Federal appeals court revokes death sentence for Reginald Jells in 1987 murder

In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Monday that Reginald Jells was poorly served by his lawyers during the penalty phase of his trial and that prosecutors withheld 13 pieces of evidence that could have garnered Jells a sentence of life in prison instead of death.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors have 180 days to start a new sentencing phase for Jells, who was convicted on kidnapping and aggravated murder charges for the death of Ruby Stapleton in 1987.

The decision is representative of a recurring issue emerging from cases prosecuted in Cuyahoga County during the 1980s. Several sentences have been overturned because prosecutors did not follow the rules of discovery, which require them to share with defense lawyers any evidence that could help a defendant.

Recently, a federal appeals court ruled that another Cleveland man who has spent nearly two decades on death row must be given a new trial or be let out of prison. The court said in its opinion that several pieces of withheld evidence in that case probably would have resulted in a different verdict for Joe D'Ambrosio, who was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1989.

Former Assistant County Prosecutor Carmen Marino was responsible for the convictions of both D'Ambrosio and Jells. Marino could not be reached for comment Monday.
Jells' attorney, Alan Rossman, said the discovery of withheld evidence, decades later, is troubling when it could spare the life of a defendant who might not deserve the death penalty.

Ryan Miday, spokesman for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, said the prosecutor will work with the attorney general's office to determine the state's next step. The state has three options: ask the three-judge panel to review its ruling, ask for a review by the full court or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Neither the courts nor Rossman are questioning Jells' guilt, but rather the manner in which he was sentenced.

During the trial, the victim's young son, DeVon, testified that he saw Jells beat his mother more than 90 times with a blunt object while he watched from the back of a van. Jells dumped the body in a junkyard and abandoned the boy on the roadside.

Jells, who denied the killing, waived his right to a jury trial. He was found guilty by a three-judge panel and sentenced to death. State appeals courts upheld the sentence.
But the federal court overturned the lower court's decision, ruling that several pieces of evidence withheld by prosecutors could have influenced the outcome of the case. Among the evidence are statements from the victim's friends and family that the victim and her son willingly climbed into Jell's van the night of the murder. The assertion could disprove that the woman was kidnapped, an aggravating circumstance in the case.

Some evidence also impeaches the credibility of one witness, who at trial identified Jells as Stapleton's attacker. However, a withheld document reveals that an anonymous caller, later identified as the witness, said that she saw the incident but could not see the attacker well.
The court also ruled that Jells' attorneys did not adequately prepare for the sentencing phase of his trial. They did not give a psychologist enough time to fully evaluate Jells, and they failed to hire a mitigation expert to gather information that could have humanized him to the judges.

Relatives testified that Jells was a loving family member. But his lawyers ignored evidence that he had been severely abused as a child and suffered from mental disabilities and psychological problems, the decision states.

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