Court frees convicted murderer

It's a tragic example of a breakdown in the criminal justice system, a judge said.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The murder of a 17-year-old girl apparently fell through the cracks created by a contentious transition between county prosecutors.
As a result, no one is left to pay for her death, a court said Friday.
In a unanimous decision, the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned the 1999 aggravated murder conviction of Warren M. Stanley and ordered him released from prison. In doing so, the court had some harsh words for the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office.
"The chaos created by the prosecutors' offer of either a plea or a non-prosecution agreement to all three [suspects] for their testimony against each other has resulted in this death going unpunished," Judge Mary DeGenaro wrote. "This is a tragic result of the breakdown in our criminal justice system."
Said case was lost
She said the case was "needlessly lost in the transition" between county prosecutors James A. Philomena and Paul Gains.
Philomena served two terms as prosecutor before being defeated by Gains in a 1996 bid for re-election. Gains took office in 1997.
Philomena is serving a federal prison term for charges related to fixing cases while he was in office.
Philomena failed to advise the incoming administration of the status of agreements between his office and the individuals involved in this case, Judge DeGenaro wrote.
Gains had not seen the opinion so could not comment on it.
"But I can tell you that my predecessor did not cooperate in the transition," Gains said.
Stanley, 22, of Charlotte Street, was convicted in the death of 17-year-old Janina Thompson of Robinwood Place, who was shot once in the neck with a .22-caliber handgun in December 1996.
Stanley is serving a life sentence at the Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, Ohio, and was not eligible for parole until 2021.
He appealed the conviction, arguing that the prosecutor's office had promised he would not be prosecuted if he testified against others who were charged in the shooting.
Antuan Adkins, 26, of Oak Street, originally was charged with killing Thompson and faced the death penalty. Instead, he pleaded guilty to felonious assault and made a deal to testify against Stanley.
Adkins was sentenced to four years in prison in February 1999, but according to state prison records was released on parole in December 2000.
Edward Blackmon, 23, of Charlotte Street, also was charged with rape and aggravated murder, but the charges were dismissed.
Promise was made
The nonprosecution promise was apparently made by an assistant prosecutor assigned to juvenile court under Philomena's administration. The case started in juvenile court because Stanley was 17 at the time.
In May 1998, after Philomena had left office, a complaint was filed against Stanley in juvenile court by Gains' juvenile prosecutor, charging Stanley with one count of aggravated murder. He was eventually bound over to common pleas court for trial as an adult.
Stanley's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the charges based on their argument that he'd been promised immunity. That motion was denied.
The appellate court ruled, though, that there was enough evidence that an agreement existed and that it should have been honored. Therefore, the charges were ordered dismissed and Stanley was ordered released from prison.
"While we are disturbed at the manner in which this case was handled, we are left with no choice," Judge Cheryl Waite wrote in her opinion.
Judge DeGenaro said that Gains' office is "not entirely without blame." Even though Philomena apparently did not tell Gains or his staff about the agreement with Stanley, it came out in subsequent hearings so they should have known about it.
bjackson@vindy.com