Convicted killer apologizes to family of cop he shot

By ED MEYER

Beacon Journal staff writer

AKRON

Kenan Ivery stood at the defense table with a microphone in his right hand, turned directly toward the standing-room-only gallery and apologized to the family of the man whose life he took.

He said it was something that he had wanted to do on the night of Nov. 16, when he shot off-duty Akron Police Officer Justin Winebrenner, 32, during a confrontation at Papa Don’s Pub.

“My condolences go out to you guys, and my family feels the same way,” he said, taking a deep breath. “It comes from my heart.”

Ivery, 36, spoke for four minutes during his sentencing hearing Friday.

Near the end of his talk, he turned toward the jury box, told jurors that they surely know he’s “no saint” and implored them to spare his life.

Many in the gallery, where a group of uniformed Akron police offers stood in the rear because there were no more seats, wept as Ivery spoke.

After closing arguments in the penalty phase of Ivery’s capital murder trial, a panel of six men and six women from Summit County went behind closed doors in Judge Alison McCarty’s jury room to decide whether he lives or dies.

The jurors, who did not reach a sentencing decision late Friday, were sequestered at an area hotel and will resume deliberations this morning.

It was an extraordinary moment for the defendant, whose family sat in the first row of benches with Winebrenner’s family to their immediate right.

There were no excuses given, only apologies to everyone involved – Winebrenner’s family and friends, his own family, the court system and the other five victims who were hit or grazed by Ivery’s burst of four shots from his .40-caliber handgun.

In order to recommend death, jurors must be unanimous in their decision. If not, they then must decide whether he gets life in prison with no chance of parole, or life with the possibility of parole after 25 or 30 years.

Kathleen Kovatch, who was appointed to the Ohio Parole Board in 2003 as the board’s victim representative, told the jury what it would mean if Ivery were to get “30-to-life.”

He would not be eligible to appear before the parole board until he served 30 full years, and by then, Kovatch said, it would be the year 2045.

It certainly would not mean that he would get out three decades from now, she said.

Kovatch testified she has heard thousands of cases in her 13-plus years on the board, and only about 1 percent of offenders – “I could count them on my 10 fingers,” she said – win release on their first appearance.

Ivery’s unsworn statement, which he made without reading a single note, was simple but profound from beginning to end.

“First of all,” he said in a calm, low voice, “I would like to apologize to the Winebrenner family and friends. This is something I’ve been wanting to say since the situation first happened, but the lawyers told me it wasn’t appropriate at the time.”

He then gave Winebrenner’s family his condolences, and went on.

“In 2011,” Ivery said, still speaking to the officer’s family, “I lost a brother, so I know the pain. And it hurts. I know what you’re going through right now, and I pray that God will touch your hearts and help you get through this tragedy.

“I know you probably hate me and will never forgive me, and I understand that. But from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry.”

Ivery’s apology to his own family was next.

Everyone who had spoken on his behalf Thursday told the court the family, to this day, still struggles to accept the loss of Ivery’s 25-year-old brother, Henry, who was the victim of an unsolved Akron homicide.

Jurors were the next to be addressed by Ivery.

Again, he took a deep breath and said: “I’m no saint, as I’m sure you know. But I’m here today not asking for my freedom. I’m here today asking for my life. Please. Please.”

To McCarty and the other court officials present, he said: “I’m not a monster. I’m just so very sorry about this whole thing. Save me, save me.”

He told the court that he thinks about what happened at Papa Don’s every day, and that he would take everything back if he could. Then he turned again to address the other victims in the gallery, apologizing to them as he ended.

“Everybody affected by this, I’m sorry. That’s coming from my heart,” Ivery said.