Kevin Isom was sentenced to death by the State of Indiana for the murders of his wife and two step children. According to court documents Kevin Isom learned that his wife was planning to leave him so he grabbed a shotgun and would shoot and kill her and her two children, Michael Moore, 16, and Ci’Andria Cole, 13. Kevin Isom would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
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Kevin Isom More News
A Gary man on death row for killing his wife and two stepchildren is still seeking a new trial, or alternatively, asking to be sentenced again.
Kevin Isom, 53, was sentenced to death in 2013 after a jury convicted him in the Aug. 6, 2007, deaths of his wife, Cassandra Isom, and stepchildren Michael Moore, 16, and Ci’Andria Cole, 13.
Police found all three shot in the family’s apartment in Gary’s Miller section. Isom was found sitting on the floor in a bedroom with blood on his clothes, court records show.
Isom filed a direct appeal, which was denied. His sentence was, however, amended to three concurrent, rather than consecutive, death sentences, court records show. Isom then filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which was denied in June.
Now, Isom has appealed that denial, asking the Indiana Supreme Court to reverse his convictions and remand his case for a new trial. As an alternative, Isom asked for a new sentencing proceeding, court records show.
Isom’s convictions and death sentence violate the U.S. and Indiana constitutions, according to an 87-page brief filed Friday by public defenders representing Isom.
Specifically, the brief states that Isom had ineffective counsel at trial; his counsel for his appeal had a “constitutionally deficient performance” which prejudiced Isom; and the post-conviction court erred in denying a request to determine whether Isom was still competent to proceed, among other issues.
If the Indiana Supreme Court affirms the denial of Isom’s petition for post-conviction relief, “Isom may want to ask the federal courts to review his convictions and sentence,” according to the brief.
Isom was denied his right be tried by an impartial jury, the brief states. Prospective jurors discussed Isom’s case during the selection process, even though they were instructed not to do so, according to the brief.
“Counsel should have moved to strike the entire panel,” the brief states.
Isom’s current counsel asked permission to question Isom’s jurors about his case, but that was denied, court records show.
Isom’s trial team should have interviewed Dr. Gary Durak and called him as a witness, the brief states. Durak evaluated Isom two times in 2008, closer in time to when Isom was charged than two other doctors who did testify, according to the brief. Durak had noted that Isom may be “on the schizophrenia spectrum,” according to court records.
“They jury heard nothing to substantiate Isom’s severe mental illness,” the brief states.
Having this information, along with other records and mitigating information, “is reasonably likely to have moved the jury to determine Isom did not deserve the death penalty,” according to the brief.
Isom was deemed competent to stand trial, but he “truly does not remember what happened in his apartment,” the brief states.
Isom has previously refused to be in the courtroom and “irrationally refused to have any discussions with counsel,” according to the brief. Isom’s team argued that he should be evaluated again to see if he is competent to understand his current proceedings, the brief states.
“Each team of attorneys representing Isom has, at some point in their respective times on Isom’s case, harbored a good-faith belief that Isom’s mental condition was or is so compromised so that Isom was not able to assist the attorneys,” according to the brief.
The brief also requested that the state “provide information regarding the drugs which will be used to execute Isom,” which was denied because an execution date has not been set, so the state does not know which substances or methodology will be used.
Isom’s team is worried this could affect his opportunity to challenge whether the method is acceptable under the U.S. and Indiana constitutions, the brief states.
