Court denies murderer's appeal

The defendant had been charged with murdering two women and a man in the fall of 1982.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The 7th District Court of Appeals has upheld a trial judge's decision to deny a motion by a convicted murderer to withdraw his no contest plea more than 21 years after he was sentenced to two consecutive 20-years-to-life prison terms.
John O. Alexander, 57, of Youngstown, was indicted in 1982 on three counts of aggravated murder, each carrying a death penalty specification, in the slayings of Jewel Austin, 38, of Hillman Street, whose body was found in September 1982 on the city's East Side, and Lacie Patton, and his wife, Vera, of Gerwig Avenue, whose bodies were found Oct. 3, 1982, also on the city's East Side.
In a February 1984 plea bargain, Alexander pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated murder pertaining to the Pattons, with the murder charge in Austin's death being dropped. A three-judge panel in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court then imposed the two consecutive 20-years-to-life sentences.
What happened
Alexander filed a motion in April 2005 to withdraw his plea, saying a "manifest injustice" occurred when he entered into it, but Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court denied the motion. A three-judge appellate panel upheld her denial in a decision rendered Friday, saying Alexander waited too long to file the motion and failed to prove that a "manifest injustice" occurred.
In the hearing before Judge Sweeney, Alexander's brother, Roger, who had been present for the plea negotiations, testified that John Alexander declined to accept 30 years, so the sentence in the signed plea agreement was dropped to 20 to life, and John and Roger Alexander were told the judges were "on board" with the agreement. When John was sentenced to 40 years to life, Roger Alexander said he (Roger) was still convinced the sentence was to be 20 to life.
A psychologist, who examined John Alexander when he was convicted, testified in the 2005 hearing that the defendant suffered impaired comprehension because of post traumatic stress disorder from his military service in Vietnam, but that the defendant was within the normal intelligence range.
However, Judge Sweeney concluded that John Alexander was represented by two highly competent lawyers who spent sufficient time explaining the plea offer and its consequences to him.
Appeals court ruling
The appeals court noted the two-decade delay in the motion to withdraw and said the testimony provided by Roger Alexander and the psychologist at the 2005 hearing was available 21 years earlier.
"Considering the fact that Alexander was facing the death penalty for causing the deaths of three people, it would be difficult to say that, given the evidence provided to the trial court and the lapse in time between the plea and Alexander's motion, the trial court abused its discretion in finding that no manifest injustice has taken place," the appeals court concluded.
John Alexander is incarcerated at the Trumbull Correctional Institution in Warren. His next parole hearing is scheduled for August 2022.