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Thread: Serial Killer Darren Deon Vann Sentenced to LWOP in 2014 IN Murders of Seven Women

  1. #41
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Judge cautions lawyers about murder references at Darren Deon Vann's death penalty trial

    By Becky Jacobs
    The Chicago Tribune

    Attorneys must be careful how they refer to his other pending murder cases at Darren Deon Vann's death penalty trial this fall, a judge said.

    Vann, 46, did not attend the hearing Friday in Lake Superior Court to address a motion filed by his defense team over what references could be made to his pending cases. He has been accused of killing seven women.

    "We all want to make sure we're all on the same page with jury selection and trial," Gojko Kasich, one of Vann's attorneys, said.

    Vann is scheduled for trial in October, with jury selection beginning in September, in the alleged murders of Afrikka Hardy, 19, of Chicago, and Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville, records show.

    Police found Hardy's body in a bathtub at a Motel 6 in Hammond and Jones' body in the basement of a vacant home on East 43rd Avenue in Gary in 2014, according to court records.

    Vann faces more murder charges in a case that will be tried separately in the deaths of Teaira Batey, 28, of Gary; Tracy Martin, 41, of Gary; Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary; Sonya Billingsley, 52, of Gary; and Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Highland.

    Prosecutors agreed Friday that those five womens' deaths will not be discussed at the October trial for the murders of Hardy and Jones.

    "They're merely allegations at this point," Kasich said.

    But if the defense brings up those five deaths, then prosecutors said they should be able to approach Judge Samuel Cappas about being able to address them in court.

    "If they cross that line, I think we're entitled to talk about it," Bernard Carter, Lake County prosecutor, said.

    Cappas cautioned the defense that "you have to characterize it accurately." The defense can't say Vann is a "Boy Scout guy with nothing else working in the background" and no other charges or cases, Cappas said.

    "He hasn't been convicted of anything else as far as murders go in the state," Kasich said.

    Kasich said that if this issue comes up, it would probably be at sentencing after any potential conviction.

    With the death penalty at stake, Kasich said they may question if Vann's case is "the worst of the worst" by looking to see if the death penalty was sought in other cases, primarily in Indiana and Lake County, where a single defendant was charged with multiple murders.

    "It seems to me the guy in Oklahoma City was pretty bad," Kasich said, referring to Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted in the deaths of 168 people in the bombing of the federal building there in 1995.

    Cappas said the defense makes a "valid argument," but they still must be careful "how you craft your arguments" since the murders are charged in two separate cases.

    In 2015, prosecutors asked to try Hardy's and Jones' deaths together because of a brown cord found at Vann's sister's Gary residence where Vann was arrested.

    "The state proffers that the brown cord was used in the homicide of both Hardy and Jones," a motion states.

    Prosecutors also claimed Hardy and Jones were the same "type" of targeted victims, advertising sexual services on social media sites, they said. A judge granted their request.

    Cappas set Vann's next hearing on March 16 to address the defense's motions for protective orders of forensic phone analysis and the state's request for third party subpoenas.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburb...216-story.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
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  2. #42
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Judge decides subpoenas in death penalty case of Darren Deon Vann are not 'overly broad'

    By Becky Jacobs
    Chicago Tribune

    The jail, U.S. Marine Corps and an Ohio high school can decide for themselves if the state's subpoenas are overly broad in the death penalty case of Darren Deon Vann, a judge decided.

    Vann, 46, who is accused of killing seven women, did not attend the status hearing Friday morning in Lake Superior Court to address pending motions before his fall trial. Vann's attorneys have filed waivers for Vann's attendance at hearings, instead appearing on his behalf.

    Vann is scheduled for trial in October, with jury selection beginning in September, in the deaths of Afrikka Hardy, 19, of Chicago, and Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville, records show.

    In 2014, police found Hardy's body in a bathtub at a Motel 6 in Hammond and Jones' body in the basement of a vacant home on East 43rd Avenue in Gary, according to court records.

