[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., MASS., PENN., GA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

May 5



TEXAS:

Harris County DA will seek death penalty against MS-13 gang member



Omar Torres is facing a capital murder charge

Omar Torres was already behind bars when he ordered the hit, police say.

The suspected MS-13 gang member was arrested in June 2016 after the brutal 
slaying of Noe Mendez 4 months earlier. He could have been facing life in 
prison - but only if the teen slated to testify against him lived to tell the 
tale.

He didn't.

Now Torres is facing the possibility of even harsher punishment. Harris County 
District Attorney Kim Ogg is seeking a death sentence in the case, believed to 
be the 1st initiated by her office since she took over in January 2017.

(source: Houston Chronicle)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Dr. Leonard Korn: From a medical perspective, there are many reasons why the 
death penalty is wrong



An open letter to Gov. Chris Sununu: Once again New Hampshire is considering 
repeal of the death penalty. The repeal bill, Senate Bill 593, would replace 
capital punishment with imprisonment without the possibility parole.

There are many arguments from both sides of the aisle to consider regarding 
repeal of the death penalty. The arguments for repeal are from so many 
different perspectives: religious, moral, pragmatic, legal, financial, medical 
and psychiatric/psychological. I will offer the arguments here from a medical 
and psychiatric/psychological perspective.

Organized medicine (the American Medical Association) has opposed physicians 
participating in the process of administering the death penalty since July 
1980. The reason for this prohibition of physicians participating in process of 
killing a prisoner is that it is a violation of Section 1 of the AMA's 
Principles of Medical Ethics, which states that "a physician shall be dedicated 
to providing competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human 
rights."

It is unfortunate that other, less-qualified medical personnel have been 
employed in the procedures of administering lethal injections, often 
inadequately and always inhumanely, in violation of these important ethical 
principles.

We are very fortunate that the N.H. Senate has passed SB 593 on a vote of 14-10 
and the N.H. House has passed SB 593 by just shy of a 2/3 majority. SB 593 is 
headed for your desk, Gov. Sununu.

We are aware you have indicated your opposition to repealing the death penalty 
in New Hampshire. You have offered 2 reasons for your opposition to repeal of 
the death penalty. We certainly hope that you will reconsider and allow New 
Hampshire to join with all the other New England states and the 19 other states 
in the United States that have repealed the death penalty and ended their 
participation in the archaic and barbaric practice of state-supported killing.

You have previously expressed your interest in supporting crime victims and 
supporting the death penalty for the most heinous crimes. I think we can all 
agree that there is no more heinous crime than murder, yet we had more than 
11,000 murders in the United States last year.

Would we as a society want to murder 11,000 more if we found their murderers 
and were able to prosecute them successfully? What about the mistakes, as there 
have been well over 150 exonerations already? Or are some murders really more 
"heinous" than others? With all due respect, and I mean this sincerely, is a 
school teacher's death by murder, or a brother's or sister's death by murder, 
or a child's death by murder, less heinous than a policeman's death by murder?

As a psychiatrist I have been concerned about violence throughout my career. 
There is certainly too much violence in our world and in our country. As a 
society we need to focus on reducing violence, not condoning it. Violence of 
course comes in many forms, from bullying in our schools to sexual, physical 
and emotional abuse in our homes and workplaces, and of course murder in our 
homes and streets.

We certainly don???t punish bullies by bullying them, nor should we punish 
abusers by abusing them, nor should we punish murderers by murdering them. 
Elective murder by the state is not the best we can do as a civilized society. 
Indeed, it is a form itself of violence, state-supported violence. We can do 
better, and we should. It is not a good example to murder to show that murder 
is wrong.

Let me discuss healing, as healing from wounds is what we as physicians try our 
best to do in our practice of medicine. Psychiatrists focus of course on 
emotional wounds, which we know can be just as traumatic and long lasting as 
physical wounds, if not more so, likely more so. Emotional wounds can actually 
last a lifetime, if not even longer, as we have seen from stories of children 
of Holocaust survivors. Murder of a loved one is such a trauma, such a deep 
emotional wound, that healing is at best a long and tortuous road, requiring as 
much support and love a family and community can provide.

