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Phillip Elmore Ohio Death Row

Phillip Elmore was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a kidnapping and murder. According to court documents Phillip Elmore broke into the victim’s home and waited for her to return. When Pamela Annarino arrived she was strangled and hit in the head with a pipe. Phillip Elmore was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Phillip Elmore 2021 Information

Number A458539

DOB 07/15/1963

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 11/19/2003

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Phillip Elmore More News

On June 1, 2002, 47-year-old Pamela Annarino attended her son’s wedding ceremony and reception. While Annarino was attending these activities, Elmore broke into her Newark home and waited for her to return. Elmore and Annarino had previously had a personal relationship.

{¶ 3} After she arrived home, Elmore murdered Annarino by strangling her and hitting her in the head with a pipe. Elmore then stole Annarino’s purse and fled in her car. Subsequently, Elmore was convicted of the aggravated murder of Annarino and sentenced to death.

State’s case

{¶ 4} Around 9:30 a.m. on June 1, 2002, Annarino left her home on West Postal Avenue in Newark to attend her son’s wedding. Annarino and her sister, Janna Wilfong, drove to the wedding in Wilfong’s car. Around 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m., Timothy Grooms, a friend of Annarino, went to her house to look after Annarino’s dog while she was at the wedding. However, Grooms could not get into the house because he could not find the house key where Annarino was supposed to have left it.

{¶ 5} At 12:30 p.m., Annarino arrived home from the wedding and went into her house. Shortly thereafter, Annarino drove her Toyota Camry to the wedding reception.

{¶ 6} During the late afternoon on June 1, Annarino arrived home. Gloria Cooperider, Annarino’s next-door neighbor, saw Annarino exit her car and walk toward the back door of her house. “Very shortly thereafter,” Cooperider saw Elmore “get in [Annarino’s] car, start it up and pull away.” Cooperider recognized Elmore because she had met him approximately two years earlier when Elmore and Annarino were dating.

{¶ 7} Around 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. on June 1, John Williams, who lived with Cooperider, was returning to their home on West Postal Avenue. As Williams turned onto West Postal Avenue, he saw Elmore driving Annarino’s car. Williams waved at Elmore, and Elmore “[k]ind of smiled” and waved back, according to Williams.

{¶ 8} On June 2 and 3, Grooms returned to Annarino’s home, but he still had no key to the house, and he left after concluding that Annarino was not there. On June 4, Grooms and Clifton Rodeniser, Annarino’s brother-in-law, went to Annarino’s home to check on her. They found the front and back doors locked, but Grooms pried open a window, and they entered the house. After an extensive search of the home, Grooms and Rodeniser found Annarino’s body in a bathtub in the second-floor bathroom. Rodeniser then notified the police by calling 911.

{¶ 9} Around 7:15 p.m. on June 4, police arrived at Annarino’s home. Annarino’s body was covered in blood. A paramedic testified at Elmore’s trial that Annarino “had a large laceration over the right side of her skull above the eye approximately three to four inches in length with bone fragments sticking out.” A pair of elastic leggings was tied around her neck.

{¶ 10} Police investigators found blood spatters on the ceiling, the tub, and the wall area behind the tub. According to Timothy Elliget, a Newark police criminalist, “blood spatter on the ceiling area above the tub * * * was consistent with castoff from a weapon.” Elliget testified that blood spatters also “came out in a V pattern from the head and deposited on * * * the wall surrounding the back of the tub” and that the spatter pattern “was consistent with * * * an object striking the victim’s head in that area.” Finally, the absence of blood spatters at the end of the bathtub created a “void pattern” that led Elliget to conclude that Annarino was in the bathtub when the attack occurred.

{¶ 11} Investigators found evidence that the back door had been forced open. The inside edge of the door near the door lock had been damaged, and pry marks were visible on the door as well. The lock plate was also missing. Newark police officers found three fingerprints on the back door, and Officer Elliget testified that those prints were a match to Elmore’s “left ring finger, the left middle finger and the left index finger.” Police officers also found a shotgun and a shell underneath Annarino’s bed.

