WARREN Roberts' lawyers consider appeal

The defendant thanked the judge after she received the death penalty.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Not what the judge wrote as the grounds for the death sentence, but how the document was typed, may form the basis of convicted killer Donna Ro- berts' appeal.
Roberts, 59, welcomed the news of her death sentence Friday and expressed her gratitude to Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
"Thank you for what you did," Roberts told Judge Stuard. "I was afraid for a moment that you might find a reason not to."
Defense contention
Attorneys representing Roberts, however, said they may be filing an appeal because the prosecutor's office typed the judge's facts and findings and recommendation of the death penalty.
"This certainly could be used as an appeal, and we are exploring other inquiries as well and have ordered a transcript," Ingram said.
He said the law prohibits either side of a case to communicate with the judge without the other party's being present.
"The judge wrote this, and he sent it to our office and we typed it," said Ken Bailey, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor. "Our office does this all the time. We didn't tell anyone what it said."
The judge also stated that Roberts was going to be sentenced to death before she was permitted to speak, said Juhasz, noting that defendants are normally asked to speak before sentencing.
Judge Stuard had noted that he had not actually sentenced Roberts yet but read his ruling that he had concurred with the jury's recommendation to sentence her to death.
A stand for equality
During the few moments Roberts did speak to the judge, she laughed, smiled and said she asked for the death penalty so she could take a stand on racial equality and expose and oust corrupt police officials.
Roberts said that because her co-defendant, Nate Jackson, was sentenced to death, she should face the same penalty. Jackson is black, and she is white.
Jackson, who prosecutors said was her lover, was represented by a public defender. The two were convicted of conspiring to kill and then murdering Robert Fingerhut, Roberts' former husband.
Roberts, who will now become the first woman on Ohio's death row, was convicted last month of complicity to aggravated murder, with death specifications that the crime took place with prior calculation and design and at the same time as an aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.
Jackson, 29, of Youngstown, was convicted in December of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. He was sentenced to death and is appealing the conviction.
Roberts and Jackson were accused of killing Fingerhut on Dec. 11, 2001, in the Howland home Roberts and Fingerhut shared, just two days after Jackson was released from prison. He had served one year on a Mahoning County conviction for receiving stolen property.
Roberts and Jackson wrote hundreds of letters to each other, some discussing their plans to kill Fingerhut when Jackson was released from prison, prosecutors said during the trial.