    Vann faces more murder charges, in a case that will be tried separately, in the deaths of Teaira Batey, 28, of Gary; Tracy Martin, 41, of Gary; Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary; Sonya Billingsley, 52, of Gary; and Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Highland.

    Last month, prosecutors filed notice of third party subpoenas sent to Lake County Jail, the Marine Corps and Lima Senior High School in Lima, Ohio, court records show.

    The defense filed a motion for a protective order, taking issue with the wording in the subpoenas. Phrases including "any and all" are too broad, Matthew Fech, one of Vann's defense attorneys, argued Friday.

    "They are simply making a blanket request," Fech said, suggesting it's "a fishing expedition by the state."

    Fech said that "at the very least" the state should have to disclose what they are specifically requesting from the three organizations.

    "When someone is requesting this type of information … it has to be requested with particularity or reasonable particularly," Fech said.

    Vann served in the Marines from December 1991 until he was discharged in September 1993, according to the National Personnel Records Center in Missouri.

    His rank is listed as private, and he was stationed in California, Texas, Arizona and North Carolina. Vann was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and Rifle Marksman Badge, records show.

    Before enlisting, Vann attended Lima Senior High School, according to school yearbooks and former classmates.

    He's been held in the Lake County Jail since his arrest in the murder cases. In 2016, Vann thrw a carton full of urine and feces at an officer who brought him food, records show.

    Cappas asked the defense if they also had records from the jail, Marine Corps and high school.

    "We are working towards gathering those," Fech said.

    Fech said he did not specifically know off the top of his head what the defense already had from them, though,

    "The file is voluminous," Fech said.

    Prosecuting attorney Michelle Jatkiewicz said she finds it "quite ironic" that the defense is entitled to the information from these organizations but questioned whether the state should also have it.

    The purpose of these subpoenas is to prepare for any possible penalty phase or sentencing if Vann is found guilty, she said. Also, it could help "address some issues" with jury questionnaires, such as references to military experience, home life and "trauma" in Vann's past.

    "I don't believe that the state's requests are overly broad," Jatkiewicz said.

    The state worded the subpoenas the way they did to make sure they could obtain information from these organizations, no matter the specific terminology or names they give to their files, such as attendance or academic records, she said.

    "They're asking for all of the records that are within possession of this organization's control," Fech said.

    Cappas denied the defense's motion and said phrases like "included or not limited to" in subpoenas are common in court filings. It's up to the specific organization to decide if the request is "overly broad," the judge said.

    Cappas did not set a date Friday for Vann's next hearing.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburb...316-story.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #43
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Attorneys address possible sentencing with jurors in Darren Vann's death penalty case

    By Becky Jacobs
    Chicago Tribune

    The defense team for a man accused of killing seven women want jurors to know what could potentially happen at sentencing in his death penalty case, court records show.

    Last month, Darren Vann’s attorneys filed three pages of proposed paragraphs for juror questionnaires explaining what they’d be tasked with if Vann were found guilty.

    These types of paragraphs are something Indiana death penalty experts said they’ve seen before.

    “Anything that would reveal a prospective juror’s attitudes toward capital punishment is, at least potentially, fair game — because that is what the juror may be asked to decide at the end of the case,” Joe Hoffmann, an Indiana University law professor, said in an email.

    Vann, 47, is scheduled for trial in October, with jury selection beginning in September, in the deaths of Afrikka Hardy, 19, of Chicago, and Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville, records show.

    In 2014, police found Hardy's body in a bathtub at a Motel 6 in Hammond and Jones' body in the basement of a vacant home on East 43rd Avenue in Gary, according to court records.

    Vann faces more murder charges, in a case that will be tried separately, in the deaths of Teaira Batey, 28, of Gary; Tracy Martin, 41, of Gary; Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary; Sonya Billingsley, 52, of Gary; and Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Highland.