Do we honestly think that putting a convicted murderer to death by taking 10 to 
20 or more years of trials and appeals helps the process of healing for victims 
(family members, colleagues and friends) of the crime of murder? Many years of 
publicity and personal appearances by family and others just perpetuates the 
pain and reopens the wounds of such a violent death of a loved one.

Administering the death penalty thus interferes with healing, with the 
emotional attempts at "closure" for the victims of murder, rather than 
"strengthening the laws for crime victims." Many family members of victims of 
murder oppose the death penalty, but those who do not unfortunately prolong 
their own grief and suffering, and interfere with the ability to heal their 
grievous wounds.

In thinking about wounds related to the death penalty there is another 
important factor to consider, namely the emotional wounds inflicted on those 
individuals who are involved in the procedures and administration of the death 
penalty. As a member of the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death 
Penalty, I have heard and read about the effects on those individuals who 
participate in the process of administering the death penalty, the actual 
process of killing of those on death rows around the country. Wardens, prison 
workers, prosecutors and defense attorneys have experienced depression, anxiety 
and PTSD as a result of participating in the death penalty process.

Since we all know that killing is really reasonable only if we have no other 
choice to defend ourselves or others, do we want to continue to subject so many 
individuals and state workers to this "heinous" process of killing when life 
without parole is available as an alternative?

I have discussed above only some of the many sound and compelling reasons why 
the death penalty is unreasonable for our state and society to maintain. I am 
reminded often of the final lines of John Donne's 17th century poem "No Man is 
an Island" as a potent argument for ending the death penalty: "Any man's death 
diminishes me, because I'm involved in mankind, and therefore never send to 
know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Once again I implore you, Gov. Sununu, to reconsider your opposition to repeal 
and approve SB 593 and allow New Hampshire to no longer "kill (convicted 
murderers) to show that killing is wrong."

(source: Opinion; Dr. Leonard Korn is president of the New Hampshire Medical 
Society----The Concord Monitor)








MASSACHUSETTS:

Killing of police officer renews calls for death penalty



The killing of a Massachusetts police officer has some Republicans calling for 
the reinstatement of the death penalty for the murder of law enforcement 
officers.

Recent attempts to restore capital punishment in the state have faltered, most 
recently after the killing of another police officer 2 years ago and in 2013, 
after the Boston Marathon bombing.

The death of Sean Gannon, a Yarmouth K-9 officer who was fatally shot in the 
head while serving an arrest warrant last Thursday, has again raised the issue. 
Gannon's funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Republican Party sent out a message on Twitter 
reaffirming the party's backing of capital punishment for criminals who kill 
police officers.

An aide to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker said he also "supports the death 
penalty for the offense of killing a police officer." Baker on Friday signed an 
overhaul of the state's criminal justice system that imposed a new mandatory 
minimum for assault and battery on a police officer causing serious injury.

But there seems little appetite in the Legislature - controlled overwhelmingly 
by Democrats - to debate the death penalty again.

"I am personally opposed to the death penalty and I do not foresee 
Massachusetts reinstating capital punishment," Senate President Harriette 
Chandler, a Worcester Democrat, said Tuesday. "That being said, the death of 
Officer Sean Gannon is a heartbreaking tragedy and I hope that the justice 
system enacts swift punishment to those responsible."

A bill that would reinstitute capital punishment has just 2 sponsors - 1 
Democrat and 1 Republican.

Brian Kyes, president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs of Police 
Association, said his "knee-jerk" reaction would be to support the death 
penalty as a potential deterrent to acts such as the killing of Gannon. But he 
added members of his group would wait until after the funeral to discuss 
possible legislation, including the death penalty.

"We are going to factor out our emotions and then step back and make a 
collective decision with all the chiefs as to what we should support going 
forward," said Kyes, who is Chelsea's police chief. "We will give it some deep 
thought."

Massachusetts last executed someone in 1947. In 1984 the Massachusetts Supreme 
Judicial Court ruled that a death penalty law approved by voters was 
unconstitutional.

In recent decades, there have been several failed efforts to reinstitute 
capital punishment.

