Whatever happened to Joe D'Ambrosio?
Whatever happened to Joe D'Ambrosio, who walked out of a Cuyahoga County courtroom last March as a free man, having spent the better part of 21 years behind bars and on death row?
D'Ambrosio is still awaiting results of a federal appeal by the state of Ohio that would allow him to be retried for the grisly murder of Tony Klann in 1988.
A jogger found Klann's body floating in Doan Brook in Cleveland's Rockefeller Park.
D'Ambrosio could not be reached for an interview, but the Rev. Neil Kookoothe, the Catholic priest who rescued D'Ambrosio from prison, said he lives in North Royalton with a friend and works when he can.
He's also thinking about enrolling in trade school, said John Lewis, a Jones Day attorney who represents D'Ambrosio.
Kookoothe said D'Ambrosio is trying to put his life back together and is finding that a lot has changed since he was imprisoned. The price of groceries and gasoline is shocking, he said, and so is the evolution of electronic gadgets.
"I mean the technology just blows him away," Kookoothe said, especially the fact that he can take a picture with a cell phone.
Last October, D'Ambrosio went with Kookoothe and members of his St. Clarence Church in North Olmsted on an 11-day trip to Greece.
D'Ambrosio won his freedom after Kookoothe began looking into his case more than a decade ago. A cadre of lawyers eventually convinced a federal judge that Cuyahoga County prosecutors had failed to provide evidence to D'Ambrosio's lawyers that could have exonerated him.
In September 2008, U.S. District Judge Kate O'Malley ruled that D'Ambrosio must be retried within 180 days or set free. The following March, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg released D'Ambrosio from prison and allowed him to live under house arrest.
After the main witness against D'Ambrosio died, O'Malley ruled that D'Ambrosio can't be retried. Synenberg then released D'Ambrosio from house arrest, dismissed all charges against him and chastised county prosecutors for their handling of the case.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing on O'Malley's decision in November and Lewis said he expects a decision within three to six months.
Lewis said the appeal hinges on a whether O'Malley had the power to bar retrial, not the reasoning she used in doing so.
"It's a technical jurisdictional issue that was raised by the state," he said.
Michael Keenan, who was tried separately for Klann's murder and still sits on death row, hopes the revelations in D'Ambrosio's case will free him one day, too.
Keenan has always professed his innocence and recently asked for an expedited decision on a new trial based on his claim that facts in his case were the same as those that led to D'Ambrosio getting a new trial.
Senior U.S. District Judge David Katz denied Keenan's request, saying that just because D'Ambrosio was given relief, doesn't mean Keenan should get the same. Keenan's claim will have to be considered independently and on its own merits, said his attorney, assistant federal public defender Vicki Werneke.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011..._joe_da_2.html
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