    If a jury finds Vann guilty at his first trial, “the jury’s service will not be over,” the defense’s proposed paragraphs state. Jurors would then have to decide between three sentences: death by lethal injection, life in prison without the possibility of parole or a prison term of 45 to 65 years for each of their deaths, court records show.

    Prosecutors wrote their own proposal, which is two paragraphs long, in response to the defense, according to court records. Judge Samuel Cappas ordered the state’s proposed language be included in juror questionnaires.

    “The decision whether to impose a sentence of death is one the law leaves entirely up to the jurors,” prosecutors said in their paragraphs.

    Each juror “must ultimately make an individual judgment” on what sentence to impose, but the law “never requires” them to vote for one sentence over the other, the state said.

    All 12 jurors have to unanimously agree “death is the only appropriate sentence” before it’s imposed, and the judge must follow their determination, according to prosecutors.

    The defense wanted to include what would happen if jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous decision, according to their paragraphs. In that case, “then the judge, sitting alone as the fact finder, will make a determination” of the sentence, the document states.

    None of this is “to imply that Mr. Vann is guilty,” the defense added. But “it is important that we know your opinions and feelings regarding punishment,” their proposal states.

    It’s difficult to know the exact motives of why attorneys proposed what they did, but there are a variety of possible reasons, according to Hoffman and Richard Kammen, an Indianapolis attorney.

    “One of the realities is that the average person, and there’s no reason they should, just has no idea of the complexity of the system and sort of the cumbersome nature of it,” Kammen said.

    Attorneys may be trying to be efficient by giving jurors background of what they’re tasked with before a judge gives further explanation in court, he said.

    Another reason could be the defense is “worried about the possibility of a split verdict on the death penalty,” Hoffman said, and they want to let jurors know that would “take the decision out of the hands of the jury and leave the decision to the judge.”

    “In other words, the defense attorneys might be trying to find prospective jurors who don’t want to leave it up to the judge, but want to keep the decision in the hands of the jury and would be willing to keep trying to reach a unanimous sentencing verdict,” Hoffman said.

    Death penalty cases are a long and complex process, they said.

    “As a general rule, working on a death penalty case is probably a commitment of 1,500 to 2,000 hours per year just working on the case,” Kammen said.

    The paragraphs the defense proposed would go on page 37 of the questionnaire regarding “questions about the death penalty,” and attorneys are still working on finishing those, court records show.

    “Obviously, capital defense attorneys will try to take advantage of any possible opportunity to learn more about the people who might be selected to serve on a capital jury, and to figure out how they might be persuaded to vote for life,” Hoffman said. “That is the No. 1 job of a good capital defense attorney.”

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburb...417-story.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  4. #44
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    Darren Vann pleads guilty in the deaths of 7 women, avoids possible death sentence

    By Becky Jacobs
    Chicago Tribune

    Darren Vann pleaded guilty Friday in Lake Superior Court to murder charges in the deaths of seven women, avoiding a possible death sentence.

    Vann, 47, was scheduled to go to trial this fall on murder charges in the deaths of Afrikka Hardy, 19, of Chicago, and Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville.

    Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty in the case. As part of Friday’s plea deal, he will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the agreement.

    In 2014, police found Hardy's body in a bathtub at a Motel 6 in Hammond and Jones’ body in the basement of a vacant home on East 43rd Avenue in Gary, according to court records.

    Vann faced more murder charges, in a case that would be tried separately, in the deaths of Teaira Batey, 28, of Gary; Tracy Martin, 41, of Gary; Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary; Sonya Billingsley, 52, of Gary; and Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Highland.

    Vann’s defense team filed a motion Thursday to set the hearing on Friday where he changed his plea.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburb...505-story.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #45
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    INDIANA MAN RECEIVES LIFE TERM IN 7 WOMEN'S DEATHS

    A former Marine who admitted to killing seven women in a plea deal with Indiana prosecutors has been sentenced to seven life sentences.

