March 2021 | Page 29 of 117 | My Crime Library

Roland Davis Ohio Death Row

Roland Davis would be sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a murder. Roland Davis would force his way into the elderly victim’s home where Elizabeth Sheeler’ would be brutally murdered. Roland Davis would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Roland Davis 2021 Information

Number A499211

DOB 11/14/1952

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 08/03/2005

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Roland Davis More News

DNA evidence from a 2000 murder in Newark, Ohio recently matched suspect DNA in a cold case in Florida from 1990, police said.

Newark Police said in a release that the DNA evidence may link Roland “Rollie” Thomas Davis, who was arrested and convicted for the murder of 86-year-old Elizabeth Sheeler in 2000, to the 1990 homicide of 42-year-old Sharon Gill in Charlotte County, Florida.

Davis was convicted and put on death row after DNA evidence linked him to the Newark murder in 2004. Court filings said Davis broke into Sheeler’s apartment on the night of July 10, 2000, and murdered her by stabbing her in the neck and chest. He then stole money from her apartment and fled the scene.

Davis was a cab driver who had driven Sheeler to the grocery store, the bank, and other locations in Newark. He had also helped her carry groceries into her apartment on multiple occasions, court filings said.

Davis’s case went all the way to the state supreme court which reaffirmed his death sentence in 2008.

Newark Police said its detectives were recently contacted by authorities from Florida regarding a DNA hit from a 1990 homicide.

According to the department, Davis, 37 years old at the time, had been living in Charlotte, Lee, and Hendry Counties in Florida in 1990. Investigators say he was known to travel between Ohio and Florida from 1970 to 2004.

Florida detectives are searching for more evidence to link Davis to the Charlotte County murder. Anyone with information who may know about Davis’s whereabouts at the time may call 740-670-7928. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can also call Licking County Crime Stoppers at 740-349-6888.

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/dna-may-link-central-ohio-death-row-inmate-to-florida-cold-case

Jeronique Cunningham Ohio Death Row

Jeronique Cunningham was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for two murders. According to court documents Jeronique Cunningham and Cleveland Jackson would go into a home where they would take a group of people at gunpoint hostage. Jeronique Cunningham and Cleveland Jackson would fire into the group killing Leneshia Williams, 17, and Jala Grant, 3. Jeronique Cunningham and Cleveland Jackson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Jeronique Cunningham 2021 Information

Number A428323

DOB 08/13/1972

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 06/28/2002 Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Cleveland Jackson 2021 Information

Number A429404

DOB 06/26/1978

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 08/09/2002

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Jeronique Cunningham More News

In the early afternoon of January 3, 2002, Cunningham met his friend, Lashane (“Shane”) Liles, at the home of Cunningham’s sister, Tara Cunningham. After discussing a drug transaction, Shane and Cunningham went to Shane’s apartment on East Eureka Street, in Lima, where Shane sold Cunningham crack cocaine.

{¶ 3} Later that afternoon, Tara saw Cunningham and Jackson. According to Tara, Cunningham “was wiping off a gun and Jackson was wiping off a clip with bullets in it.” Tara heard Jackson tell Cunningham that he was going to “hit a lick,” i.e., rob somebody, and Jackson mentioned Shane Liles.

{¶ 4} In the evening of January 3, Cunningham and Jackson went to Shane’s apartment. Shane was not home, but several family members and friends were there. Shane came home shortly thereafter, and Cunningham told Shane that Jackson wanted to purchase drugs. Shane and Jackson then talked about drugs on the staircase near the living room. While Shane and Jackson talked, Cunningham sat in the living room and watched a movie with teenagers Coron Liles and Dwight Goodloe Jr.

{¶ 5} As Shane and Jackson continued to talk, Cunningham stood up and ordered Coron and Goodloe into the kitchen. When Coron and Goodloe did not immediately obey, Cunningham, who was wearing gloves, pulled out a gun and struck Coron in the face with the gun barrel, breaking his jaw. When Cunningham hit Coron, Jackson pulled out his gun and aimed it at Shane. Coron and Goodloe then ran into the kitchen followed by Cunningham pointing his gun at them. Tomeaka Grant, Armetta Robinson, James Grant, his three-year-old daughter, Jayla, and 17-year-old Leneshia Williams were already in the kitchen.

