Jury handed down verdict in Guernsey County double homicide on Friday
After only two hours, James Whatley was found guilty in the June 24, 2012 slayings
by Z. Daniel Barnett - Published: June 14, 2014
by Z. Daniel Barnett - Published: June 14, 2014
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| Defendant James L. Whatley Jr. sat alone at the defense table during a court recess on Friday morning. |
The panel of jurors found 32-year-old James L. Whatley Jr. of Columbus guilty on one count of aggravated murder in the death of Justain Nelson and one count of complicity to commit aggravated murder in the death of Christopher Morrison. Whatley was also found guilty of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in connection with the June 24 robbery and shooting at a Coventry Estates apartment, just outside of Cambridge.
The jury handed down the guilty verdict only hours after defense attorney Jack Blakeslee called his client to the stand as the sole witness for the defense. Whatley stunned those gathered in the Guernsey County Commons Pleas Court by placing himself at the scene of the double homicide, contradicting video-recorded statements placed before the jury on Thursday. Whatley indicated that he willingly played a part in several failed robbery attempts on Friday evening before assisting in the break-in at the Coventry Estates apartment early Sunday morning. But Whatley testified that, when one of his co-defendants began shooting, he fled the scene on foot:
“Mitchell, he tells me, he tells me – well, he don’t, he just says ‘Close the blinds, close the blinds!’ And I go over there, I put my sleeve down like this and close the blinds. But when I’m closing the blinds he says ‘Close the door.’ So I turn around, and when I was going to close the door, I seen something in my peripheral, but it looked like he jumped, or something, he was just like this. And I head ‘pow, pow, pow!’ So I jumped, and I was scared. So I slid – like the door was damn-near closed, and I slid between the door and ran out the door.”In his cross-examination, Prosecutor Daniel G. Padden called into question why Whatley agreed to play any role in the robbery, especially when it became apparent that a violent outcome was likely.
Whatley’s testimony in his own defense followed three days of damning testimony from four of his co-defendants, all of whom entered negotiated guilty pleas earlier this year in exchange for a lighter sentence. Twenty-one-year-old Elgin Mitchell of Zanesville was sentenced to 11 years, 22-year-old Tyler Burrell of Zanesville was given 15 years, 23-year-old Megan Blanchard of Cambridge received 10 years and 20-year-old Anjomo "Boomer" Churchill of Zanesville was sentenced to 6 years behind bars.
The courtroom was packed on Tuesday, as 10 people took the stand, including neighbors, family members, and three people already sentenced in connection with the deaths of Christopher Morrison and Justain Nelson. A coroner's testimony was accompanied by a graphic representation of the wounds the victims suffered. Stark County Coroner Frank Miller relayed the contents of the victims' autopsy reports, while Prosecutor Padden showed images of the four or five gunshot wounds each received. Coroner Miller said that it appeared Morrison tried to walk away from the scene of the shooting, but only made it a few feet before collapsing.
On Wednesday, jurors were presented with one of the suspected murder weapons in the case. The gun, recovered by the Guernsey County Sheriff's Office, was found just 100 feet from the scene of shooting near Coventry Estates. Agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation also detailed evidence recovered from Morrison's apartment shortly after the shooting. Jurors also heard from Anjomo "Boomer" Churchill, who was previously convicted for his role in the case. Whatley was among several people Churchill said he drove to Morrison's apartment on the night of the shooting. When asked if he knew beforehand about a robbery plan, Churchill answered, "Yeah."
Thursday’s testimony centered around video-taped interviews with Whatley himself, taken during an investigation by the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office. Detective Sgt. Sam Williams echoed what jurors saw for themselves on the tape: that Whatley adamantly denied an involvement in the robbery or the murders.
Following Whatley’s contradictory testimony on Friday, the prosecution and defense presented closing arguments the case. Prosecutor Padden did not mince words when he spoke of Whatley’s role in the crime.
“This robbery went horribly, horribly wrong. And the defendants and his accomplices shot and killed not only Mr. Morrison, but Justain Nelson as he was running for his life out the back door.”
Defense attorney Blakeslee, on the other hand, told jurors that Whatley’s co-defendants - all Guernsey or Muskingum County residents - conspired to cover up their guilt in the crime, and placed the blame squarely on the “odd man out” from another part of the state.
“There is no fingerprint evidence that puts the semi-automatic handgun in my client’s hand. There’s no gun-shot residue that puts a handgun, a semi-automatic handgun in my client’s hand. There’s no DNA that puts a semi-automatic handgun in my client’s hand.”
Judge David A. Ellwood dismissed the jury to its deliberations late in the afternoon, charging them to weigh the evidence and testimony presented over the past five days - and come to an impartial decision based on the rule of reasonable doubt.
Prosecutor Daniel G. Padden commented on the verdict, handed down just after 5:00 p.m. on Friday: “Obviously, we’re pleased with the jury’s verdict. This was a – is, has been a very long investigation. We believe that the evidence established that Mr. Whatley was, in fact, one of the shooters involved in this case. And, I’m very pleased with the jury’s decision.”
Padden added that Whatley would be sentenced in approximately 45 days. The final remaining suspect in the double homicide investigation, Deondre Crosby, goes on trial in the fall.