{¶ 12} The garage behind the house was also searched by the officers, who found shoe prints on the garage floor and on a piece of paper inside the garage. A shoe print from the garage and a shoe print from the shoes that Elmore was wearing at the time of his arrest were later compared. According to Elliget, the shoe print from the garage and Elmore’s shoe print “are of a similar pattern.”

{¶ 13} On June 5, Dr. Charles Lee, a Deputy Coroner for Licking County, conducted the autopsy on Annarino. The victim had several lacerations on the top of her head caused by “four to five” blows from a blunt instrument. Dr. Lee found that the “multiple blunt force injuries to the head” were the cause of Annarino’s death. He also determined that Annarino had been strangled with the leggings that were found around her neck. Strangulation could have easily rendered Annarino unconscious, and it was a contributing factor in her death, according to Dr. Lee. Finally, Dr. Lee testified that lacerations on Annarino’s left forearm were defensive wounds caused by a blunt instrument before Annarino was killed.

{¶ 14} After speaking with Annarino’s neighbors on the evening of June 4, the police determined that Elmore was their primary suspect, and they broadcast his name and the description of Annarino’s Toyota Camry to other law-enforcement agencies. Around 4:00 a.m. on June 5, a Columbus police officer, Shea McCracken, spotted Annarino’s Toyota Camry in Columbus and followed the car into a parking lot. The two occupants of the car exited the vehicle, and they were identified as Scott Darthard and Shawnta Hale.

{¶ 15} Based upon information received from Darthard and Hale, Columbus police officers conducted a stakeout of Hale’s home in Columbus. During the early morning hours of June 5, police officers saw Elmore leave Hale’s home and walk down the street. They then arrested Elmore and transported him to the headquarters of the Columbus Police Department.

{¶ 16} Around 7:00 a.m. on June 5, Newark Detectives Steven Vanoy and Steven Baum interviewed Elmore. After being advised of his Miranda rights and waiving those rights, Elmore admitted going to Annarino’s home on June 1. He also told the detectives that he and Annarino had argued that day, and he acknowledged that he had taken Annarino’s car. According to Detective Vanoy, Elmore then said, “I did it. I’m guilty. That’s it.” Later that morning, Elmore was transported to the Newark Police Department.

{¶ 17} At around 10:00 a.m. on June 5, Elmore informed Detective Vanoy that he wanted to talk further. After again waiving his Miranda rights, Elmore provided a detailed confession to Annarino’s murder. Detectives Vanoy and Baum recorded Elmore’s statement on audiotape. Elmore stated that around 6:00 a.m. on June 1, he went to Annarino’s house and “stayed in the garage until she left.” He then broke into the house by prying open the back door with a screwdriver. Elmore went to the upstairs bedroom and found the shotgun that Annarino had kept under her bed. He then took the shotgun to the downstairs kitchen.

{¶ 18} According to Elmore, after Annarino arrived home from the wedding reception, they sat in the kitchen, talked, and argued. Elmore held the shotgun while he was talking to her. During their argument, Elmore gave Annarino the shotgun and told her “if you want to kill me you can kill me.” Elmore explained to the detectives that he had taken the shells out of the shotgun, but it is unclear whether Annarino knew that the gun was unloaded. Annarino then went to her upstairs bedroom to change clothes. She took the shotgun with her. Elmore followed Annarino, and they continued to argue upstairs.

{¶ 19} While they were in the upstairs bathroom, Annarino “just went off on [him],” according to Elmore. He said, “She just got in my face and started * * * screaming and stuff.” Elmore told Annarino, “I’m gonna get outta here. * * * [Y]ou go where you have to go and I’m gonna leave. * * * [B]ut let me tie you up before you get a chance to call the police.”