In 2013, lawmakers debated but ultimately shelved a proposal to reinstate the 
punishment after the deadly Boston Marathon bombings. Among those killed was 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, who was 
fatally shot during a confrontation with the bombers.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received a federal death sentence, currently under appeal, 
after being convicted by a U.S. District Court jury in Boston. His brother, 
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died during a gun battle with police.

In 2016, Auburn Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. was shot and killed during a 
traffic stop by a man with a lengthy criminal record. After the killing, Baker 
said he would support the death penalty for those who take the lives of police 
officers, but the law remained unchanged.

In 2005 former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney unveiled what he called the "gold 
standard for the death penalty in the modern scientific age" to ensure only the 
guilty were executed. The bill also failed.

The closest the Legislature has come to reinstating capital punishment was in 
1997 following the abduction and murder of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley.

A death penalty bill filed in the wake of Curley's murder failed after a single 
lawmaker switched his vote during reconsideration.

The most infamous Massachusetts death penalty case of the 20th century focused 
on Italian immigrants and committed anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo 
Vanzetti.

The 2 were arrested after a payroll clerk and a security guard were shot and 
killed during an armed robbery at a Braintree shoe factory. The 1921 trial drew 
international protests by supporters who said the 2 were targeted for their 
political beliefs and immigrant status. They were executed in 1927.

(source: Associated Press)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Luzerne County public defender seeks $100K for death penalty case



Luzerne County Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald is seeking a $100,000 
transfer from the county's 2018 budget reserve to cover the cost of an expert 
witness and other increased requirements in a death-penalty case.

The county District Attorney's Office filed notice of its plans to seek the 
death penalty against 51-year-old Joseph John Marchetti Jr. last month.

Investigators allege Marchetti beat and shot to death his girlfriend, 
Antoinette Wilkinson, 46, inside their Foster Township home Jan. 28.

He also is accused of beating his girlfriend's 72-year-old mother, Barbara 
Wilkinson, with a lead-filled club before shooting himself in the face. The 
elder Wilkinson survived and testified about her ordeal at Marchetti's 
preliminary hearing in March.

County council is scheduled to discuss the funding request at Tuesday's work 
session, which follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the courthouse on River 
Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Greenwald's office must represent Marchetti because he meets qualification 
guidelines, Greenwald said in his council agenda submission.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court sets specific guidelines on properly and 
effectively representing defendants in death-penalty cases, Greenwald wrote. 
This includes the use of a mitigation expert, which will cost at least $70,000 
to $75,000 alone, he said.

Mitigation experts are specially trained to perform extensive background 
reviews of defendants to present reasons why a jury may not deem the accused 
worthy of the death penalty. These reviews typically assess a defendant's 
childhood and family relationships, educational background, medical and mental 
health records and prior criminal and employment history.

"The legal defense of defendants in capital cases is significantly more costly 
than representation in any other criminal matter," Greenwald wrote.

The public defender's office did not include such an expense in its budget 
request submitted last fall because both the homicide and prosecutors' move to 
seek the death penalty occurred in 2018, Greenwald wrote.

A transfer from the reserve is the only funding option, he explained.

The county has $4.538 million left in its 2018 budget reserve.

Any money remaining in this reserve at the end of the year would be credited as 
a surplus to reduce the deficit the county is still carrying on its financial 
books.

The deficit was $8 million the end of 2016, the last audit concluded. The 
updated deficit balance will be revealed in the next audit due June 30.

Marchetti, who faces counts of criminal homicide and aggravated assault, has 
pleaded not guilty. He remains jailed at the county lockup without bail.

Prosecutors asserted 2 aggravating circumstances make this a capital case: That 
Marchetti also created a grave risk of death to Barbara Wilkinson, and that he 
engaged in torture in the killing of Antoinette Wilkinson, who was also known 
as Toni Lynn.

(source: timesleader.com)

*************

Trial date set for man accused of killing Cheltenham woman, unborn child



A Philadelphia man faces a trial in December on charges he fatally stabbed the 
mother of his unborn child in her Cheltenham apartment as he faced the reality 
of telling his wife and children he was about to have a child with another 
woman.

