"Michael Keenan freed, murder charge from 24 years ago dismissed by Cuyahoga County judge," is the breaking news report filed by Peter Krouse at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
A Cuyahoga County judge this morning dismissed a 24-year-old murder charge against Michael Keenan, who had spent about two decades on death row with co-defendant Joe D'Ambrosio.The decision was a dramatic change of events from Wednesday, when it appeared that Keenan was prepared to plead to involuntary manslaughter charges in order to be released from prison right away.Judge John Russo set bond at $5,000 today, essentially allowing Keenan to be freed immediately.Keenan was prepared to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday for the 1988 slaying of Tony Klann if he could walk out of the Justice Center a free man.
But the proposed plea deal with county prosecutors hit a snag when Keenan balked at the prospect of spending five years under supervised release with regular visits to a parole officer.
So prosecutors and defense lawyers resumed their negotiations.
Keenan, 62, was twice convicted of killing Klann in 1988 in Cleveland's Rockefeller Park. D'Ambrosio, who also was convicted of killing Klann, was freed in 2009 after a federal judge determined that evidence that could have exonerated him had been withheld from his trial attorneys.Another federal judge ruled in April that Keenan had to be tried again or have his verdict set aside.
Both Keenan and D'Ambrosio spent many years on death row, always professing their innocence.
Ohians to Stop Executions has issued the news release, "Michael Keenan becomes Ohio's second exoneration of 2012."
After 24 years of imprisonment, Michael Keenan is the second man in nine months to be exonerated from Ohio’s death row. Judge Russo dismissed all charges against Mr. Keenan this morning, making Mr. Keenan the seventh exoneree from Ohio and the nation’s 141st death row exoneration.
Mr. Keenan was first tried, convicted and sentenced to death for his alleged role to the murder of Tony Klann in 1988. His conviction was overturned in 1994 and again in 2012 due to prosecutorial misconduct. Most recently, a federal court ruled in April 2012 that Mr. Keenan must be retried or freed in light of potentially exculpatory evidence hidden from Keenan at the time of his trial.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors elected to conduct a third trial against Mr. Keenan but removed the death penalty in an effort to coax Keenan into taking a plea deal. Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions said, “Ohio’s track record of making these kinds of mistakes is both troubling and a sharp reminder that our state routinely sends people to death row for crimes they did not commit. This is completely unacceptable.”
Six other innocent men have been freed from death row in Ohio.
Related posts are in the exoneration, innocence, and prosecutorial misconduct category indexes.
The responsibility of the state to provide exculpatory evidence to the defense was articulated in the 1963 Supreme Court ruling in Brady v. Maryland; more via Oyez.
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