{¶ 20} According to Elmore, they continued to argue. At some point, Elmore went downstairs, picked up a lead pipe that he had brought into the house when he broke in, and returned to the upstairs bathroom. He then “hit her in the arm and she fell back in the tub.” Elmore explained to the detectives, “It’s like I just blacked out * * * [and] I hit her again * * * three or four times” on her head.

{¶ 21} Then, according to Elmore, he went downstairs, “grabbed her purse, locked the door * * * got in the car and * * * left.” He went to a friend’s house, changed his pants, and drove Annarino’s car to Columbus. He said that he put the pipe and Annarino’s purse into a bag and threw the bag into a dumpster in Columbus.

{¶ 22} Elmore told the detectives, “[I] just wanted to scare [Annarino]. * * * I didn’t want to hurt her at all.” He denied tying the leggings around her neck, explaining instead that he had put them “around her mouth.”

{¶ 23} On June 6, Elmore was questioned again by the detectives. After waiving his Miranda rights for a third time, Elmore continued to deny that he had strangled Annarino. However, Elmore recalled that he had tied her hands with a “yellow floral pattern” dress or shirt. He added that he had untied her hands when she complained that they were bound too tightly.

{¶ 24} On June 14, Detective Baum interviewed Elmore again. After waiving his Miranda rights, Elmore said that he had remembered additional details of the crime, including “choking [Annarino] before [he] hit her.” He added, “I didn’t choke her with the stretch pants. I choked her with my hands.”

{¶ 25} The police never found the lead pipe, Annarino’s stolen purse, or the yellow floral-patterned dress or shirt. They did, however, recover the bloodstained shorts that Elmore was wearing on the day of the murder. A key and a lock-plate cover were found in the shorts pocket. Investigators found that the key operated the deadbolt lock on Annarino’s back door. The lock plate also fit into the door panel and was the same brand as the deadbolt lock.

{¶ 26} Jennifer Duvall, a DNA analyst at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, conducted DNA tests on the bloodstain found on Elmore’s shorts. Testing revealed that DNA from the bloodstain on the shorts was consistent with Annarino’s DNA. According to Duvall, the chance of finding this same DNA profile in a random member of the population “would be one in over five quadrillion in the Caucasian population, one in over six quadrillion in the African-American population, and one in more than 14 quadrillion in the Hispanic population.”

{¶ 27} At Elmore’s trial, the defense introduced a laboratory report showing that the shotgun found under the victim’s bed was fully functional. The defense presented no further evidence until the penalty phase of the trial.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1211518.html

John Drummond Ohio Death Row

John Drummond was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a drive by shooting that left a baby dead. According to court documents John Drummond would open fire during a drive by shooting that would leave a three month old baby dead. John Drummond was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

John Drummond 2021 Information

Number A462868

DOB07/18/1977

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 03/19/2004

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

John Drummond More News

The state presented several witnesses who testified at Drummond’s trial that Drummond and Brett Schroeder were members of the Lincoln Knolls Crips gang and considered themselves “original gangsters,” or “OGs.” Schroeder died from gunshot wounds in May 1998 in a death ruled a homicide. The perpetrator was convicted and is serving time in prison.

{¶ 6} The Dent family, Jiyen Dent Sr., Latoya Butler, his girlfriend, and their son, Jiyen Dent Jr., had moved into a home at 74 Rutledge Drive in Youngstown around March 20, 1998. Dent did not know Drummond, Gilliam, or Schroeder.

{¶ 7} In the early evening of the shooting, a few days after Dent moved in, ten to 20 people gathered for a party outside the home of Gail Miller on Duncan Avenue in Youngstown to drink and listen to music. Sometime that evening, Drummond and Gilliam arrived.

{¶ 8} During the party, James “Cricket” Rozenblad overheard Drummond, Gilliam, and Andre Bryant talking about a “guy moving in in [their] neighborhood [who] could have had something to do with the death of Brett Schroeder.” Yaraldean Thomas also saw Drummond and Gilliam whispering to one another and heard Drummond say “It’s on” after they finished talking.

