Posted on 12/01/2004 8:58:23 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a man's death sentence and murder conviction in the slayings of two college students, saying the murder count should have been tried in Pennsylvania where they were killed.
The court ruled unanimously that Terrell Yarbrough was wrongly tried in Ohio for aggravated murder of the students from Franciscan University in Steubenville.
However, the court upheld robbery, kidnapping and burglary convictions because those crimes happened in Steubenville and said nothing would prevent a Pennsylvania court from trying Yarbrough on murder charges.
Brian Muha, 18, and Aaron Land, 20, were robbed and kidnapped at their apartment in Steubenville, but were shot 12 miles away along a western Pennsylvania highway.
Yarbrough, 24, of Pittsburgh was convicted in Common Pleas Court for the execution-style shootings, and the jury found he was the triggerman. Accomplice Nathan Herring, 23, is serving life in prison without parole for murder, robbery and kidnapping.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer criticized prosecutors, defense attorneys and the trial judge for not recognizing the murder case shouldn't have been brought in Ohio.
"One would expect that those charged with the responsibility of participating in the prosecution of a defendant who is subject to the ultimate penalty would exercise more diligence," Moyer said.
Jefferson County Prosecutor Bryan Felmet, who in 1999 was a court-appointed defender for Herring, said he hadn't seen the Supreme Court decision but was satisfied both states had jurisdiction.
"No lawyer in the case at any level of the trial raised the issue," said Felmet.
Christopher Becker, the former assistant prosecutor in Jefferson County who tried the case, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. He is now an assistant prosecutor in Trumbull County.
The district attorney's office in Washington County, Pa., where the slayings took place, also did not immediately return a call.
Sounds like the judge ruled on the law. If the murders were outside the state of Ohio, then Ohio has no juristiction.
There has got to be another side to this story that is not being told. I cannot believe the trial judge and the lawyers for the prosecution and defense never thought about this issue
Well, the guys were kidnapped from their apartment and then transported across the state line. They were tortured and killed about 15 miles across the state border. It was brutal, not unlike what the terrorists in Iraq have done with those they captured.
IIRC, the idea of who had jurisdiction was bantered about until they settled on trying it in Ohio. Now the boys' families will have to go through all of that horror again!
BINGO!
I'm almost positive it came up early on, and I don't know why they decided to do it all in Ohio. Maybe it was to spare another set of trials, but we see now that's not the case.
I know that's the reason why, but this was brought up when it first happened about where to try the case. There were no objections back then to it being argued in Ohio. They wanted a conviction that would stick. They thought Ohio would be the best place to get one that wouldn't be overturned.
Thanks for posting this article. My heart goes out to the Muha and Land families for what they will endure again!
I read this only to find details missing and a general theme which is not conducive to the death sentence.
The courts in Texas upheld a capital murder conviction where the victim was kidnapped in Texas but actually killed outside Texas since the kidnapping + murder constituted elements of the capital murder.
Quote: They were tortured and killed about 15 miles across the state border. It was brutal, not unlike what the terrorists in Iraq have done with those they captured
I live near Steubenville. Yeah what the story does not tell you is these 2 guys were involved in drug sales in a big way and the reason they were killed is they stole drugs and never paid their suppliers. Nobody forced these 2 into drug sales. They paid the piper.
Good riddance to these 2 that were killed. I have no sympathy for drug dealers or users.
Quote: My heart goes out to the Muha and Land families for what they will endure again!
Muha and Land were not innocent little angels. Read my prior post.
Suppose murderer in state A fires across the state line to kill a victim in state B. What then?
I do have sympathy and respects for drug users or sellers that turn their life around. However there are few that do.
I have more sympathy for the innocents that are harmed by drug users sellers. People who are murdered/robbed for drug money, kids who have to grow up with parents using drugs etc etc.
You couldn't be more wrong about those boys! They had just moved into that apartment the weekend that they were kidnapped and murdered. They were renting it for the summer quarter, along with one other friend. The PRIOR tenants were the drug dealers!!!! Yarbrough and Herring mistakenly thought that the previous tenants were still there, when in fact, they had been thrown out!!
Please, please! I know the Muha family, not well, but well enough! I have spoken at length with Brian's mom about this. She doesn't even want the death penalty for Terrell because she doesn't believe in it. She forgave him. But she also believed that he would be safest in jail on death row. He would probably be dead by now if she hadn't intervened on his behalf! She is praying for his salvation. He took Brian's rosary as a trinket, and she is praying that it will help him. She wants something good to come from Brian's brutal murder!
I apologize I should of kept up with the story in the local papers. The last I read they owed drug money.
Either state (but not both) can prosecute, IIRC.
This story has been very close to my heart since it first happened. My son knew Brian. Brian was five or six years older than him, but befriended my son when he was being teased. My son always looked up to him. Brain was a great young man. The other Freeper doesn't know what he's talking about. There were circumstances that he has misunderstood from the way the press reported the stories. Brian and Aaron and one other friend that didn't get kidnapped (he wasn't at the apartment when it happened, but came home to a bloody mess) had just moved in to that apartment a few days earlier. It was a case of mistaken identity, but because Yarbrough and Herring were all drugged up, they didn't realize it, and didn't stop until the guys were dead. They completely tortured these young men.
"Suppose murderer in state A fires across the state line to kill a victim in state B. What then?"
Professor Gillis, is that you?
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