Isom is currently being held at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Eric Holmes was sentenced to death by the State of Indiana for a series of murders. According to court documents Eric Holmes was fired from his job and would wait outside of the restaurant until closing times. When three employees were leaving the restaurant they were forced back inside by Eric Holmes and his accomplice Michael Vance . The employees were forced into a freezer where they would be stabbed repeatedly. Two of the employees would die from their injuries. Eric Holmes would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Michael Vance was sentenced to 190 years in prison
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Eric Holmes More News
The evidence tending to support the verdicts against Eric Holmes showed that he got into an argument with his fellow worker Amy Foshee and was fired from his job at a Shoney’s restaurant where he had worked for at least three months. At the time of closing that day, Charles Ervin, a manager, Theresa Blosl, a manager, and Amy Foshee, a worker, were leaving the restaurant. Ervin was carrying the till. Eric Holmes, then 21 years of age, and Michael Vance trapped the three in the foyer, Eric Holmes preventing them from going outside and Michael Vance preventing them from going back inside. Holmes and Vance attacked the three and grabbed the till. The three were *846 grabbed and stabbed multiple times. Appellant said, “Murder in the first degree,” “This is the real truth?” and “We will triumph.” Ervin and Blosl died, but Foshee survived.
Gail Watkins, a friend of Raymond Vance and also a worker at Shoney’s, left work with Raymond Vance and appellant, who said of Amy Foshee, “I’m going to kill that bitch tonight.” He also said he was going to spit on her glasses.
Foshee testified at trial, described the attack in detail, and identified Eric Holmes and Michael Vance. While appellant had been fired from his job at the restaurant hours before the attack, Michael Vance had started working there that day upon being rehired. Foshee could not recall whether it had been appellant or Vance who had stabbed her.
Raymond Vance, brother of Michael Vance and also an employee of the restaurant, also testified at trial. He said that Michael Vance had driven another brother’s car to the restaurant and parked it in the lot on the same night. Raymond was dozing in the car. He saw Eric Holmes and Michael Vance talking in front of the restaurant with Ervin and Blosl. Then appellant and Michael Vance entered the car. Appellant said “Mike, I did it. I was wrong but I did it”. Both then said, “We’re ruthless.” Both were covered with blood from the waist down. Raymond went with them to change cars, procure a motel room, shower, change clothes, and discard some things. Appellant was bleeding from cut wounds on his hand. Raymond testified pursuant to a plea agreement for a five year sentence for assisting appellant and Michael Vance.
Laura Scott testified that she lived with Andy Vance in an apartment and that Michael and Raymond Vance sometimes stayed there. She further testified that appellant and Michael Vance came to the apartment at one or two a.m. on November 16, 1989 and began to play loud music. She saw blood on the rug and wall of her bathroom. Appellant said, “I killed the mother fuckers.” The police soon knocked on the door, and Michael Vance and appellant ran to the back of the apartment, but were soon arrested.
William Gibson was sentenced to death by the State of Indiana for the murder of a woman. According to court documents William Gibson would murder a woman who came over to help him through the grieving process when his mother died. William Gibson would sexually assault and murder the woman. After he was arrested police would be excavate his back yard and find the bodies of another woman who had gone missing years before. William Gibson would also confess to yet another murder. William Gibson would be convicted and sentenced to death. He has claimed up to ten other victims
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William Gibson More News
The Indiana Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday on behalf of a New Albany man convicted of the murders of three women in Southern Indiana between 2002 and 2012 and who is on death row in two of the cases.
Appellate counsel for William Clyde Gibson III argued that his trial attorneys failed to properly investigate a prior brain injury and present it to the jury during sentencing, and that the attorney who was lead counsel in two of his cases and co-counsel in the third had a conflict of interest.
Gibson was convicted by a jury of the April 2012 murder and mutilation of his late mother’s best friend, 75-year-old Christine Whitis, and pleaded guilty to the March 2012 murder of 35-year-old Stephanie Kirk and the 2002 murder of Karen Hodella. In the first two cases, he received a death sentence and in the third, he was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Gibson previously appealed the two death sentences, which were upheld. He later sought for his cases to be re-examined in a Floyd County court through post-conviction relief; those requests were denied.
Lindsay Van Gorkum represented Gibson during Thursday’s hearing, requesting that the court transfer the jurisdiction of the Hodella case and reverse post-conviction findings in all three cases.
She argued that Gibson’s trial attorneys had been negligent in fully investigating the effects a 1991 accident may have had on Gibson’s mental state and his subsequent actions.