Tristian Jones, 35, of the 900 block of East Johnson Street, sat quietly in 
Montgomery County Court on Thursday as Judge Wendy G. Rothstein set a Dec. 3 
trial date. Rothstein set aside 2 weeks for the trial.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are still weighing a decision if they will seek the 
death penalty against Jones in the event he is convicted of first-degree murder 
in connection with the Feb. 19, 2018, fatal stabbing of Eboney N. White, 31, 
and her unborn child in her apartment in the 2000 block of Mather Way in the 
Elkins Park section of Cheltenham.

"No decision's been made," Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kemp said after 
the brief scheduling hearing.

Kemp and co-prosecutor Alexandria MacMaster have until May 17, the day 
Rothstein set for Jones' formal arraignment hearing, to make that decision.

Under state law, it's at a formal arraignment hearing where prosecutors must 
notify a judge that they intend to seek the death penalty.

In order to obtain a death penalty, prosecutors must show that aggravating 
factors - circumstances that make a killing more heinous - outweigh any 
mitigating factors - circumstances that favor a defendant. Specifically, 
prosecutors have 18 aggravating factors, under state law, which they can use to 
seek the death penalty.

1 aggravating factor that prosecutors could use against Jones, according to a 
review of the state law, is that at the time of the killing the victim was in 
her 3rd trimester of pregnancy or that the defendant had knowledge of the 
victim's pregnancy.

According to court papers, White was 7 1/2 months pregnant at the time of her 
death. The fetus did not survive the attack.

Jones, who is represented by defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, faces charges of 
1st- and 3rd-degree murder, 1st- and 3rd-degree murder of an unborn child, 
possession of an instrument of crime and unsworn falsification to authorities.

A 1st-degree murder conviction can carry a penalty of life imprisonment or 
death. A conviction of 3rd-degree murder carries a possible maximum sentence of 
20 to 40 years in prison.

An investigation began when Cheltenham police responded to White's apartment at 
3:20 a.m. Feb. 19 after receiving a 911 call from her 12-year-old daughter, who 
had retreated to a bathroom after allegedly seeing Jones stabbing her mother, 
according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Todd Richard and 
Cheltenham Detective Ronald Cupo.

Police found White dead in the master bedroom with multiple stab wounds to her 
torso. White's 12- and 7-year-old daughters were unharmed.

White's daughter who made the 911 call told authorities she had seen her 
mother's boyfriend, "Mr. Tristian," in the doorway of her mother's bedroom at 
approximately 2 a.m., according to the affidavit of probable cause. The girl 
reported she went to bed but was awakened by the sound of screaming 
approximately 45 minutes later. The girl told detectives she went to her 
mother's bedroom and saw a man, wearing a grey sweatshirt, hood and a black 
mask, stabbing her mother with a knife.

"(The girl) stated she screamed at the male to stop hurting her mother and the 
male lunged at her with the knife in his hand," detectives wrote in the arrest 
affidavit, adding the girl retreated to a bathroom and placed the 911 call.

An autopsy determined White died of multiple stab wounds, while the unborn male 
child died due to maternal stab wounds, according to the criminal complaint.

When he was interviewed by detectives on Feb. 19, Jones stated that while he is 
married, he and White had been dating since spring 2017 and she was carrying 
his child, who was due in early April 2018, according to the arrest affidavit. 
Jones allegedly said the 2 had discussed introducing their children to each 
other on the day of White's death and that she had been "mad" he was not ending 
his marriage.

Detectives alleged Jones gave inconsistent descriptions of the clothing he had 
been wearing Feb. 18 and 19 and about his whereabouts around the time of the 
killing.

Jones's wife told authorities she had not seen him between 4:30 p.m. Feb. 18 
and 5:30 a.m. Feb. 19 when he returned to the apartment after what she believed 
had been a shift at work, according to the arrest affidavit.

In the 2 days leading up to White's death, a string of text messages revealed 
White and Jones discussing their unborn child - whom they called Travis - and 
his impact on their families. They discussed how to talk to their other 
children about their affair, with Jones writing he "committed a sin" and 
seeming to struggle with how he would teach his children "fornication is a sin" 
when that is what he had committed.

"I don't want any of the kids including yours thinking sex before marriage is 
okay," Jones allegedly wrote in 1 text message.