{¶ 9} Drummond left the party and returned a short time later with an assault rifle. He and Gilliam then got into Gilliam’s burgundy Chevrolet Monte Carlo and drove down Duncan Lane toward Rutledge Drive. Approximately five to 15 minutes later, 11 shots were fired from an assault rifle into the Dent home. Within a few seconds, a 9 mm round was fired into the Dent home, and five 9 mm rounds were fired into the home of Diane Patrick, the Dents’ next-door neighbor, who lived at 76 Rutledge Drive.

{¶ 10} At around 11:25 p.m. that evening, Dent was in the living room watching a movie, Butler was in the kitchen, and Jiyen was in a baby swing in the living room. While watching TV, Dent heard gunshots and saw “bullets start coming through the windows and the walls.” He then picked up the baby and ran down the hallway towards the bathroom. Dent fell in the hallway and noticed that Jiyen had been shot in the head. After making sure that his girlfriend was safe, Dent called 911.

{¶ 11} That same night, Rebecca Perez, who lived nearby on Rutledge Drive, heard two series of shots when taking her trash outside. She saw shots coming from the corner of Duncan Lane and Rutledge Drive and noticed “a shadow up the street.” Shortly thereafter, Perez saw a maroon car pull out of the driveway next to 65 Rutledge Drive, where Drummond lived. The car then drove without any headlights on past the Perez home. Approximately half an hour to 45 minutes later, Perez noticed that the maroon car had returned to the driveway next to Drummond’s home. At trial, Perez identified Gilliam’s Monte Carlo as the car she had seen that night.

{¶ 12} Leonard Schroeder, the brother of Brett Schroeder, who had been killed nearly five years before, lived near Rutledge Drive. On the evening of March 24, Leonard heard a series of gunshots. Shortly afterwards, Drummond and Gilliam arrived at Leonard’s home in Gilliam’s car. Leonard asked Drummond about the shots, and Drummond said that he “didn’t know who it is. It was probably Cricket and Wany.” Gilliam said only that “some fools are shooting over there.”

{¶ 13} Arriving police and paramedics found that Jiyen had been killed. Investigators secured the scene and began their investigation. Officer Kerry Wigley walked down Rutledge Drive, looking for shell casings, and noticed two men in the dark, leaning against a car parked in a driveway. Wigley intercepted the two men, asked for their identification, and identified them as Drummond and Gilliam.

{¶ 14} During the investigation, Patrolman David Wilson found ten cartridge casings from assault-rifle ammunition lying between two houses that were across the street and several houses away from the Dent home on Rutledge Drive. The police also found six 9 mm shell casings at the corner of Rutledge Drive and Duncan Lane.

{¶ 15} Investigators found that someone had fired 11 bullets from an assault rifle into the Dent home. Three bullets had hit the house near the front door, three others had hit elsewhere on the front of the house, and five bullets had hit the west side of the house where the bedrooms were located. A 9 mm bullet hole was also found on the east side of the Dent home.

{¶ 16} Ed Carlini, an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (“BCI”) agent, examined the trajectory of the bullets entering the Dent home. Carlini determined that the shots had originated from a location on Rutledge Drive where ten shell casings were found. He also determined that the 9 mm shot that hit the Dent home originated from east of the house.

{¶ 17} Carlini and Officer Anthony Marzullo, a crime lab technician, examined bullet holes inside the Dent home. There were five bullet holes inside the southwest bedroom and three bullet holes inside the northwest bedroom. One bullet entered the living room, fragmented, and was found in the far living-room wall. A 9 mm slug was found in the kitchen wall. Marzullo recovered other bullet fragments and copper-jacketed slugs inside the house. He also recovered bullet fragments and bits of blue plastic that had been removed from the victim during the autopsy.