{¶ 6} Cunningham held the group at gunpoint. The group huddled together against the back wall and tried to shield themselves behind the kitchen table. Cunningham pushed the table and chairs away, locked the back door, and checked the basement for other people. People in the group were crying and praying, and James repeatedly pleaded with Cunningham not to hurt Jayla.

{¶ 7} Meanwhile, Jackson forced Shane upstairs and robbed him of money and drugs. Jackson then tied Shane’s hands behind his back and forced him into the kitchen at gunpoint. In the kitchen, the group was ordered to place money, jewelry, and watches on the table. Cunningham and Jackson grabbed some items from the table and put them into their pockets. Jackson believed that they had more money and asked Shane for the rest. When Shane said that was all he had, Jackson shot Shane in the back.

{¶ 8} Cunningham and Jackson then fired their weapons at the rest of the group. Goodloe testified that he saw Coron’s head “snap back” when Cunningham shot Coron in the mouth. Goodloe also heard Cunningham’s gun fire “numerous times” and saw smoke coming from Cunningham’s gun. Coron testified that Cunningham pointed his gun at him and fired. Coron also saw Cunningham shoot Jayla and Tomeaka. Coron said that both Cunningham and Jackson had fired their weapons, and he saw sparks coming from Cunningham’s gun. Tomeaka saw Cunningham and Jackson pulling the triggers of their guns and heard more than one gun firing. James was holding Jayla when Cunningham pointed the gun and shot him in the face. Once the shooting stopped, the victim heard clicking sounds as Cunningham and Jackson continued pulling the triggers of their guns even after they were out of bullets.

{¶ 9} The deputy coroner determined that Jayla Grant and Leneshia Williams had been killed by gunshot wounds to the head. Jayla was shot twice in the head; either wound would have been fatal. One bullet went through her brain; the other penetrated her scalp, causing a skull fracture and a brain contusion. Leneshia suffered a gunshot wound to the back of her head. The bullet traveled through her brain; she died within seconds of being shot. The coroner recovered no bullets or bullet fragments from the victims during the autopsies and was unable to identify the caliber of the bullets that caused the deaths.

{¶ 10} The surviving victims all suffered gunshot injuries as well. Shane suffered a gunshot wound to his back. Robinson was shot in the back of the head and was in a coma for 47 days. James was shot five times and sustained injuries to his head, arm, and hand. Tomeaka was shot in the head and arm and lost her left eye. Coron was shot in the mouth, lost teeth, and sustained other injuries to his mouth. A bullet grazed Goodloe’s side near his rib.

{¶ 11} Eight spent shell casings and five spent bullets were found at the scene. One fragmented lead core from a full-metal-jacketed bullet was also recovered. One bullet from the shooting was still lodged in Tomeaka’s arm, and Coron testified that he had spit a bullet from his mouth outside the apartment after the shooting stopped. This bullet was never found. Police photographed and recovered a bullet from the front porch of the apartment, but this bullet was subsequently misplaced.

{¶ 12} John Heile, a firearms expert for the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, performed testing on the shell casings and bullets recovered from the scene, but no guns were recovered for testing. Heile was able to identify the spent shell casings and bullets recovered as .380-caliber ammunition. Heile testified that state’s exhibits 10-17 (shell casings) and exhibits 18, 19, 21, and 23 (spent bullets) were all fired from the same semiautomatic pistol. Exhibit 20 was the same caliber and possessed the same general characteristics (e.g., lands and grooves) as the other spent bullets, but Heile could not confirm that it came from the same weapon. In addition, Heile was unable to identify the caliber of exhibit 22 (fragmented lead core) or determine whether it came from the same weapon as the other spent bullets.

{¶ 13} At trial, the defense presented testimony from three witnesses. William Reiff, a local gun dealer, testified regarding the differences between semiautomatic pistols and revolvers. Reiff explained that a semiautomatic weapon is loaded by inserting a magazine (i.e., clip) through the butt of the gun handle. Reiff also testified that a larger weapon, such as a .44-caliber, is “considerably louder” than a .380-caliber weapon and that .44-caliber bullets are much larger than .380-caliber bullets. On cross-examination, Reiff admitted that he did not know which type of gun was used in the shootings. He also acknowledged that a .380-caliber bullet has approximately the same diameter as a .38 bullet and that .38 rounds are generally fired from a revolver.

{¶ 14} Joann Davis and her daughter, Mary, lived next door to Shane’s apartment, and both testified that they did not hear any noises at the time of the shootings. On cross-examination, Joann said that she was taking medication that night for congestive heart failure and a severe back condition. She also verified that there is a concrete firewall between her apartment and Shane’s.