    By Associated Press
    wlfi.com

    CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A former Marine who admitted to killing seven women in a plea deal with Indiana prosecutors has been sentenced to seven life sentences.

    Darren Vann was to be tried in October in the strangulation deaths of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy of Hammond, and 35-year-old Anith Jones of Merrillville. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Vann in their deaths.

    In entering the plea deal, Vann was spared a death sentence when he was sentenced Friday.

    Authorities say the 47-year-old Vann preyed on women in an area of Gary, Indiana, known as a hangout for prostitutes and drug users.

    Vann was arrested in October 2014 as Hammond police investigated the killing of Hardy, whose body was found in a bathtub inside a Hammond motel room.

    Vann, who received an "other than honorable" discharge in 1993, moved to Gary after his July 2013 release from a Texas prison where he served time on a sexual assault charge involving a prostitute.

    http://www.wlfi.com/content/news/Ind...483730871.html
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  6. #46
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    7 life term is not justice, he should receive dp.
    Last edited by CharlesMartel; 01-04-2019 at 10:57 PM.
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

  7. #47
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Homes used by serial killer Darren Vann to strangle, hide 7 women will be razed, city says

    By Lauren Cross Lauren
    nwitimes.com

    GARY — For years, Marvin Clinton had been forced to stare into a dark past each time he braved the trip to the timeworn, boarded-up abandoned home on 19th Avenue.

    It’s the same home where the decaying body of his fiancee, Teaira Batey, was found by detectives in October 2014, nine months after she was murdered by serial killer Darren Vann.

    Vann, who is serving life in prison without parole for the killings of seven women, confessed to his involvement in Batey's murder shortly after his arrest in 2014.

    He even offered to lead detectives to the home at 1800 E. 19th Ave., giving turn-by-turn directions down Gary's streets with specific instructions on how to find Batey’s body: Walk inside and enter a room that had been propped shut by a dresser, he said.

    He left her body to decompose, he said, beneath a wooden bench.

    'What's done is done'

    On Monday, only snow-covered teddy bears, two wooden crosses and a makeshift headstone bearing Batey’s name remained on the property.

    Without any warning to Clinton or Batey’s family, the house was razed Jan. 8 by a city-hired contractor.

    Clinton waited years to see the home razed and said the city administration even promised it would give him advanced notice so he could be there when it is bulldozed — a chance at closure.

    “I couldn’t believe it. The mayor and the police chief have been working with me real good on this, and they’ve been keeping their promises. I just don’t see how this one slipped through,” Clinton said. “But she apologized, and I said, ‘What’s done is done.' You can’t put the house back up and tear it down again.”

    Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she personally apologized to Clinton this weekend for the demolition going forward without him.

    “We’ve been working on these (Vann) demolitions for some time, and the right hand didn’t coordinate with the left hand,” she said. “Once we provided the contractors with notice to proceed … well, some moved a lot quicker than others.

    “We’re not offering any excuses, only our apologies.”

    Solace to families

    Marking the end of a dark era, city leaders finally are demolishing the remaining blighted or abandoned structures made infamous by Vann.

    Vann’s case received international attention in 2014 as word spread that he used abandoned homes pocketed within the city of Gary to strangle and store his victims' bodies.

    The city is working to transform the properties into memorial gardens post-demolition — and the families will be involved every step of the way if they choose so, the mayor said.

    “We’re hoping to at least provide some sense of solace to the families. We know we can never bring back their loved ones,” Freeman-Wilson said. "It’s the least the city can do. We hope it provides a sense of comfort to them, so they know we are not ignoring or forgetting the loss their families have suffered.”

    'He asks about her'

    Clinton, of Gary, maintains the memorial at the 19th Avenue property to this day, going so far as to cut the grass once a week in the summer months.

    Trevon Clinton, a son they share together, is in the first grade and turns 7 later this month, he said. He helps mow the lawn in the summer.

