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#Post#: 644--------------------------------------------------
~ Warren Henness, 17Dec24, (OH) ~
By: BuzzC Date: June 1, 2024, 10:25 pm
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Warren Keith Henness is facing the death penalty for the 1992
murder of 51-year-old Richard Meyers.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio man sentenced to death in the fatal
shooting of a volunteer addiction counselor is proclaiming his
innocence and asking that his life be spared, according to
arguments by his attorneys a month before his scheduled
execution.
Warren Keith Henness, who goes by his middle name, was convicted
of killing 51-year-old Richard Meyers in Columbus in 1992.
Myers, who was a lab technician at a veterans hospital in
Chillicothe in southern Ohio, frequently volunteered with
Alcoholics Anonymous to assist people with addictions and had
been helping Henness find drug treatment for his wife, according
to authorities.
The Ohio Parole Board scheduled arguments for and against mercy
Thursday. Henness is set to die by lethal injection on Dec. 17
at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
Prosecutors said Henness kidnapped Myers, bound and then shot
him at an abandoned water treatment plant, and then stole his
credit cards, checks and car.
Henness, his wife Tabatha Henness, and friend Ronald Fair drove
around in Myers' car for several days afterward, forging the
checks and using the credit cards, according to prosecutors.
Henness, 55, has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and did so
again in an interview with the Ohio Parole Board last month.
The board will announce its decision next week. Republican
Gov.-elect Mike DeWine, scheduled to be sworn in this weekend,
will have the final say on clemency.
Henness' wife and their friend were also implicated in the
killing and provided the only evidence of Henness' guilt,
according to court records. The two pleaded guilty to minor
charges of forgery and then testified against Henness at trial.
Henness' attorneys have argued he deserves mercy because of
lingering questions about the others' involvement in the
killing.
In addition, they say Henness' defense lawyers at the time
failed to fully investigate the case ahead of trial. Henness
distrusted one of his attorneys so much that he rejected a plea
deal that would have spared his life, according to Henness'
clemency petition.
"Even though Keith has consistently maintained his innocence of
the murder of Richard Myers, he would have been eligible for
parole already had he agreed to the plea terms the prosecution
indicated it was willing to accept," David Stebbins, a federal
public defender, said in a filing with the board earlier this
month.
Henness has a consistent record of good behavior in jail and on
death row, also making him a good candidate for mercy, Stebbins
said.
Prosecutors argue Henness has a history of lying and refusing to
take responsibility for the killing. The death row inmate is now
pointing the finger at his wife "on the eve of his execution"
after protecting her as the mother of their children for years,
Ron O'Brien, the Franklin County prosecutor, told the board in a
filing this month.
Henness' "elaborate and ever-changing stories simply do not fit
the evidence in this case," O'Brien said. "Rather than show he
is innocent of ... Richard's murder, his lies demonstrate a
patent refusal to accept responsibility for his crimes."
8)
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