{¶ 15} The defense did not dispute that Cunningham brandished a gun both before and during the shootings. The defense’s theory was that Cunningham’s gun was inoperable and that he had neither planned nor intended to kill anyone. The defense relied heavily on the physical evidence found at the scene in arguing that only Jackson had fired a weapon. At trial, witnesses unequivocally recalled a revolver in Cunningham’s hands and a semiautomatic pistol with a clip in Jackson’s hands. The bullet casings and spent bullets recovered from the scene, except exhibit 22, were all identified as .380-caliber ammunition that is typically fired from a semiautomatic handgun, not from a revolver.

{¶ 16} Cunningham was indicted on two counts of aggravated murder. Count One charged Cunningham with purposely causing the death of Jayla Grant during an aggravated robbery. Count Two charged Cunningham with purposely causing the death of Leneshia Williams during an aggravated robbery. R.C. 2903.01(B). Cunningham was charged with aggravated robbery in Count Three and with six counts of attempted murder in Counts Four through Nine. Cunningham was also charged with having a weapon under disability in Count Ten, but this charge was dismissed.

{¶ 17} The aggravated-murder counts each contained two death-penalty specifications. The first specification charged aggravated murder as part of a course of conduct to kill or attempt to kill two or more persons. R.C. 2929.04(A)(5). The second specification charged aggravated murder during an aggravated robbery and that the murder was committed with prior calculation and design. R.C. 2929.04(A)(7). Firearm and repeat-violent-offender specifications were attached to all counts except Count Ten.

{¶ 18} The jury convicted Cunningham of all charges, the death-penalty specifications, and the firearm specifications. After a penalty hearing, the trial court sentenced Cunningham to death on Counts One and Two consistent with the jury’s recommendation. The trial court imposed consecutive sentences of ten years each for Cunningham’s convictions of aggravated robbery and six counts of attempted murder, plus three-year consecutive sentences for the firearm specifications. Pursuant to R.C. 2941.149, the trial court determined that Cunningham was a repeat violent offender, sentenced him to nine years on each specification, and ordered those sentences to run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the 13-year sentences for Counts Three through Nine.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1361613.html

Derrick Cook Ohio Death Row

Derrick Cook was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a robbery murder. According to court documents Derrick Cook would force the owner of a clothing store into an abandoned building where he was murdered. Cook would then steal from the victim before fleeing. Derrick Cook would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Derrick Cook 2021 Information

Number A228913

DOB 02/17/1956

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 09/11/1990

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Derrick Cook More News

In the morning of October 28, 1989, Frank Shorter, age sixty-eight, disappeared from the store he managed, Sullivan’s Clothing Store in Lockland, Ohio. Two people shopping nearby, Terry Teppe and Tereva Whitt, saw him at the store about 9:00 a.m. that day, but another shopper entering the store around noon did not see him in the store, and called the police. Shorter’s body was found in an abandoned building at 207 Seitz Street in Cincinnati on November 2, 1989, with a lethal gunshot wound to his head.

When Shorter was found, one of his pants pockets was turned inside out, and about $50 was missing from his wallet. Approximately $300 was missing from the cash register at the store. Items of clothing were also missing.

Shortly before 9:00 a.m. on October 28, 1989, Tereva Whitt saw a black man crossing the street outside Sullivan’s. She noticed brown spots on his face, and that he wore an Army-green full-length jacket. At about the same time, Everett Rasnick and Terry Teppe arrived in the vicinity of Sullivan’s. They both saw two black men outside the store. Teppe observed the face of the taller of the two men. The taller man wore what looked like a green Army fatigue jacket. Rasnick saw the men repeatedly during the span of five to eight minutes, and noted that the taller one wore a light green full-length coat.

On the same day, Brenda Tourney looked from a window of her apartment at 303 Seitz Street, Cincinnati, and saw an older white man in a blue suit, followed closely by a black man, walking toward a neighboring abandoned building. The black man was light-skinned and had splotches on his face. A few moments later, Tourney heard what sounded like a car backfiring.

Two persons were passing through the abandoned building on November 2, 1989, and one of them discovered the body of Shorter. The police were notified, and investigated the scene on November 3. They found Shorter lying on his back, his glasses still on his face, with a bullet hole under his chin. He had been bleeding from his nose and mouth, the blood flowing to the floor from his face. An autopsy revealed that Shorter had died from a bullet wound to the head from a gun fired at point-blank range.