    “He knows she passed away, but doesn’t know the specifics. Every now and then, he asks about her,” Clinton said.

    Clinton has a scrapbook of local newspaper clippings he’s collected over the years for Trevon to read when he grows up and starts asking more questions.

    “That way, he can read about everything that happened and not get it secondhand,” he said.

    The Vann homes — there are five in all — are being torn down at the cost of $47,600, paid for with Gary Sanitary District and Stormwater Management dollars, said Cedric Kuykendall, the city's demolition coordinator.

    Kuykendall said Friday city leaders still are discussing a start date for the four homes that remain.

    Case underscored blight problem

    Freeman-Wilson said the teardowns are more than symbolic gestures — they put a spotlight on the larger problem of blight in Gary and what the city is doing to correct it.

    “(The Vann case) gave a heightened awareness to the issue. This was an international case. But certainly, you always talk about the danger that exists with abandoned buildings, and this underscored it,” Freeman-Wilson said.

    She pointed to similar cases in which murder victims were discovered in vacant structures. A 17-year-old girl’s body was found inside the former Emerson school, strangled to death, in the summer of 2015.

    And then, in April 2016, the body of Diamond Lewis, 24, was found badly burned in an abandoned Gary home in the 1400 block of West 18th Avenue, nine days after her baby’s father, Kareem J. Williams, dumped her there.

    “You don’t want to have something like this happen again,” Freeman-Wilson said.

    Since 2012, the city under Freeman-Wilson's leadership has torn down more than 1,200 residential structures through a variety of funding sources, including the federal government’s Hardest Hit Fund, Community Development Block Grant dollars and money from the Gary Sanitary District and Stormwater Management.

    The Lake County Board of Commissioners this year chipped in funding to help Gary tear down a number of commercial structures, including a grocery store on 49th and Louisiana.

    Gary received $4.4 million in federal Hardest Hit dollars to strategically demolish blighted homes, on top of the more than $6 million received in 2014. They are still working with those funds, Kuykendall said.

    Freeman-Wilson said the city received no additional funds in 2014 despite the massive media attention the Vann case received.

    Case against Vann

    The Vann case first broke in October 2014, when he was arrested following an investigation into the death of Afrikka Hardy, 19, of Hammond. And one by one, Vann led detectives to other abandoned homes in Gary, equipped with unnerving, intimate details of how, exactly, police would find the bodies.

    Days later, Hammond police announced charges against Vann for the murder of Hardy. A news conference marked the first instance police described him as a serial killer.

    In the days after, cadaver dogs took to the streets, searching for more victims within more than 100 of Gary’s 8,000 abandoned buildings and the site of the demolished Sheraton Hotel. The search focused on the city’s Midtown and Glen Park neighborhoods.

    As news got out that Vann was responsible for the deaths of multiple women — some of whom were only identified initially as Jane Does — a shaken community came out in droves to attend vigils and domestic violence charity fundraisers.

    With victims’ families in the courtroom watching, Vann was sentenced to life without parole for the murder of seven victims this spring, bringing to a close the four-year death penalty case against the Gary man, described by Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter as “one of the most prolific serial killers” in the state's history.

    In a guilty plea sparing him death last year, Vann admitted to strangling Hardy and Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville. In addition to Batey, Vann also has admitted to killing Tracy Martin, 41, of Gary; Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary; Sonya Billingsley, 53, of Gary; and Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Gary.

    Vann told detectives he killed the women in anger and said he was convicted in 2009 for assaulting a prostitute in Texas, which he felt was unfair.

    As part of his plea deal, prosecutors also agreed not to file other charges against Vann in Lake County unless related to a homicide. In the event other murder charges are brought against him in Lake County, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against Vann.

    While Clinton said he's never going to be “100 percent better" since his fiancee's death, “life gets easier as the days go by.”

    “I have to accept the fact of what happened," he said. "Now I’m just trying to piece everything back together."

    https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/...88fbfc7.html#1
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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