{¶ 18} Andrew Chappell, a ballistics expert, compared the ten 7.62 x 39 mm assault-rifle cartridge casings and concluded that they could have been fired from the same firearm. He stated that an assault rifle such as an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle would have fired this ammunition. Chappell examined the six 9 mm cartridge casings and concluded that each of the casings had been fired from the same firearm. Chappell also examined the slugs and bullet fragments obtained from the Dent home and identified one 9 mm Luger bullet, a 7.62 mm bullet, a 7.62 mm bullet jacket fragment, a piece of metal, and a couple of lead fragments. He determined that the 7.62 bullet and the 7.62 bullet jacket fragment were fired from the same weapon, but he was unable to make any comparisons with the lead fragment and the blue plastic recovered from the victim at the autopsy.

{¶ 19} As the murder investigation progressed, Drummond and Gilliam were identified as suspects. On March 27, 2003, the police searched Drummond’s Rutledge Drive residence and arrested him. When he was arrested, Drummond told police “that he had nothing to do with the shooting of the baby. He was on Duncan Lane that night and heard gunshots and he walked to Rutledge to see what had happened.” During the search, the police seized a drum containing 75 rounds of 7.62 x 39 mm ammunition, three boxes containing 46 rounds of 7.62 x 39 mm ammunition, a single round of 7.62 x 39 mm ammunition, an empty AK magazine, a Taurus 9 mm handgun with no barrel, a bulletproof vest, and several rounds of 9 mm, .45 caliber, and .357 caliber ammunition.

{¶ 20} During the search of Drummond’s residence, police also seized an album of gang photographs of the Lincoln Knolls Crips. Drummond appears in many photographs. The album also contained a number of photographs and tributes to Brett Schroeder and other members of the gang who had been killed. One page of the album shows two photographs of Drummond with a cake that says, “RIP Brett.” Another photograph shows tattoos of guns, tombstones, and other symbols on Drummond’s back. The tombstone tattoo contains Schroeder’s name and names of Drummond’s other dead friends.

{¶ 21} Dr. Dorothy Dean, Deputy Coroner for Franklin County, conducted the autopsy of three-month-old Jiyen. Dean testified that Jiyen died from a gunshot wound to the head. The entry wound was on the back of Jiyen’s head, and the exit wound was just below the left eye.

{¶ 22} Between March and August 2003, Chauncey Walker and Drummond were incarcerated in the same cellblock at the Mahoning County jail. Drummond talked to Walker about his case almost “[e]very single day.” Walker testified, “[A]s soon as he’d come out of his cell, he’d come directly to my cell * * * [and] he’d be talking to me about that case.” As to what happened on March 24, Drummond told Walker that he “was sitting in his sister[‘s] driveway and Wayne pulled up, and * * * he asked Wayne to take him to go get a gun somewhere. * * * So Wayne gave him a ride to go get the gun. * * * [W]hen Wayne backed up in the driveway after he * * * got the gun, the dude, Jiyen, supposed to have stayed * * * a couple houses up from his sister or right around the corner, * * * [and] he said he got out the car and fired some shots at the house and then he got back in the car and pulled off.” Drummond told Walker that “he intended to hurt whoever the bullet hit,” but “he didn’t intend to kill no baby.”

{¶ 23} Nathaniel Morris was another inmate in the same cellblock with Drummond and Walker. During May 2003, Morris overheard Drummond tell Walker that “he didn’t meant [sic] to kill the baby; he was trying to get at somebody else * * *.” On more than one occasion, Morris overheard Drummond asking Walker, “[Y]ou think I’m going to get convicted on this, you think they have anything on me, stuff like that.”