Police had no leads in the case until January 11, 1990, when a Cincinnati police officer received a phone call from an individual demanding money for the murder weapon. The next day, the officer received another call, which he taped. The caller said that he had left a bullet from the murder weapon on top of a sign at a Burger King. The officer retrieved the bullet, which was too damaged for police to determine whether it matched the one that killed Shorter. Later, the caller left another bullet in the coin return of a phone booth, and called a different officer with this information. This call, too, was recorded. This bullet matched the one taken from Shorter’s body.

On January 18, 1990, Shorter’s widow, Alma Shorter, received a telephone call from a person wanting reward money for the murder weapon. A subsequent call came at approximately 8:30 p.m. on January 19. Shorter’s son-in-law kept the caller on the line for several minutes, and the call was recorded and traced to a telephone booth at 1601 Main Street. The information was dispatched to two Cincinnati policemen, Officers Terry Meiners and Dennis Luken, who proceeded immediately to that location. Officer Meiners saw defendant, Derrick Cook, leaving the phone booth, wearing an Army-green coat. A woman using an adjacent phone booth identified defendant as having just used the other booth. Officer Lucian Guy, who had been investigating the case, arrived minutes later. Police subsequently searched defendant and found a list of telephone numbers on him. Two of the numbers on this list were connected to the booths where the bullets were found. Cook was placed under arrest.

Defendant was placed in a lineup and identified by Whitt, Tourney, Rasnick and Teppe. All four identified defendant in the courtroom at his trial.

Further evidence was introduced at trial. Sheila Valerius, defendant’s employer, identified defendant’s voice from the recorded phone conversations. Defendant had asked Valerius for a pay advance on October 27, 1989, and she turned him down. Sometime between October 18 and October 31, defendant asked a fellow employee where defendant could obtain a gun. Valerius asked defendant about this conversation and he admitted it. Defendant made a $243.42 payment on his car on October 28, 1989, the day of the murder.

On February 21, 1990, the Hamilton County Grand Jury returned an indictment against defendant, charging him with two counts of aggravated murder with death-penalty specifications, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping. Other specifications included prior conviction and possession of a firearm. Defendant pled not guilty to all charges on February 23, 1990.

A jury found defendant guilty on all counts and specifications on August 17, 1990. Following a mitigation hearing at which neither defendant nor the state produced any further evidence, the jury recommended the sentence of death. The trial judge sentenced defendant to death on the aggravated-murder counts, and two consecutive sentences of fifteen to twenty-five years on the aggravated robbery and kidnapping counts. He received an additional three years for the gun specification. The court of appeals affirmed appellant’s convictions and the death penalty.

https://casetext.com/case/state-v-cook-162

James Conway Ohio Death Row

James Conway was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of a man. According to court documents James Conway would murder the victim with a pick axe. James Conway would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

James Conway 2021 Information

Number A457203

DOB 06/29/1978

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 10/09/2003

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

James Conway More News

On Friday, September 14, 2001, Jesse James was shot and wounded near the intersections of Evergreen, Fern Hill, and Palmetto Streets on the west side of Columbus. James, who was a witness for the defense, said that Dotson was at the scene of the shooting with a “big, fat white guy,” a description that matches Conway. James said that the “big, fat white guy” had a gun. Later that evening, Dotson’s mother and his brother picked up Dotson’s car on Evergreen, where it was parked.

{¶ 3} On Saturday, September 15, 2001, two Franklin County detectives went to the home of Dotson’s mother, Lora Eberhard. Eberhard told the detectives that Dotson was not there but that she was expecting him. She gave the detectives Dotson’s home address and cell phone number, and they left a business card. Dotson arrived at Eberhard’s home a few hours later with Jamie Horton and another person in a white Jeep Cherokee. Eberhard gave Dotson the detectives’ business card, and she left to go to church. This was the last time Eberhard saw or spoke to Dotson. One of the last calls from Dotson’s cell phone was made later that evening to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective Bureau.

{¶ 4} Under a plea agreement, Mike Arthurs, a co-conspirator of Conway’s, testified that sometime in mid-September 2001, he had attended a party at the Hampton Inn in Chillicothe with Conway, Dotson, Horton, and Shawn Nightingale. During the party, Conway met secretly with Arthurs and Nightingale in the bathroom of their hotel room and asked them to kill Dotson. Conway gave no reason for wanting Dotson killed, but Arthurs and Nightingale nevertheless agreed to carry out the murder.

