The Trial

    Judge Gael Wood presided over a bench trial in the murder case after Shults waived a jury trial under an agreement that the county prosecutor’s office would not seek the death penalty.

    After initially claiming that he did not understand his rights given by police, Shults confessed on Sunday, July 5, 2009, that he killed the woman, then took detectives to the location where he dumped her body off Judith Spring Road. After locating the body, Shults then showed detectives where he hid the woman’s wig, false teeth and clothes. He said he hid those items separately to make it harder to identify the victim.

    During police interviews, the suspect said he did not know Marsch but that he was angry and she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

    The prosecution stated that Shults reacted calmly enough to drag Marsch’s body from the murder scene to the parking lot of Autumn Hill Park, put her body in the bed of his truck and drive it to the site where the body was dumped.

    Marsch had been missing for two days when authorities questioned Shults about an unrelated incident. Police knew Shults would sometimes go to Autumn Hill Park and asked about the woman’s disappearance.

    Shults also was charged in a separate case with burglary, kidnapping, armed criminal action and violation of an order of protection, but those charges were later dismissed following his conviction.

    http://www.emissourian.com/news/wash...9bb2963f4.html
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