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The jury begins to hear reasons why Louis Mann should or shouldn’t be put to death
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The jury that last week convicted Louis Mann, 33, of murdering his parents began on Thursday to hear reasons why he should or shouldn’t be put to death.
Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, told jurors Thursday that Mann’s attorneys will present information over the next couple days indicating that he suffered sexual abuse from his father, but the testimony from two psychologists will be based only on what Louis Mann told them.
“You won’t hear from any relatives” of Louis Mann, 33, Frances Mann, 53, and Phillip Mann, 59, Becker said. “Did they talk to anybody else?” Becker asked the jury in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The two psychologists indicated in six large volumes of documents that Louis Mann had threatened to kill three people prior to killing his parents two years ago, but the psychologists will “gloss over” those incidents, Becker said.
“You will have testimony and evidence from [Louis Mann] that’s basically echoed and megaphoned through two psychologists,” Becker said.
An old computer phrase is apt for the information the psychologists will give: “garbage in, garbage out,” he said.
Matt Pentz, one of the lawyers from the Ohio Public Defender’s Office representing Mann, said he expected to show that his client shouldn’t “be thrown out on the executioner’s table” but is “capable of redemption in prison the rest of his life.”
The jury could decide on death for Louis Mann or life in prison with either no parole or possible parole after 25 or 30 years.
The first of the two psychologists to testify was Dr. Howard Friedkin, who has worked with more than 500 male survivors of sexual abuse in the past 15 years and has appeared on Oprah, Dr. Phil and other television shows.
Friedkin said he didn’t find any evidence that Louis Mann had ever told anyone he was sexually abused by his father until the day he told a detective for the Warren Police Department about it after he killed his parents.
Under questioning by Atty. Gregory Meyers, who also represents Louis Mann, Friedkin said it is common for male survivors of sexual abuse to keep that information to themselves.
“It generally takes about 20 years to talk about it because of the pain and shame of all that they have experienced,” he said.
“Boys are raised to be tough. They’re supposed to take care of it themselves,” he said.
In an interview at the Trumbull County jail, Louis Mann said his father had sexually abused him from about age 8 to about age 11 in the bathroom of the family’s home by having Louis take baths with him and washing Louis’ genitals and having Louis wash his.
The washings took place a couple times per month, but one other incident went further, Friedkin said.
He testified that he believed Louis was telling the truth, in part because he described things about a how the bathroom looked and other things that suggested Louis had been trying “numb out” and escape the abuse while it was happening.
Gabe Wildman, another assistant prosecutor, cross examined Friendkin about how much his bill is so far (about $7,000) and how many cases he has worked on for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office (three).
Wildman asked Friedkin if he had tried to speak to Tonya Mann, Louis Mann’s wife and lifelong friend, and Friedkin said he had not.
Nor had he talked to Phillip Mann Jr., Louis Mann’s half brother, who lived at Louis Mann’s house over the summer while they were growing up, Friedkin said.
“It could have been helpful,” Friedkin admitted.
Louis Mann admitted that he strangled his mother with a clothesline after she indicated that Louis should no longer have custody of his daughter, now age 10.
Louis Mann told police he “took out 31 years of rage” by hitting his father of the head repeatedly with a flashlight and shooting him four times in the head.