{¶ 5} The group spent the night at the hotel, and the next morning, Conway, Dotson, Arthurs, Nightingale, and Horton met in the hotel parking lot. Conway and Horton left in Conway’s car. Arthurs and Nightingale drove to West Virginia in Nightingale’s Jeep Cherokee with Dotson to kill him.

{¶ 6} After they arrived in West Virginia, Arthurs and Nightingale realized that they could not kill Dotson. Arthurs testified that Dotson wanted drugs, so the group picked up some pills. Dotson started taking the pills and subsequently passed out in the back seat of Nightingale’s Jeep.

{¶ 7} Arthurs and Nightingale decided to drive to Columbus. During the trip, they called Conway to tell him that they could not kill Dotson. According to Arthurs, Conway told him and Nightingale to “quit being bitches” and instructed them to bring Dotson to a shopping center on the west side of Columbus.

{¶ 8} Dotson was still passed out when Arthurs and Nightingale met Conway and Horton in the shopping center parking lot after dark. Conway directed Arthurs and Nightingale to follow him to a nearby cornfield on Galloway Road. Once at the cornfield, Conway ordered Arthurs to pull Dotson out of Nightingale’s Jeep and choke him, which Arthurs said he pretended to do. Conway then had Arthurs and Horton drag Dotson further into the cornfield. Arthurs said that Dotson was unconscious but still breathing after he was dragged into the cornfield.

{¶ 9} Horton and Nightingale then removed Dotson’s clothes, except for his underwear, and placed them in a plastic bag. At this point, Conway took a pickax from his truck and walked into the cornfield where Dotson was. Arthurs could not see Conway but testified that he heard “two thuds.” After Arthurs heard the thuds, Conway reappeared and removed blood from the pickax by wiping it in the dirt. Conway broke apart the pickax, placed the metal part of the pickax into the plastic bag containing Dotson’s clothes, and put the handle in his truck. Horton then removed a bag of lime from Nightingale’s Jeep and poured the lime over Dotson’s body. The group then left Dotson’s body in the cornfield.

{¶ 10} After leaving the cornfield, Arthurs disposed of Dotson’s clothes and part of the pickax in the trash behind his cousin’s house. The next morning, Conway, Horton, and Nightingale picked up Arthurs, and they drove to a hardware store. While there, Conway picked up a spaded shovel and told Arthurs that “it was for the next time.” Conway later admitted to Arthurs that he had stabbed Dotson twice in the chest with the pickax.

{¶ 11} Thereafter, the group went to the mall, where Conway bought Arthurs new clothes and new shoes. Conway then took the clothes that Arthurs had worn when Dotson was killed and said that he was going to burn them.

{¶ 12} Ronny Trent, Conway’s cellmate at the Franklin County Corrections Center, also testified against Conway under a plea agreement. Trent testified that he and Conway had never met prior to their joint incarceration. Soon after discovering that Trent was a distant cousin, however, Conway began confiding in him.

{¶ 13} In April 2002, before Conway was charged with Dotson’s murder, Dotson’s mother visited Conway in jail, seeking information about her son’s death. After telling Trent that Dotson’s mom had just visited him, Conway said, “That stupid bitch actually thinks I’m going to tell her I killed her son.” Conway later told Trent that he had killed Dotson because he was afraid that Dotson would tell the police that Conway had shot someone “in the butt” at a White Castle restaurant.

{¶ 14} Trent testified that Conway had instructed Arthurs and Nightingale to take Dotson to West Virginia, cause him to overdose on drugs, and dump his body in the hills. When Arthurs and Nightingale could not kill Dotson, they brought him back to Columbus and met Conway and Horton. Conway originally told Trent that he had stepped on Dotson’s neck until Dotson died. Conway later admitted to Trent, however, that he had struck Dotson twice in the chest with a pickax “to be sure that Andrew was dead.”

{¶ 15} Trent also said that Conway hired him to kill Arthurs because Conway feared that Arthurs would tell the police about Dotson’s murder. Conway paid Trent $5,000 by having the money placed in Trent’s jail account. However, instead of killing Arthurs, Trent went to the prosecutor and began working as a confidential informant gathering incriminating information on Conway.

