Post by CCADP on Oct 27, 2005 4:51:22 GMT -5
Another death sentence in Tovrea murder case
17 years ago, a wealthy socialite was shot to death in her Paradise Valley
home.
On Wednesday, the man convicted of her execution-style murder was
sentenced to death in Maricopa County Superior Court for the 2nd time.
James Cornell Harrod had already spent 5 years on death row for killing
Jeanne Tovrea, the widow of a war-hero, cattle baron from a pioneer
Arizona family. But his case was sent back to Superior Court for
resentencing after a 2002 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court changed the way
death penalties are imposed.
"This was a contract killing. It was a hit for money," prosecutor Paul
Ahler, who first tried the case in 1997, said during his closing arguments
Tuesday.
But the person or persons police and prosecutors believe hired Harrod to
do the killing were never charged.
"There have been no consequences to the others," said defense attorney
Lynn Burns. "They walk free.
Harrod, who goes by the nickname of Butch, was 34 when he committed the
crime and 41 when he was arrested. Now 51, his red hair has gone gray and
has grown long enough to pull back into wavy ponytail.
"I have always said I'm innocent," he declared on Tuesday.
Jeanne Tovrea was found dead in her home April 1, 1988, by police
responding to a burglar alarm. She'd been shot 5 times in the head and
police speculated that she had surprised a burglar who had somehow
circumvented her sophisticated alarm system.
The case remained unsolved until it was featured on the television program
"Unsolved Mysteries" in 1992. According to court records and news accounts
of the time, Harrod's own relatives identified Harrod's voice from a tape
recording played on the show, supposedly that of a man posing as a
magazine writer seeking an interview with Tovrea.
Harrod was arrested in 1995 after his fingerprints were matched to the
scene. Investigators found that Harrod had made numerous calls to Tovrea's
stepson, Edward "Hap" Tovrea, Jr., and learned that Hap Tovrea had paid
Harrod more than $35,000, money they believed was partial payment for the
murder.
Hap Tovrea was never charged in the murder.
Harrod was convicted of first-degree murder in 1997; his own wife
testified against him during the trial. Judge Ronald Reinstein sentenced
him to death and the conviction was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court in
2001.
But in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling on another Arizona murder
case, said that juries and not judges had to determine if there were
aggravating factors in a case that called for the death penalty. Harrod's
case, along with nearly 30 other death penalty cases, was re-examined, and
like many, was sent back to Superior Court for re-sentencing by new
juries.
Harrod's re-sentencing trial lasted seven weeks in Judge Brian Hauser's
courtroom. Only one "aggravating factor" is required in a case to justify
the death penalty, and that's all the jury found: that Harrod had murdered
for money. Then, after several days of considering mitigating evidence
that might outweigh the aggravator, the jury deliberated for less than a
day and returned with the verdict of death.
(source: Arizona Republic)
17 years ago, a wealthy socialite was shot to death in her Paradise Valley
home.
On Wednesday, the man convicted of her execution-style murder was
sentenced to death in Maricopa County Superior Court for the 2nd time.
James Cornell Harrod had already spent 5 years on death row for killing
Jeanne Tovrea, the widow of a war-hero, cattle baron from a pioneer
Arizona family. But his case was sent back to Superior Court for
resentencing after a 2002 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court changed the way
death penalties are imposed.
"This was a contract killing. It was a hit for money," prosecutor Paul
Ahler, who first tried the case in 1997, said during his closing arguments
Tuesday.
But the person or persons police and prosecutors believe hired Harrod to
do the killing were never charged.
"There have been no consequences to the others," said defense attorney
Lynn Burns. "They walk free.
Harrod, who goes by the nickname of Butch, was 34 when he committed the
crime and 41 when he was arrested. Now 51, his red hair has gone gray and
has grown long enough to pull back into wavy ponytail.
"I have always said I'm innocent," he declared on Tuesday.
Jeanne Tovrea was found dead in her home April 1, 1988, by police
responding to a burglar alarm. She'd been shot 5 times in the head and
police speculated that she had surprised a burglar who had somehow
circumvented her sophisticated alarm system.
The case remained unsolved until it was featured on the television program
"Unsolved Mysteries" in 1992. According to court records and news accounts
of the time, Harrod's own relatives identified Harrod's voice from a tape
recording played on the show, supposedly that of a man posing as a
magazine writer seeking an interview with Tovrea.
Harrod was arrested in 1995 after his fingerprints were matched to the
scene. Investigators found that Harrod had made numerous calls to Tovrea's
stepson, Edward "Hap" Tovrea, Jr., and learned that Hap Tovrea had paid
Harrod more than $35,000, money they believed was partial payment for the
murder.
Hap Tovrea was never charged in the murder.
Harrod was convicted of first-degree murder in 1997; his own wife
testified against him during the trial. Judge Ronald Reinstein sentenced
him to death and the conviction was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court in
2001.
But in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling on another Arizona murder
case, said that juries and not judges had to determine if there were
aggravating factors in a case that called for the death penalty. Harrod's
case, along with nearly 30 other death penalty cases, was re-examined, and
like many, was sent back to Superior Court for re-sentencing by new
juries.
Harrod's re-sentencing trial lasted seven weeks in Judge Brian Hauser's
courtroom. Only one "aggravating factor" is required in a case to justify
the death penalty, and that's all the jury found: that Harrod had murdered
for money. Then, after several days of considering mitigating evidence
that might outweigh the aggravator, the jury deliberated for less than a
day and returned with the verdict of death.
(source: Arizona Republic)