James Were Ohio Prison Murder

James Were was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a prison murder

According to court documents during the Lucasville Prison Riots James Were would participate in the murder of prison officer Robert Vallandingham

James Were would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

James Were Photos

james were ohio

James Were Now

Number
A173245
DOB
01/20/1957
Gender
Male
Race
Black
Admission Date
04/15/1983
Institution
Ohio State Penitentiary
Status
INCARCERATED

James Were Case

¶ 6}As the takeover began, a group of masked inmates entered the L-1 cellblock where Vallandingham was stationed. Vallandingham had locked himself into the officer’s bathroom near the front of the L-1 cellblock. Several inmates turned over a metal desk and started banging that desk against the bathroom door. Inmate Steve Macko identified Were as one of the inmates near the bathroom at this time. Eventually, Vallandingham was removed from the bathroom. {¶ 7}Were, Sanders, and Reggie Williams, another Muslim gang member, then took Vallandingham down the corridor to the L-6 cellblock. Vallandingham was put into the L-6 shower where his hands were cuffed behind his back and a sheet was placed over his head. Vallandingham was later moved to a cell in the L-6 cellblock. {¶ 8}Organized negotiations between the authorities and the inmates began on the second day of the riot. Additionally, on the second day, the Ohio State Highway Patrol (“OSP”) installed listening devices in the large tunnels underneath L-Block. Shortly thereafter, the FBI supplied more sophisticated listening devices, which were placed in crevices at ten locations underneath L-Block. Authorities then listened and recorded inmate conversations, referred to as the “tunnel tapes,” during the duration of the riot. A total of 591 “tunnel tapes” were created. Also, on the second day of the riot, the water and power were turned off inside L-Block. {¶ 9}On April 14, the public information officer for the Department of Corrections responded to media questions about inmate threats. She stated that there had been threats and that they were a standard part of the negotiations. The inmates, who were following the news on battery-operated televisions and radios, were upset by these comments and felt that the authorities were not taking them seriously. {¶ 10}During a meeting on April 15 that was recorded on tunnel tape 61, Were and other inmate leaders discussed killing one of the hostages to show the authorities that they meant business. Were, who described himself as a hardliner, urged others to take a firmer stand during the negotiations. Were said that the water and power must be turned back on. He continued, “We give [the authorities] a certain time * * *. If it’s not on in a certain time, that’s when a body goes out.” Were also said, “[F]rom this point on we’re turning it over to the hardliners.” {¶ 11}Before the April 15 meeting concluded, Were and the other inmate leaders voted to kill a corrections officer if their demands were not met. The Muslim inmates decided that Vallandingham would be killed because he had seen them kill another inmate at the beginning of the riot. After the meeting, Were stated, “I’ll do it, I’ll do it, I’ll take care of it. The hardliners is taking over. I’ll take care of it.” {¶ 12}Around 9:00 a.m. on April 15, Skatzes had a telephone conversation with state negotiators. Skatzes said, “I cannot stress to you * * *. If

you don’t turn it on, it’s a guaranteed murder. * * * That’s the end of it. Do your thing at 10:30 or a dead man’s out there.” The inmates’ demands were not met. {¶ 13}During the riot, inmate Thomas Taylor was locked in a cell in the L-6 cellblock. On the morning of April 15, Taylor saw Were and another inmate remove Vallandingham from his cell and take him to the end of the L-6 cellblock. Around the same time, inmate Sherman Sims walked past the L-6 shower area. Were was standing at the shower door and looking into the shower. Were noticed Sims and asked what he was doing there. While this exchange took place, Sims looked into the shower and saw a man with something over his head being strangled with a rope by two people. He also saw one of them “putting a bar to [the man’s] throat.” {¶ 14}Were told Sims that he would have to help carry the body out of the prison. Were directed the inmates to wrap the body in sheets. At 11:10 a.m. on April 15, Sims and three other masked inmates carried Vallandingham’s body from the prison and into the recreation yard. {¶ 15}After the body was taken into the yard, Reginald Williams, a Muslim inmate, saw Were talking to Cummings while Cummings was on the phone with the state’s negotiator. Were said, “You can come get your boy * * * he’s out there, and you didn’t take us serious. And from this point on, * * * you’ll take us serious.” {¶ 16}At 12:10 p.m. on April 15, a SWAT team recovered Vallandingham’s body from the recreation yard. {¶ 17}On April 17, Were and other inmate leaders had a meeting to discuss the progress of negotiations. This meeting was recorded on tunnel tape 32. Were argued that the hardliners should control the negotiations. During the meeting, Were said, “If everybody can recall when we first started to see improvement in here, when we sent an officer out there, that is when we started to get to see some improvement. * * * When that officer went out there, that body went out there, that is when they began to see that we is serious, because all along they said that we are not serious * * * .” {¶ 18}Were continued, “I am putting it just like this * * * if we have to throw another body, it will let people know the hardliners will put their foot down * * *. I don’t give a damn you understand if some of the hostages die slow, or die at all, if I have to die, or we have to die, so I feel then if I cut off a man’s fingers, I will cut the man’s hand off and go out there and say now, I am going to let you know we ain’t interested in killing your hostages, they’ll die slow, since you all want to play games. We is for real about what we is about, man.” {¶ 19}A short time later, Were said, “[T]hey only respect firmness. * * * I don’t give a damn if it has to be on national TV, for them to see me personally, cut one of them dudes hands off and give it to them and spit it out of my mouth for them to know how serious I am about what we believe in. I don’t care nothing about no electric chair, I don’t care nothing about no other case * * * we got what they want and they got what we want.” {¶ 20}The riot ended on April 21, 2003, when the remaining hostages were released. Investigators then began interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence from inside the prison. No useful physical evidence linking any person to Vallandingham’s murder was ever recovered.