{¶ 16} Gary Wilgus, a special agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, was called to an area off Galloway Road in Franklin County on October 10, 2001. There, Wilgus saw the badly decomposed body of a white male lying in a cornfield. The body was undressed except for a pair of boxer shorts. The victim’s left foot was missing, and Wilgus speculated that it had been removed by an animal. Wilgus noticed a white powder on and around the body, which was later identified as a cement-type material.

{¶ 17} Wilgus took pictures of the body and crime scene. Because of decomposition, the victim’s face was unrecognizable. Wilgus attempted to identify the body through fingerprints but was unsuccessful. The body was later identified as Dotson’s through his dental records.

{¶ 18} Dr. Patrick Fardal, chief forensic pathologist and deputy coroner for Franklin County, determined that Dotson had died as a result of two stab wounds to his chest that pierced his heart and liver. Both wounds were substantially similar and appeared to have been caused by the same instrument. Dotson’s wounds were consistent with those that would be inflicted by an instrument such as a pickax. Fardal also compared Dotson’s wounds with a pickax purchased by Arthurs that was offered into evidence as similar to the pickax used in the murder. Fardal found that the pickax purchased by Arthurs could have been the type of instrument that caused Dotson’s chest wounds.

{¶ 19} During the autopsy, Fardal found blood in Dotson’s chest cavity, indicating that he was still alive when he sustained his stab wounds. No evidence suggested that Dotson was killed by strangulation. Fardal also noted that when Dotson’s body was discovered, it was partially covered with a “powdered whitish, gray material” that looked like lime or concrete powder. The toxicology report showed that alcohol and Valium were present in Dotson’s body.

{¶ 20} In June 2002, Conway was indicted on six counts, including one count of aggravated murder. Count One charged that Conway had purposely and with prior calculation and design caused the death of Dotson, R.C. 2903.01(A), and/or that Conway had purposely caused the death of Dotson during a kidnapping, R.C. 2903.01(B). Count Two charged Conway with kidnapping. R.C. 2905.01(A)(2) and (3). Conway was charged in Count Three with possession of criminal tools, R.C. 2923.24(A); Count Four, abuse of a corpse, R.C. 2927.01(B); Count Five, obstruction of justice, R.C. 2921.32(A)(4) and (C)(4); and Count Six, tampering with evidence, R.C. 2921.12(A)(1).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1094713.html

Douglas Coley Ohio Death Row

Douglas Coley was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a carjacking that ended in a murder. According to court documents Douglas Coley would drag the victim, Samar El-Okdi , from her car to an alley where she was fatally shot and Douglas Coley would then steal her car. Douglas Coley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Douglas Coley 2021 Information

Number A361444

DOB 08/24/1975

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 06/16/1998

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Douglas Coley More News

On December 23, 1996, around 7:30 p.m., David Moore parked his light blue, four-door Ford Taurus at his residence in Toledo. While Moore was unloading his car trunk, a man he later identified as Green asked for directions. As he gave directions, another man appeared, whom Moore later identified as Coley. Moore started to leave, but Green and Coley stood in front of him and displayed small-caliber, shiny, semiautomatic pistols. Coley then told Moore, “Give me your keys.” Moore complied, and Coley told Moore, “Get in the car.” Coley then climbed in behind the wheel, Green got in back behind Moore, and Coley drove the Taurus towards the art museum.

While in the car, Moore asked them to let him go, but neither Green nor Coley responded. Green did tell Moore to “cough up the cash,” and Moore handed Coley $112, which Coley threw on the front seat. Moore noted that Coley was calm and never appeared excited, aggravated, confused, or unsure of himself. After approximately fifteen minutes, Coley pulled into a dark, isolated field and told Moore to get out of the car.

As Moore backed out of the car, Coley shot him in the stomach. After Moore ran away, he heard a car door open and the car wheels spinning, “trying to get out of the mud.” Moore heard somebody chasing him. Other shots were fired, and Moore fell down. Then Moore heard another shot and felt a bullet hit him in the head. He pretended that he was dead, but as his assailant walked away, Moore looked back and thought that Green, who was heavier and taller than Coley, was the one who had just shot him.

Eventually, Moore struggled to his feet, went to a nearby house, and summoned assistance. Police and a medical team responded and took Moore to a hospital. Moore had been shot in the head, stomach, and arms, and twice in the hand. During one operation, a surgeon removed a .25 caliber bullet from Moore’s wrist.

In addition to the bullet from Moore’s wrist, police found two .25 caliber shell casings on Green Street near where Moore had been shot. Evidence established that a gun identified as Coley’s gun had ejected the shell casings found on Green Street and fired the bullet removed from Moore’s wrist.