She said Gibson had spoken during the investigation about the wreck and possible mental issues caused by it. An MRI was performed on Gibson in 2013, about three quarters of the way through the trial for the murder of Whitis. Van Gorkum said Gibson’s attorneys failed when they didn’t pursue this path and failed to give the information about the MRI to the medical expert who testified post-conviction
She said evidence of his potential brain injury was “important; it’s critical for a jury to hear.”
Gibson’s attorneys had argued during trial that his mental distress over the death of his mother in the months before had impacted his actions, leading to the deaths of Kirk and Whitis.
Van Gorkum also made the case that lead attorney John Biggs, who at the time was the chief public defender in Floyd County, had a conflict of interest. Van Gorkum said Biggs’ heavy case load and pressure to minimize expenses kept him from giving Gibson the time or resources needed to properly defend his cases.
She said the time constraint kept attorneys from attending regular interviews between police and Gibson, discussions in which he later made confessions. Van Gorkum asserted this would have taken Biggs’ time, “while he also had obligations as a full-time office administrator who was maintaining a full-time case load at that time.”
Tyler Banks, representing the state in the case, said in his argument that Gibson’s convictions and sentences should be upheld.
“In three separate cases, Gibson was properly convicted for trapping, murdering and, in one case, mutilating three helpless women,” he said. “… Gibson has set the standard for the worst of the worst and any reasonable judge or jury would have found that the death penalty was the only appropriate punishment.”
He addressed the post-conviction argument that “a single, mild, traumatic brain injury set off a course of events that culminated in the brutal mutilations and murder of three women,” he said. “This constructed narrative has multiple issues and does not prove counsel was ineffective …”
Banks also questioned how a jury could even be shown evidence of how Gibson’s behavior had changed after 1991 without causing prejudice by including the other pending murder cases and other previous convictions.
“This post-conviction narrative relies on three things: a single traumatic brain injury, bipolar disorder and a history of alcoholism,” he said. “Of those three things, the sentencing fact-finders were informed and provided evidence of two of them.
“This narrative doesn’t explain why many, many people with this diagnosis or with these conditions do not commit horrific murders like Mr. Gibson did.”
He added that the conflict of interest statement made by Van Gorkum didn’t hold up.
“The counsel’s job is to manage limited money,” he said. “This is the dilemma of all counsel; that can’t be a conflict of interest.
Joseph Corcoran was sentenced to death by the State of Indiana for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Joseph Corcoran was upset after he heard people talking about him. Joseph Corcoran would murder shot his brother, his brother’s two friends and his sisters fiance. Joseph Corcoran would be convicted and sentenced to death.
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Joseph Corcoran More News
The convicted killer has been on Indiana’s death row for nearly 20 years, in 1998 sentenced by Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull to death for a quadruple murder.
Armed with a shotgun, Corcoran killed his brother, James Corcoran, 30; his sister’s fiancé, Robert Scott Turner, 32; and two of his brother’s friends, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30, in a home on Bayer Avenue in July 1997.
Since his incarceration, Corcoran has bragged about killing his parents, also with a shotgun in Steuben County in 1992 – a crime for which he was charged and acquitted.
To say his case has been heavily litigated is probably an understatement. It has been heard in Indiana’s Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Corcoran’s appeal has even been heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions. In 2010, his sentence of death was reinstated by the nation’s highest court, overturning a ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
It appears that that was the end.
In March, the Supreme Court denied Corcoran’s request to have his case reviewed by the court for a third time. The refusal to hear it again lets stand a 2015 ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that upheld lower federal court rulings that left the sentence of death in place.
He has no more appeals left in Indiana, either.
For the past decade or so, the courts have looked at whether Gull improperly considered factors against Corcoran in his sentencing, or whether she properly considered factors in his favor.
The state of Indiana can request the death penalty if a defendant is found to have committed murder with at least one aggravating circumstance, such as the age of the victim, multiple victims, while committing another crime or killing a law enforcement officer.
