YOUNGSTOWN Prosecutor 'chaos' sets killer free

Warren Stanley's lawyer said prosecutors breached an agreement.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A killer is back on the streets after serving less than four years of a life sentence in prison.
The Ohio Supreme Court has refused to change a ruling by the 7th District Court of Appeals, which said that Warren Stanley should never have been prosecuted for the death of 17-year-old Janina Thompson.
"He is completely elated," said Stanley's attorney, Robert J. Rohrbaugh II. "Here's a guy who thought he was doing life, and he did less than four years."
Stanley, 23, of Charlotte Avenue, was released Monday from Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe and is back in Youngstown, Rohrbaugh said.
What happened
A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court convicted Stanley of aggravated murder in 1999. Authorities said he killed Thompson, of Robinwood Place, as she walked home from a party in December 1996.
The court of appeals overturned the conviction and sentence in June 2002, saying the county prosecutor's office violated an agreement it had made with Stanley that he would not be prosecuted if he testified truthfully against two other defendants in the case.
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 was released on parole in December 2000.
Edward Blackmon, 23, of Charlotte Street, was charged with rape and aggravated murder, but the charges were dismissed.
Court's opinion
In its opinion overturning the conviction, the court of appeals wrote that "the chaos created by the offer of either a plea or nonprosecution agreement to all three for their testimony against each other has resulted in this death going unpunished."
Prosecutor Paul Gains agreed but said the deals were made by his predecessor, James A. Philomena.
"We can't control what happened before I took office," Gains said. "I don't like this either, but we did everything we could."
Gains didn't know
In May 1998, after Philomena had left office, a complaint was filed against Stanley in juvenile court by Gains' juvenile prosecutor. The case started in juvenile court because Stanley was 17 at the time.
Stanley was eventually bound over to common pleas court and tried as an adult.
Gains said that when he took office, Philomena did not tell him about the nonprosecution agreement he had made with Stanley.
Rohrbaugh said that he understands that seeing a killer set free will not set well with the public but that the courts made the right decision.
"This case is all about the integrity of the courts. The state of Ohio did not play fair," he said. "When you make a deal with somebody, you have to follow that deal."
Prosecutors had argued that Stanley lied during his testimony, which negated any deal he had, but never got to make that case before the high court.
bjackson@vindy.com