On an evening shortly before Christmas 1996, Tyrone Armstrong, a cousin of both Coley and Green, saw Coley and Green driving a light blue, four-door Ford Taurus. The Taurus, which Armstrong knew did not belong to either of them, was overheating, so Armstrong helped put water in the car. Before his abduction, Moore had purchased but not installed a new replacement radiator because his Taurus tended to overheat.

That same evening, Armstrong saw Coley and Green with the same .25 caliber semiautomatic pistols that Armstrong had seen each of them previously carry. Armstrong identified State Exhibit 32, a brown-handled pistol with gray duct tape, as the weapon Coley had previously carried, and State Exhibit 33, which had a pearl handle, as Green’s pistol. That evening, Green made up a rap song with the words “I shot him five times and he had dropped.” At one point, Green pointed his gun at Coley and said, “You better never snitch on me.” Coley mimicked the action; pointing his gun at Green, and repeating, “Better never snitch on me.” Penne Graves, Coley’s girlfriend, also recognized State Exhibit 32 as a gun she had seen around her house.

After a few days, Coley and Green abandoned Moore’s Taurus. On December 27, 1996, police recovered Moore’s car in an area near the residence of a girlfriend of Coley. When police found the Taurus, it bore plates that had been stolen from a Mercury Topaz.

Murder of Samar El-Okdi

Samar El-Okdi was found dead in an alley on January 7, 1997. She had last been seen on January 3, 1997. The police traced El-Okdi’s movements on Friday, January 3, 1997, from around 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., but no evidence firmly established exactly where or when she had been abducted. Sometime after 5:00 p.m. that day, El-Okdi left work and told coworkers that she planned to spend the evening at home. She drove her Pontiac 6000 to her apartment, a block from Moore’s residence. Raymond Sunderman, her landlord, saw El-Okdi arrive home sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. El-Okdi’s brother, Samir El-Okdi, recalls that El-Okdi stopped by late that afternoon at the family-owned convenience store for thirty to forty-five minutes. Around 8:00 p.m., El-Okdi dropped film off at the Blue Ribbon Photo store at Westgate Shopping Center.

That same Friday, around 8:45 p.m., Rosie Frusher left a friend’s house at West Grove Place, near the Toledo Art Museum, to use a pay telephone. As Frusher walked outside the house at which she was staying, she heard two gunshots. After she had passed by the house, she saw a car to her left in an alley. The car had “long taillights” (similar to those on a Pontiac 6000) and a license plate number with a zero (unlike El-Okdi’s license number). Frusher saw a black, stocky “man outside the car bending over that had bushy hair.” Another man was sitting in the driver’s seat. Then Frusher walked to the pay phone and talked to her friend for thirty minutes or so, but she did not return the same way she had come earlier. Ameritech records establish that Frusher made this call at 8:41 p.m.

On Saturday, January 4, Christopher Neal, El-Okdi’s boyfriend, discovered that El-Okdi was missing and notified police. El-Okdi’s friends and relatives searched for El-Okdi, hired a private detective, and distributed missing-person flyers. These flyers described El-Okdi, included her photograph, described her car, including the bumper stickers, and listed her last known whereabouts.

That same weekend in Toledo, Armstrong saw Coley driving a gray Pontiac 6000 that he later identified as El-Okdi’s car. On the night his cousins were arrested, Armstrong bought some cigars and two bottles of Alize (an alcoholic beverage) for Green and Coley, which police later found in that Pontiac. Armstrong admitted that Green and Coley had keys and used those keys to drive both the Taurus and the Pontiac.

Later that night, Monday, January 6, Megan Mattimoe, El-Okdi’s friend and coworker, was parked on Scottwood waiting for another friend to distribute the missing-person flyers about El-Okdi. Around 11:15 p.m., Mattimoe saw El-Okdi’s car drive by, which she identified by its dented rear fender and a distinctive bumper sticker, although the license plate was different. While following the Pontiac, Mattimoe used a cellphone to call a friend, who in turn called the police. Mattimoe followed the Pontiac until the driver parked at an apartment complex and two men got out.

After talking with police, Mattimoe and a Toledo detective returned to where the stolen Pontiac was parked. It bore an Ohio license plate, number YRT 022, which had been stolen from another Pontiac 6000 some time before 6:00 p.m. on January 4, 1997. Police staked out the car, using five undercover police vehicles.