In Corcoran’s case, Gull found that one of the aggravating circumstances existed, specifically the multiple victims.
But when she sentenced Corcoran to death, she cited several factors against him – the innocence of the victims, the heinousness of the crime and the likelihood Corcoran would kill again.
She also cited factors to be considered in his favor, but gave them less weight than what she considered against him.
In 2000, Gull rewrote her sentencing order, carefully explaining what she considered and what she did not. The order reaffirmed the death penalty, and it has ultimately survived challenges in state and federal courts for the past 13 years.
In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Jon DeGuilio upheld Gull’s order, after Corcoran’s attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus asking for another review of the sentence.
DeGuilio denied their request but allowed them to appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which they did in the fall of 2013. It was on Corcoran to show the appellate court that Gull’s sentence was unreasonable.
The 7th Circuit backed DeGuilio, and, as of an order issued in late March, the U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear it anymore.
For now, the 41-year-old Corcoran, who is a paranoid schizophrenic, sits in a cell in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, one of 14 people in the Indiana Department of Correction under the sentence of death, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
The last execution in the state was in 2009, with the death by lethal injection of Matthew Wrinkles who was convicted of the murder of his wife, brother-in-law and his brother-in-law’s wife in 1994.
A lawsuit is pending in LaPorte County Circuit Court on the use of Indiana’s three-drug protocol for executions. The lawsuit was filed in January by death-row inmate Roy Lee Ward against the Indiana Department of Corrections. There was a hearing held Friday on a motion by the State of Indiana to dismiss the lawsuit, but no ruling has been issued yet, according to court record.
No executions are scheduled, according to the Department of Correction.
And the Indiana Attorney General has not asked for a date for Corcoran’s execution, officials said.
Corcoran’s attorney, Alan Freedman, said there is but one likely option left: clemency.
That is probably a longshot option, based on recent behavior by past Indiana governors.
Democrat Gov. Joseph Kernan granted clemency twice. In 2004, Kernan commuted the sentence of Darnell Williams because his co-defendant received a sentence of life without parole.
Again in 2005, Kernan commuted a death sentence to life without parole, this time in the case of Michael Daniels. There were doubts about Michael Daniels’ personal responsibility for the crime, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, granted clemency to Arthur P. Baird II in 2005. The family of Baird’s victims believed he deserved a life sentence because of his mental illness.
No clemency has been granted in the past decade in the Hoosier State.
Raymond Childs III has been charged with six counts of murder related to a shooting in Indianapolis Indiana that left five people dead including a pregnant woman who was due to give birth any day.
According to police Raymond Childs III would shoot dead his parents while they were laying in their bed and then would shoot his eighteen year old brother and thirteen year old sister. Raymond Childs III would chase another brother who would be shot two times but would survive. Raymond Childs III would also murder his brothers girlfriend who was due to give birth within a week.
After the shooting Raymond Childs III would go to his girlfriends home and return to the crime scene to grab some clothing. Raymond brother who survived the shooting would identify him as the shooter to police.
Raymond Childs III now faces six counts of murder and will spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. Due to the age of the teen killer the death penalty is not on the table.
Raymond Childs III Videos
Raymond Childs III More News
A 17-year-old Indianapolis boy accused of fatally shooting his father, stepmother, two teenage relatives and a heavily pregnant 19-year-old woman was charged with six counts of murder Thursday, according to a prosecutor and court documents.
Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III, who was arrested Monday in the shootings a day earlier, was charged as an adult, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced. One of the six murder counts was in the death of the unborn baby, Mears said.
“Not only did so many people lose their lives but you think about that family and what they were anticipating — the baby was due in a week,” Mears said during a news conference.
Childs also faces an attempted murder charge in the wounding of another relative, a 15-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of the shooting on Indianapolis’ near northeast side, according to court records. He was also charged with carrying a handgun without a license.