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1358308.html

Joel Drain Ohio Death Row

Joel Drain would be sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a prison murder. According to court documents Joel Drain would wake up and decided to kill someone. Joel Drain would invite Christopher Richardson to his cell and would beat the man to death with a fan motor. Joel Drain would be convicted and sentenced to death

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Joel Drain 2021 Information

Number A726985

DOB 09/18/1981

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 07/12/2016

Institution Ohio State Penitentiary

Status INCARCERATED

Joel Drain More News

Joel Drain walked out of his cell and downstairs in the Warren Correctional Institution. He covered the blood on his shirt by putting on a green hoodie. Drain, 38, greeted a friend and told him he had just smoked synthetic marijuana, even though he had not.

Drain later told investigators he said this because he looked crazy – and he had just killed someone. As he walked by other inmates in his unit, an officer noticed blood on the stairs. This officer followed the blood upstairs, where he found a bloody footprint.

He followed the blood to Drain’s cell, number 215, and called for backup when he got there. Another officer arrived and unlocked the door, where a window had been covered to block the view of what was inside.

Once opened, officers saw a room in disarray. They saw an inmate with a bloody sheet covering his face. They saw part of a broken fan, cable wire from a TV and pencils on the bed. When the sheet was removed, they would discover one pencil had been jammed into the inmate’s eye.

As the officers called for more backup, Drain got on his knees downstairs and put his hands in the air.

When he woke up that morning, in April of 2019, Drain said he planned to kill someone else. When he spoke with state investigators hours later, in an interview that would drag past midnight, he forgot the man’s name who he killed.

There was another inmate who lived in his unit. This inmate was a child molester, Drain said in a recorded interview played in court on Monday. And that’s who he woke up planning to kill, he said.

Drain had been using nail clippers to fashion a knife out of his cell window, but it was taking too long.

“I was getting antsy,” he told investigators.

He had invited Christopher Richardson into his cell to smoke synthetic marijuana. Richardson, 29, was serving four years for aggravated arson. The two knew each other, but not well. Drain had no problems with him and said he was “weirdly friendly.”

When Richardson got to the cell, Drain’s adrenaline was pumping. He had disassembled a fan and removed the heavy motor from it. He kept it in his hoodie.

“I started thinking he’d be an easy kill,” Drain told investigators about Richardson. “I could still carry out my plan. I could kill him and the other guy.”

So he did.

Drain hit Richardson in the head with the fan motor so many times it broke. Then, he used his hands to beat Richardson and grabbed a pencil, slamming it into his eye. He kicked it into Richardson’s head, and then grabbed a cable cord and wrapped it around the man’s neck.

He lost track of how many times he hit Richardson.

Drain could no longer kill the person he woke up thinking about, because he had used all his weapons. He was infuriated, and he stomped on Richardson’s throat.

As these details were revealed Monday, heavy rain could be heard coming down outside the Warren County Court of Common Pleas. The rain was loud, but not as loud as the tears of Richardson’s mother.

A bailiff grabbed a box of tissues and placed it on the railing near the woman, who struggled when pictures of the bloody cell were displayed on a television screen. Eventually, the victim’s mother was escorted out of the courtroom by someone from the prosecutor’s office. She returned after lunch.

Drain was charged with aggravated murder and two other felonies. On Monday, a three-judge panel found Drain guilty of all charges and sentenced him to death. It took them about an hour to reach their decision.

Drain sat in his chair in a beige dress shirt, buttoned all the way up to his neck. Some family behind him cried; he did not.

The decision will automatically be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Drain, of Findlay, Ohio, had previously been convicted of murder in 2016 and was serving a possible life sentence. He’d been transferred to the Warren County prison a few weeks before the 2019 homicide because he cut his wrist.

Drain’s attorneys presented little evidence in his defense. He waived his right to a jury trial and pleaded no-contest. He told the court he didn’t want to blame his actions on a dysfunctional childhood or other trauma in his life.

He said his attorneys tried to get his 14-year-old daughter to testify, but he wouldn’t allow it

“My daughter has nothing to do with my criminal behavior,” he said. “I refuse to let her be used as a human shield.”