White's mother told police she had been concerned about Jones's attitude toward 
the pregnancy, according to the arrest affidavit. She relayed White had told 
her Jones had once given her a "white foamy" liquid and asked her to drink it 
and later gave her what she believed was a soda can that had been tampered 
with, both of which she refused to drink.

(source: The Reporter)








GEORGIA----execution

Robert Butts executed for 1996 murder. Final words: "It burns, man'



Robert Earl Butts Jr. was put to death by lethal injection Friday at the 
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. He was pronounced dead at 9:58 
p.m.

When asked for a final statement, Butts replied, "I've been drinking caffeine 
all day." Then he declined an offer for a prayer.

Butts kept his eyes closed from the moment he was placed on the gurney.

He never looked at the father and brother of his victim, sitting on just the 
other side of the window that separates the witness area from the execution 
chamber. Nor did he look at Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee or Putnam County 
Sheriff Howard Sills, who was chief deputy in Baldwin County at the time of the 
murder.

2 minutes after the pentobarbital began to flow into the vein in his arm, Butts 
mumbled, "It burns, man." After that, he yawned and took a series of deep 
breaths until there was no movement about a minute before he was pronounced 
dead.

Butts, 40, was sentenced to death for the March 1996 murder of 25-year-old 
Donovan Corey Parks in Milledgeville. Butts and his co-defendant, Marion Wilson 
Jr., asked Parks - an off-duty correctional officer - for a ride from a local 
Walmart store, then minutes later ordered him from the car and shot him in the 
head. Butts was 18 at the time.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Butts' request for a stay of execution about 45 
minutes prior to him getting the needle.

That followed the Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous decision Friday afternoon 
to deny a stay of execution.

Although the lethal injection was scheduled for 7 p.m., Georgia does not 
proceed until all courts have weighed in on last-minute appeals for mercy.

In addition to denying Butts' motion for a stay of execution, the Georgia 
Supreme Court denied his request to appeal rulings by the Butts County Superior 
Court and the Baldwin County Superior Court, which both issued an order denying 
a stay and rejecting Butts' challenge to his death sentence.

Butts spent his final hours with 2 relatives as the courts weighed his lawyers' 
last-minute appeals, and he ate his last meal.

Nearby, on death row, Butts' partner in the murder sat in a cell. The day after 
Butts' execution warrant was signed on April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court 
returned Marion "Murdock" Wilson's case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals, telling the judges in Atlanta to take another look.

And in another part of the prison, the father and brother of Butts' victim 
waited for an end to their emotional roller coaster, which had run parallel to 
Butts' over the past 3 days.

Wednesday night, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles granted Butts a 90-day 
stay of execution so the parole board's 5 members could have more time to 
review a "considerable amount of additional information" about the case.

That stay halted the lethal injection set for 7 p.m. Thursday. Then the parole 
board lifted the stay Thursday afternoon and Butts' execution was rescheduled 
for Friday night.

Parks' brother, Christopher, wrote to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to 
express his despair:

"I have suffered along with my father, Freddie L. Parks, for 22 years since 
Donovan was brutally murdered," Christopher Parks wrote in an email Thursday. 
"I spoke at the clemency hearing yesterday, only to receive word that a stay of 
execution for up to 90 days has been ordered by the parole board. Needless to 
say, I was distraught and frustrated and so is my dad. We feel as victimized by 
the system as we were by the offenders."

Butts is the 2nd man Georgia has put to death this year.

Butts' lawyers asked the parole board to consider his troubled childhood, 
caused primarily by a mother who was an alcoholic and a drug user who 
frequently brought different men home. They also argued before the courts and 
the board that Wilson, not Butts, actually pulled the trigger on the sawed-off 
shotgun that blasted a hole into the back of Parks' head. And they argued that 
if Butts were tried today for the same crime, he most likely would not get a 
death sentence because of evolving attitudes.

Butts and Wilson encountered Donovan Corey Parks at a local Walmart the night 
of March 28, 1996.

Prosecutors - who contend that the 2 were members of the FOLK Nation gang in 
Milledgeville - said Butts and Wilson were at the store "shopping for a 
victim."