In Indiana, a person at least 16 years of age will be charged as an adult if they are accused of committing certain felonies, including murder and attempted murder.
During his initial hearing on Thursday afternoon, a magistrate entered a not guilty plea for Childs, ordered him held without bond and appointed a public defender. The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from that attorney.
Childs had argued with his father about him sneaking out of the house, Mears said. Authorities were still trying to determine what happened between the late night argument and the shootings reported around 4 a.m. Sunday.
Raymond Childs Jr., his wife, Kezzie Childs, 42, and two other relatives — Elijah Childs, 18, and Rita Childs, 13 — were pronounced dead at the home, the Marion County Coroner’s office said. Kiara Hawkins, 19, who Mears said was in a relationship with someone at the home, was taken to a hospital, where she and her unborn son died, authorities said.
Mears said in a news release that Raymond Childs Jr. was the suspect’s father and Kezzie Childs was his stepmother. He didn’t explain the relationships between the other victims.
According to a probable cause affidavit, relatives and friends told police that Hawkins was Elijah Childs’ girlfriend and that she also lived at the home.
The 15-year-old boy who survived the shooting told police that Raymond Childs III is his brother and that his sibling shot him as he fled the house to escape the gunfire, the affidavit states. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and underwent surgery.
He also told police that his mother, father, his brother, Elijah Childs, and his younger sister, identified only as “R.C.” in the affidavit, were in the house along with Hawkins when the shooting began.
The teen told officers that Childs “had gotten in trouble that night for leaving the house without permission.”
The suspect’s girlfriend told police he was spending the night with her on Jan. 23 when his father called and asked him to come home, according to the affidavit. Childs left but returned between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Jan. 24 with bags of clothing and some shoes, telling her “his father had kicked him out.”
About half an hour later, she received two cellphone alerts about a shooting, with the second alert saying a shooting had occurred on the street where Childs’ family resides. She said Childs told her he knew nothing about that shooting, but later that morning when they went to his family’s home “he began crying” and acting like “a clown.”
Mears said two firearms were used in the shootings. A 9-millimeter handgun was recovered at the scene and a semi-automatic firearm was found when Childs was taken into custody at a relative’s home. According to the affidavit, detectives determined that both weapons had been fired inside the home where the killings occurred.
Indianapolis police Chief Randal Taylor has called the killings the largest mass casualty shooting in the city in more than a decade. He said in a statement Thursday that he was grateful to his officers, Mears and the prosecutor’s staff for their work on the case, and he urged the community to rally around the surviving teenager “as he must come to terms with unimaginable loss.”
The horror on Adams Street began with an argument that plays out in nearly every American family with a teenager: a battle over staying out too late. This one, though, didn’t end in a grounding or scolding. Police and prosecutors say it ended in the worst mass killing in Indianapolis in more than a decade.
A family — mom, dad, two siblings, a pregnant teen and her unborn child, less than a week from entering the world — were slaughtered. Another brother escaped and tried to buy his life with $40. He was shot and left for dead but became the sole survivor of the massacre.
According to that surviving 15-year-old, his father’s last words to the son who allegedly killed him were “I love you.”
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday that Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III has been formally charged with six counts of murder, attempted murder and carrying a handgun without a license in Marion County. At just 17 years old, Childs cannot be put to death. But he could face up to life in prison, if he is found guilty of the murders.
The 17-year-old was arrested Monday at the home of a relative just one day after his family was found slain in the near-northside home they shared.
Kezzie Childs, 42, Raymond Childs, 42, Elijah Childs, 18, Rita Childs, 13, Kiara Hawkins, 19, and her unborn baby boy were pronounced dead after being found in that home shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday.
Officials said Hawkins was in a relationship with Elijah Childs. The other victims were all immediate family.
According to court documents released Thursday, IMPD officers were called to the 3300 block of East 36th Street shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday on a report of a person shot.
Police found a 15-year-old suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the front porch of a home. The boy was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Before being rushed into surgery, the boy told police that he had been shot by his own brother, the younger Raymond Childs.