Drain said he was locked in a prison cell when he was 13 and told investigators he’d been in and out of prison most of his life.

“My death sentence was handed down long ago,” he said.

In a statement before the judges began deliberating, Drain accepted responsibility for his actions but did not apologize. He said he didn’t want to be fake.

“The killer in me is the same one inside of you,” Drain told the judges. “And if there is a hell, I’ll see you there.”

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/05/17/death-penalty-warren-correctional-institution-inmate-joel-drain-murder-trial-ohio/3088546001/

Archie Dixon Ohio Death Row

Archie Dixon was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of his roommate. According to court documents Archie Dixon and Timothy Hoffner would kidnap their roommate Christopher Hammer who was brought to a forested area and buried alive. Archie Dixon and Timothy Hoffner would take money from the victims bank account along with his personal identification. Archie Dixon and Timothy Hoffner would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Archie Dixon 2021 Information

Number A325702

DOB 05/30/1973

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 01/11/1996

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Timothy Hoffner 2021 Information

Number A315988

DOB 06/06/1972

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 07/06/1995

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

StatusINCARCERATED

Archie Dixon More News

Archie J. Dixon, defendant-appellant, and Christopher Hammer were friends and former housemates. On September 22, 1993, Dixon and a co-defendant, Timothy Hoffner, beat Hammer, tied him to a bed, and stole the contents of his wallet and his automobile. Dixon and Hoffner then drove Hammer to a remote area, buried him alive in a shallow grave, and left him to die. Dixon was convicted of the aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping of Hammer, and was sentenced to death.

{¶ 2} Hammer began his friendship with Dixon and Hoffner in the summer of 1993. For a short period of time in mid-August 1993, Dixon, Hoffner, and Hammer stayed at the Toledo home of Kirsten Wilkerson, Dixon’s girlfriend.

{¶ 3} In early September 1993, Dixon, Hoffner, and Michael Elting borrowed Hammer’s car, a 1987 Dodge Daytona, to go to the movies. According to Elting, Dixon and Hoffner discussed what they could do with Hammer’s car and where they could store it.

{¶ 4} On the afternoon of September 21, 1993, Dixon told Wilkerson that he and Hoffner were going to “get Chris tonight.” Wilkerson understood this to mean that Dixon and Hoffner were going to kill Hammer. Later that evening, Dixon, Hoffner, and Hammer met at a Toledo pool hall.

{¶ 5} In the early morning of September 22, Dixon, Hoffner, and Hammer arrived at Wilkerson’s house. Once there, Dixon and Hoffner attacked Hammer and severely beat him. Hoffner tried to break Hammer’s neck, and Dixon struck Hammer in the head with a wine bottle. Hammer, in substantial pain and bleeding, begged his attackers to stop. Dixon and Hoffner then tied Hammer to a bunk bed ladder, and Dixon went through Hammer’s wallet, taking $11 in cash, Hammer’s birth certificate, and his Social Security card. At one point, Dixon and Hoffner discussed how they could dispose of Hammer’s body.

{¶ 6} Dixon and Hoffner left Wilkerson’s house to dig a grave, while Hammer remained tied to the ladder. After Dixon and Hoffner returned, they, along with Wilkerson, drove Hammer to the grave site in Hammer’s car. Wilkerson stayed at the car while Dixon and Hoffner walked Hammer into the woods, where they smoked a cigarette and said a prayer. Then they gagged and blindfolded Hammer, tied his hands and feet behind his back, and pushed him into the grave, still alive. Dixon and Hoffner held Hammer down while they covered him with dirt. After Hammer was completely buried, Dixon and Hoffner walked back and forth across the grave, packing down the dirt.

{¶ 7} On September 25, 1993, as part of a plan to sell Hammer’s car, Dixon obtained a state of Ohio identification (“ID”) card with his photograph but in Hammer’s name. On September 30, Dixon obtained a duplicate certificate of title for Hammer’s Dodge Daytona. Dixon then sold Hammer’s car to a Toledo car dealer for $2,800.