Parks, a Jehovah's Witness, had just left Bible study at the Freedom Hall 
across the street from the house he shared with his father, and went to the 
Walmart to buy cat food, soap and cocoa.

As Parks checked out, Butts got in line behind him with a 20-cent pack of gun.

Parks and Butts knew each other from when they both worked at Burger King, so 
Butts asked Parks for a ride for himself and his friend.

Witnesses saw Butts get into the passenger front seat of Parks' 1992 Acura, and 
Wilson get into the back. Prosecutors said Butts was wearing a black jacket 
that concealed a sawed-off shotgun.

16 minutes later, Parks was walked to the rear of his car, where he was shot in 
the back of the head.

According to trial testimony, Butts and Wilson drove off, planning to sell the 
Acura for parts in Atlanta. Hours later, the plan unsuccessful, the 2 returned 
to Middle Georgia, where they doused the car with gasoline and set it on fire 
behind a Macon Huddle House.

Butts and Wilson were arrested 4 days later. Law enforcement had surveillance 
video from places where the two had stopped after the murder. They found the 
sawed-off shotgun under the mattress on Wilson's bed. According to prosecutors, 
Wilson claimed he was a FOLK Nation "enforcer," and the walls of Butts' bedroom 
were covered in FOLK Nation gang graffiti.

"That night, they extinguished the life of a young man whose life was full of 
promise; a young man who was sensitive, caring, and compassionate," Christopher 
Parks wrote, describing his brother's decision to help the 2 by giving them a 
ride.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








OHIO----new death sentence

Man convicted of killing Ohio student gets death sentence



An Ohio man convicted of killing a college student who disappeared while 
bicycling has been sentenced to death.

A Fulton County judge on Wednesday upheld a jury's death penalty recommendation 
for 59-year-old James Worley.

Jurors convicted Worley 3 weeks ago in the July 2016 death of Sierah Joughin.

The 20-year-old University of Toledo student was found dead in a cornfield 3 
days after she was last seen near her home west of Toledo.

Worley denied being involved in the killing before he was sentenced.

He says prosecutors ignored evidence that could have cleared him. He went on to 
say someone framed him by leaving evidence at his home.

The victim's family walked out of the courtroom midway through Worley's 
statement, after he called her "a beautiful girl."

(source: Associated Press)

****************

Family of Fairborn man killed while working at hotel speaks out for 1st time



The brother of a Fairborn man fatally shot while working at a local hotel said 
he hopes his brother's killer gets the maximum penalty.

Andrew Day, known as Andy to friends and family, was shot and killed in March 
behind the front desk at the Hampton Inn of Colonel Glenn Highway in Fairborn 
during a robbery.

"He didn't do anything wrong at all," his younger brother, Daniel Day said. "He 
didn't even put up a fight, apparently, from what we've been told. ... He was 
doing exactly what he was told to do because he thought he'd be able to make it 
home that night -- but he didn't."

Andy Day loved his job, but not as much as the 29-year-old loved his family, 
which included his wife and their 6-year-old daughter.

"I lost my brother and my best friend ... she lost her husband and her world," 
Daniel Day said of his sister-in-law Brittany Day.

"Brittany changed his life and Andy was such a great dad, a great brother," 
Daniel Day said.

Andy Day's accused killer was arraigned Friday in Greene County Common Pleas 
Court Friday in Xenia following his indictment earlier this week. It was the 
1st time the Day's had seen him.

Michael McLendon, 25, pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers declined to comment. 
He is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault and 
violating parole. He was ordered to remain in the Greene County Jail without 
bond.

The Days say it's been a difficult 2 months for the family, which is getting 
through it together.

"We're trying to have fun or hang out or just get our feelings out completely 
because I don't want them to get bottled up from either of us because it's just 
going to explode."

There's still a long road ahead for the Day family.

The legal process is just getting started. McLendon's trial is scheduled for 
June. If convicted, he could get the death penalty.

"Yeah, I'm hoping he gets the death penalty," Daniel Day said.

This is not McLendon's 1st legal trouble.

He was convicted of aggravated robbery in Montgomery County in 2012.

The judge ruled he'll stay in jail between now and his trial.

(source: Dayton Daily News)