US Supreme Court to hear Valley case

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving the murder of a Trumbull County woman 15 years ago.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is seeking review of a lower court’s decision to delay all legal proceedings for Sean Carter, 33, who was convicted for the rape and murder of his adoptive grandmother, Veader Prince, 68.

On Sept. 13, 1997, Carter broke into Prince’s West Farmington home. She confronted Carter and asked him to leave. Carter then beat Prince, raped her, and stabbed her 18 times with a kitchen knife. The next evening, Prince’s daughter and son discovered her body in the basement of the home. Carter later confessed the murder.

A Trumbull County jury convicted Carter of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, rape, and criminal trespass, and he received the death penalty. The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the convictions and sentence in 2000.

In 2002, Carter filed a habeas petition in federal court, seeking to vacate his murder conviction and sentence. Last year, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati announced it would not rule on Carter’s petition.

The court instead halted all proceedings, determining that Carter suffers from mental impairments that diminish his communication skills and ability to assist his attorneys.

“Our state courts have mechanisms in place to address a defendant’s allegations of incompetency,” DeWine said. “This decision unnecessarily opens the door to decades of delay and collateral litigation in federal court.”

DeWine appealed to the Supreme Court, asserting that the federal appellate court is improperly interfering with Ohio’s criminal justice system. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument this fall.