STRUTHERS MURDERS Hearing to decide mental competency

The Ohio Attorney General's Office will take over for the county prosecutor.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Convicted killer Stephen A. Vrabel, recently granted a reprieve from execution, will be back in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court next week.
Vrabel, 46, is on death row for the 1989 fatal shootings of his common-law wife and daughter in Struthers. He was scheduled to be put to death Sept. 30, but the Ohio Supreme Court intervened two weeks ago and put the execution on hold.
The high court ordered that Vrabel be returned to Mahoning County and a hearing be held to determine his mental competency. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum has set the hearing for 10 a.m. Oct. 3.
Vrabel has filed a motion seeking to waive all of his appeals, but his lawyers sought a stay of execution. He is being represented by the Ohio Public Defender's Office.
The Supreme Court ordered that Vrabel be evaluated to determine whether he is mentally competent to waive his appellate rights, and whether he knew what he was doing when he did so.
County Prosecutor Paul Gains said neither he nor anyone from his office will be able to handle the case because he served as Vrabel's defense lawyer during the original trial. That attorney-client relationship creates a conflict of interest, Gains said.
He said the Ohio Attorney General's Office will handle the case at no cost to the county.
What happened in July
In July, the high court ruled 4-3 to uphold Vrabel's conviction and death sentence after Vrabel's lawyers had sought a new trial, contending that Vrabel was mentally incompetent during his 1995 trial.
Vrabel was convicted of fatally shooting Susan Clemente, his common-law wife, and Lisa, his 3-year-old daughter, and placing their bodies in the refrigerator and freezer, respectively, of their Struthers apartment.
The bodies were later discovered by Clemente's brother-in-law, who went to the home to check on her.
After the bodies were discovered, Vrabel surrendered to investigators in the Cleveland suburb of Parma.
Vrabel had been committed to the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Columbus from 1990 to 1994 but was convicted of the aggravated murder counts in October 1995.
bjackson@vindy.com