John Stumpf was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of Mary Jane Stoudt during a robbery
According to court documents John Stumpf would force his way into a home where he would fatally shoot Mary Jane Stoudt and injure her husband during the robbery attempt in 1984
John Stumpf would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Stumpf Now
Number A181258
DOB 09/16/1960
Gender Male Race White
Admission Date 09/28/1984
Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution
Status INCARCERATED
John Stumpf Case
Thirty-six years after taking the life of Mary Jane Stoudt during a botched robbery attempt at her New Concord area home, John David Stumpf, 59, lives on Ohio’s death row.
And now, he will live on for at least another year.
Twice scheduled to die in 2018 and later this year, Stumpf once again received a reprieve on his death sentence Friday while Ohio continues to search for an adequate supply of drugs for lethal injections. Stumpf’s new execution date is Sept. 15, 2021, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
When asked what it was going to take to finally get justice for his late wife, Norman Stoudt, who was also shot by Stumpf and left for dead, believes it’s as simple as following the law.
“The judges and lawyers are bound to uphold the law, and the law is if you kill someone, you pay for it,” Stoudt said. “It’s going to take the justice division taking responsibility and getting it out of the hands of the politicians to execute these people. It has been 36 years and millions of tax payer dollars to keep this piece of crap (in prison).”
Stoudt, who turns 90 in a few months, has vowed to stay alive to see his wife’s killer executed.
“They have just about succeeded in keeping him alive longer than me,” Stoudt said. “Her parents and parents-in-law have all died without seeing any justice. Her older brother with whom she was close, also died without seeing justice. A lot of things need to change.”
The Associated Press reported Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine delayed three executions including Stumpf’s April 16 date on Friday due to the state’s inability to obtain lethal injection drugs from pharmaceutical companies.
The warrants of reprieve by DeWine also delayed the execution of Gregory Lott until May 27, 2021, and Warren “Keith” Henness until Jan. 12, 2022. Lott and Henness were previously scheduled to die this year in March and May, respectively.
The AP reported DeWine has said for months that he is concerned that drug companies — which oppose the use of their drugs in executions — could pull pharmaceuticals from state hospitals to punish Ohio if the state secures their drugs and uses them for lethal injections.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction previously rescheduled Stumpf’s execution date to this year following challenges to the state’s three-drug method.
Stumpf was scheduled to die on Nov. 14, 2018, for shooting and killing Stoudt on May 14, 1984. That execution date had been rescheduled from Jan. 3, 2018, due to the then challenges to the lethal injection process.
The death sentence for Stumpf was handed down by a three-judge panel during a hearing on Sept. 24, 1984, in the Guernsey County Common Pleas Court.
Stumpf shot Stoudt during the botched robbery attempt at the home she shared with her husband, Norman, who was also shot by Stumpf. Mary Jane was shot three times and died at the home while Norman survived.
The three-judge panel also convicted Stumpf of attempted aggravated murder for shooting Norman Stoudt.
In rendering its decision to sentence him to death, the three-judge panel stated the only reason Stumpf shot the Stoudts was to avoid arrest. John Stumpf later disputed his role in the slaying, and his attorneys fought the conviction throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2004, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Stump’s conviction and death sentence based on an involuntary guilty plea and inconsistent prosecution theories. But, the U.S. Supreme Court later reversed the decision by the circuit court.
In 2013, the circuit court denied an appeal that would have repealed the death sentence, and the execution order for Stumpf was initially issued for January 2018.
John Stumpf is one of the longest serving inmates on Ohio’s death row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution.
The ODRC website lists six inmates who still have execution dates scheduled in 2020.
As for John Stumpf’s co-defendants from that fateful May day in 1984, Clyde D. Wesley, 60, is serving a 35-years-to-life sentence at the Marion Correctional Institution; and Norman Edmonds, the alleged getaway driver, served approximately 10 years before his release.
John Stumpf has maintained Wesley shot Mary Jane Stoudt, but acknowledged he shot Norman Stoudt. Wesley was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and two counts of petty theft.
The next parole hearing for Wesley is scheduled for February 2027.
Other local killers on Ohio’s death row include Marvin Johnson, 53, of Guernsey County, and Frederick A. Mundt, 45, of Noble County. Johnson arrived on death row on June 4, 2004, while Mundt arrived that same year on Dec. 17.