{¶ 8} On November 1, 1993, an Ottawa Hills police officer stopped Dixon for vehicle equipment violations while he was driving Hoffner’s Chrysler Cordoba. When the officer discovered that Dixon did not have driving privileges, the officer impounded the car. During an inventory of the car, police found the ID card with Dixon’s picture but Hammer’s name, address, birth date, and Social Security number.

{¶ 9} By November 8, 1993, police officers investigating Hammer’s disappearance had located his Dodge Daytona at a used car lot in Toledo, had confirmed its unauthorized sale on September 30, and had identified Dixon as the prime suspect in the vehicle transaction. On November 9, Dixon was arrested and charged with forgery. Police, who did not advise Dixon of his Miranda rights, questioned him regarding the sale of Hammer’s car. However, the primary interest of the police was not the sale of the car but Hammer’s disappearance. During this interview, Dixon confessed to the auto title forgery but denied all knowledge of Hammer’s disappearance.

{¶ 10} Early on the afternoon of November 9, Hoffner led police to the location of Hammer’s body. Dr. Cynthia Beisser, Deputy Coroner of Lucas County, performed the autopsy and concluded that Hammer had died of asphyxia. Dr. Beisser opined that Hammer had died within eight minutes of being buried and remained conscious during the first two to three minutes.

{¶ 11} After Hammer’s body was exhumed, police interviewed Dixon again. Police twice advised Dixon of his Miranda rights. He signed a waiver-of-rights form and provided a tape-recorded account of the kidnapping, robbery, and murder of Hammer that reflects the facts already described.

{¶ 12} The defense presented no evidence during the trial phase.

{¶ 13} The grand jury indicted Dixon, Hoffner, and Wilkerson for the aggravated murder, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery of Hammer. Dixon was indicted on three counts of aggravated murder. Count nine of the indictment charged Dixon with aggravated murder involving prior calculation and design pursuant to R.C. 2903.01(A). Count ten charged Dixon with aggravated murder while committing kidnapping, and count 11 charged Dixon with aggravated murder while committing aggravated robbery, both pursuant to R.C. 2903.01(B). Dixon was also indicted for kidnapping in count twelve, aggravated robbery in count 13, and three counts of forgery in counts 14, 15, and 16.

{¶ 14} Each count of aggravated murder contained two identical R.C. 2929.04(A)(7) death-penalty specifications. The first specification charged aggravated murder during a kidnapping, and the second charged aggravated murder during an aggravated robbery.

{¶ 15} The jury convicted Dixon as charged and recommended the death penalty. The trial court sentenced Dixon to death for the murder, ten to 25 years in prison for each kidnapping and aggravated robbery conviction, and to 18 months in prison for each forgery offense. All prison terms were consecutive. The court of appeals affirmed Dixon’s convictions and sentence of death. The cause is now before this court upon an appeal as of right.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1334698.html

Von Davis Ohio Death Row

Von Davis was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of an ex girlfriend. According to court documents Von Davis would shoot and kill Suzette Butler outside of an American Legion. At the time of the murder Von Davis was on parole for killing his first wife. Von Davis would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Von Davis 2021 Information

Number A179828

DOB 11/01/1946

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 06/19/1984

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Von Davis More News

The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man who fatally shot his girlfriend three decades ago while on parole for killing his wife.

The court’s decision in the case of Von Clark Davis of Butler County involved the third time Davis had been sentenced to death for the 1983 shooting of Suzette Butler.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Tuesday to uphold Davis’ death sentence after a lower court also backed the sentence.

The 67-year-old Davis was first convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to die in 1984 for fatally shooting Butler.

Appeals courts overturned that sentence and one handed down in 1989 because of lower-court errors.

Defense attorney Larry Komp said he was disappointed and is weighing possible state or federal appeals.

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