After midnight, Green, Coley, and a woman with a baby got into the Pontiac and drove away. Police followed in undercover vehicles and, assisted by marked police cars, forced the Pontiac to stop. Despite being surrounded, Green rammed one car and spun his wheels in an effort to escape. Green and Coley also resisted arrest, and police forcibly removed each of them from the car. Police found a loaded pistol in Green’s coat. When one policeman approached the car, he noticed that Coley, who was sitting in the back seat, had a metallic object in his hand. On the Pontiac’s rear floor, police found a loaded, .25 caliber, brown-handled pistol (Exhibit 32) near where Coley had been sitting.

Inside the trunk, police found a black crochet purse that El-Okdi had with her on January 3 when she disappeared. However, police never found her red wallet and credit cards, which she always carried with her inside the black purse. Police found one of El-Okdi’s license plates underneath the stolen rear plate, and they found her other license plate in the car trunk.

On the afternoon of January 7, police found El-Okdi’s body in an alley behind West Grove Place, where Frusher had heard shots and had seen two men in a car four days earlier. El-Okdi was wearing the same white shirt, black shoes, and black trousers that she wore to work on January 3. At the scene, police found a live .25 caliber bullet and a .25 caliber shell casing near El-Okdi’s body.

The deputy coroner found that El-Okdi had died from a .25 caliber bullet, which the deputy coroner removed from the back of her cerebellum. The bullet had struck her between the eyes and had been fired from a muzzle distance of approximately twelve to eighteen inches. The deputy coroner concluded that El-Okdi did not die immediately.

David Cogan, a firearms expert, examined the .25 caliber bullet removed from El-Okdi’s brain, the .25 caliber bullet removed from Moore’s wrist, three .25 caliber shell casings from the two crime scenes, and Coley’s .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol recovered from the rear floor of El-Okdi’s Pontiac. Cogan concluded that Coley’s pistol was in operating condition and had fired the bullets into Moore and El-Okdi and had ejected the three crime-scene shell casings. After police searched Green’s residence on January 7, 1997, they found an empty box that had contained .25 caliber Remington ammunition.

On January 7, 1997, Coley and Green were arraigned on charges relating to El-Okdi’s stolen Pontiac and the stolen plates. That arraignment was shown on television, and Moore immediately recognized Green and Coley from the television newscast as the men who had kidnapped, robbed, and shot him.

That same week, Coley, Green and their cousin Armstrong were all in jail, although Armstrong was being held on unrelated charges. While Armstrong and Coley were together, Coley hugged him and told him, “I did it but Joe [Green] shouldn’t have snitched on me.” By this comment, Armstrong understood Coley to mean that Coley had shot El-Okdi. Coley also asked Armstrong to lie for him by claiming that Coley had obtained his weapon and the Pontiac from someone named Denny.

On January 16, 1997, a grand jury heard allegations relating to El-Okdi, and returned an indictment of murder, without death-penalty specifications. Coley was reindicted on March 10, 1997, with the grand jury returning an eight-count indictment for the following offenses: Count I, the kidnapping of David Moore, in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(2); Count II, the aggravated robbery of David Moore, in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1); Count III, the attempted murder of David Moore, in violation of R.C. 2923.02; Count IV, the aggravated murder of Samar El-Okdi, in violation of R.C. 2903.01(A); Count V, the aggravated murder of Samar El-Okdi, in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B); Count VI, the aggravated murder of Samar El-Okdi, in violation of R.C. 2903.01(B); Count VII, the kidnapping of Samar El-Okdi, in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(2); and Count VIII, the aggravated robbery of Samar El-Okdi, in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1). Each count included a firearm specification in violation of R.C. 2941.145. Count III also had a firearm specification under R.C. 2941.146. Each murder count included a specification under R.C. 2929.04(A)(7) that the murder was committed during a kidnapping or robbery.

Coley pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was convicted as charged, and the jury found both that Coley was the principal offender in the aggravated murder and that he committed the offense with prior calculation and design. The trial court later merged the three aggravated murder Counts (IV, V, and VI). After a sentencing hearing, the jury recommended, and the trial judge imposed, a death sentence for the aggravated murder of Samar El-Okdi. In addition to the death sentence, the trial court sentenced Coley to ten years on each of Counts I, II, III, VII, and VIII, to be served consecutively, and sentenced him on the firearm specifications.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1467924.html