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Killer of couple in ’86 retracts mental defense
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COURT APPEARANCE: A Trumbull County deputy sheriff leads Charles Lorraine into common pleas court for a hearing. Lorraine faces the death penalty for the murders of a Warren couple.
By Ed Runyan
The defendant and three psychologists agreed that Charles Lorraine is not mentally disabled.
WARREN — Acknowledging that he pursued a claim that he was mentally disabled in 2003 to buy himself more time to live, Charles Lorraine went against the wishes of his attorneys Tuesday and withdrew the claim, thereby canceling a scheduled three-day hearing.
Nearly three hours after the hearing was set to start, Lorraine, convicted of killing an elderly couple in their Haymaker Avenue Northwest home in 1986, entered the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court and made it official.
“I did what I had to do to stay alive. I’m ready to stop,” Lorraine said before signing a document waiving his right to the hearing. Earlier, he added, “I’m smart enough to make my own decision.”
Apparently three experts who would have testified during the hearing agreed with that assessment.
Dennis Watkins, county prosecutor, said each of the three psychologists scheduled to testify during the hearing, including the one hired by Lorraine’s attorneys, would have said that Lorraine was not mentally disabled.
Judge Logan asked Lorraine if he understood that by waiving the hearing, he could be eligible again for the death penalty.
“Yes,” the 43-year-old former Warren man said in a clear voice and firm tone.
After the hearing was over, Lorraine was led from the courtroom by deputies, where he told reporters he wanted to live but was ready to die.
“Eventually it’s going to happen anyway. All I’ve done is buy a little more time,” he said. “I’m sorry for what I did. I’ve always said that. I’ve been on death row for 24 years for what I did. It’s got to the point where I’m tired.”
Lorraine was convicted in November 1986 of killing Raymond Montgomery, 77, and his wife, Doris, 80, in their home.
Randall Porter, an attorney representing Lorraine from the Ohio Public Defender’s Office, asked Judge Logan to consider the possibility that his client is not competent to make such a decision, saying it was “certainly a surprise” for Lorraine to tell him he didn’t want to go forward with the hearing.
Porter listed a series of mental disorders that Lorraine suffers from, including his “ability to interpret reality” and ones relating to anxiety and paranoia.
“His personality disorders have kicked in, and that is the reason for his decision,” Porter said, adding that he was asking for the competency evaluation even though Lorraine didn’t want one.
Judge Logan said in court he was refusing to grant an additional competency evaluation.
Lorraine asked to be evaluated for mental disability in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute mentally disabled people.
Judge Logan tried to dismiss Lorraine’s request for the evaluation several years ago and to rule without a hearing that Lorraine was not mentally disabled, but Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals based in Warren reversed his decision and told him to have the hearing.
It took three years — and the costs associated with having psychologists evaluate Lorraine — to prepare for the hearing. Members of Lorraine’s family and others also were prepared to testify.
Watkins said after the hearing he believes Lorraine has exhausted nearly all of the appeals he had open to him and is soon likely to face a clemency hearing before the Ohio Parole Board.
A clemency hearing is frequently one of the last steps before execution.
Members of the Montgomery family who attended the hearing had no comment.
runyan@vindy.com