When asked about his parents, the 15-year-old told police, “He shot them. I think they’re dead.”
Police found the front door of the teen’s home open. Inside the two-story brick house, they found five victims.
Every member of the Childs family found in the residence was pronounced dead at the scene. Hawkins was taken to Eskenazi Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Her baby boy, just a week shy of his due date, was delivered via emergency cesarean section but was declared dead upon delivery.
Court documents said Raymond and Kezzie Childs died from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. Elijah Childs and Kiara Hawkins died from single gunshot wounds to the head, and Rita Childs died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
An autopsy of the unborn child determined that he died due to his mother being shot. He was full term.
By Sunday afternoon, the 15-year-old boy had survived surgery at Riley Hospital for Children. According to court documents, he told police in separate interviews that Childs had gotten into trouble that night for leaving the house without permission.
The teen said he was downstairs with his parents when his father asked him for some water. As he filled the bottle in the bathroom, he heard two gunshots followed by his little sister yelling, “Raymond shot Elijah!”
Court documents said the teen heard another gunshot. His father said, “I’m sorry Raymond; I love you.”
Another six or seven shots went off.
The 15-year-old said he ran out of a side door when the shooting stopped, but his brother chased him down.
The teen pleaded with his big brother, court documents said. “I can give you forty dollars. I won’t say nothing. Please don’t kill me.”
The shooting victim told investigators that his brother looked at him before shooting him in the leg and arm with a Draco 7.62. He said Childs then fired at his head but missed.
The teen ran to a neighbor’s house and banged on the door for help.
Police later found four 7.62 cartridge casings and money covered with blood near that spot.
At the house on Adams Street, police found eight fired 9mm cartridge casings, six fired 7.62 cartridge casings, a 9mm handgun and a box of 7.62 ammunition.
Friends and family told police that 17-year-old Raymond Childs III was the only family member who lived at the home who was not accounted for. Neighbors also said a white Chrysler with fancy rims was not at the home.
They soon found that Chrysler at the home of Childs’ girlfriend. Police made contact with the girlfriend following a traffic stop.
She told police that Childs went to her house to spend the night Saturday, court documents said. He got a phone call from his father telling him to go home, and he did.
Childs returned to his girlfriend’s house between 2 and 3 a.m. Sunday driving a white Chrysler she had never seen before. Childs had two bags of clothes with him and told his girlfriend that his dad kicked him out.
A Draco 7.62 was recovered by police as they investigated the Adams Street killings.
About 30 minutes later, the girlfriend got alerts on her phone about the shootings at 36th Street and Adams Street. Childs said he didn’t know anything about the incidents.
The girlfriend later convinced Raymond Childs to go back home after talking to his other family members, court documents said. She told police that Childs was nervous, and when they got there, he began crying and “acted a clown.”
Family members who came to Indianapolis told police Childs said “some people from the next block” committed the killings.
However, the family members noticed that Childs was armed with a Draco firearm that belonged to his father. The family members took the gun from Childs and provided it to investigators.
Police also obtained a search warrant for the girlfriend’s car and found an AK-style magazine wrapped in clothes containing 30 rounds of 7.62 ammunition.
Police later determined that all of the shell casings found at the scene Sunday came from the 9mm found at the home and the Draco 7.62 given to police.
Police arrested Raymond Childs without incident at the home of a relative on Monday.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said Thursday that the age of the suspect puts his office in a “unique procedural posture.”
Indiana law says that 17-year-olds who are charged with murder must be tried as adults. However, they are not eligible for the death penalty.
Mears said the next phase of the investigation includes assessing Childs’ mental state, as well as looking at what past incidents may have built to Sunday’s violence.
“I think it’s important to recognize that this case is really in its infancy. We’ve been working on this for 96 hours,” Mears said.
Mears said the case has taken its toll on the family, the community and the investigators. His office is now focused on doing all they can to assist the family though the pursuit of justice.
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