https://law.justia.com/cases/ohio/supreme-court-of-ohio/2008/2008-ohio-2762.html

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John Stojetz Ohio Prison Murder

John Stojetz was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a prison murder

According to court documents John Stojetz would stab to death seventeen year old Damico Watkins inside of Madison Correctional Institution. Authorities believe that the murder was race related

John Stojetz would be convicted and sentenced to death

John Stojetz Photos

John Stojetz ohio

John Stojetz Now

Number
A255365
DOB
02/13/1956
Gender
Male
Race
White
Admission Date
03/16/1992
Institution
Chillicothe Correctional Institution
Status
INCARCERATED

John Stojetz Case

The Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled an execution nearly five years in the future for a man convicted of a 1996 killing.

Death row inmate John Stojetz (STOH’-yets), who is white, was convicted of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Damico Watkins, who was black, at Madison Correctional Institution on April 25, 1996, in what authorities called a race-related slaying.

Madison County Prosecutor Stephen Pronai (proh-NEYE’) argued Stojetz has exhausted all his legal options and is also not part of a bigger lawsuit challenging Ohio’s lethal injection method.

Defense attorney Michael Benza has said that setting a date now serves no purpose for the criminal justice system, the families involved or Stojetz.

The Supreme Court on Friday set an execution date of March 14, 2024.

https://apnews.com/article/c69152804244420784945ce8265ed5f3

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George Skatzes Ohio Prison Murders

George Skatzes was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for three prison murders

According to court documents during the Lucasville Riots George Skatzes would murder a prison guard and two inmates

George Skatzes would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

George Skatzes Photos

George Skatzes ohio

George Skatzes Now

Number
A173501
DOB
03/29/1946
Gender
Male
Race
White
Admission Date
05/02/1983
Institution
Chillicothe Correctional Institution
Status
INCARCERATED

George Skatzes Case

he state’s evidence established the following. The riot was planned by the prison’s primary gangs: the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist group, the Muslims, who were mostly black, and the Black Gangster Disciples, who focused on making money rather than on any philosophical viewpoint. It was unusual for these groups to work together. The Muslims were upset on religious grounds by mandatory tuberculosis testing scheduled to begin on Monday, April 12, 1993, and the Aryan Brotherhood was upset by racial integration in inmate housing.

{¶ 4} On April 11, 1993, Easter Sunday, the riot began in L-block at approximately 3:00 p.m. as inmates from one or two cell blocks were returning from the recreation yard. The prison was short-staffed that day because of the holiday. The inmates overpowered the corrections officers in the gymnasium and in the central corridor, beat them, and took their keys. Within a relatively short period of time, the various cell blocks and individual cells throughout L-block were unlocked, and the inmates were released into the common areas. The corrections officers who had been staffing the cell blocks fled to the locked restrooms and stairwells for safety pursuant to prison policy, but inmates broke through metal doors and cinder block walls using weight bars and furniture and took them hostage. The corrections officers were beaten, some seriously, then were gathered in designated areas and changed into inmate clothing. Meanwhile, the gangs positioned inmate guards at the door to the recreation yard to prohibit inmates from leaving L-block. Over four hundred inmates remained inside L-block for the duration of the riot.

{¶ 5} The initial hours of the riot were characterized by chaos, random destruction of prison property, and violence against inmates who were believed to be “snitches” or against whom others had personal vendettas. However, the leaders of the three gangs worked together and organization began to emerge. The most seriously injured corrections officers were released onto the recreation yard, and the bodies of several murdered inmates, including Earl Elder, were deposited there as well. Gang members armed themselves with a wide variety of makeshift weapons, established internal rules, designated security officers, and began telephone negotiations with authorities. Each gang occupied a designated area, and each held some of the hostages. Authorities cut off power and water to L-block.

{¶ 6} Skatzes and Jason Robb were the leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood during the riot. Skatzes was one of the primary negotiators with the authorities during the early days of the riot and identified himself to the authorities. Along with the other inmate negotiators, Skatzes presented a list of demands compiled by gang members and other inmates. The demands related to prison conditions generally, such as the tuberculosis testing and the racial integration, and to conditions as they existed during the course of the riot, such as the need for food drops and the inmates’ desire that water and power be restored to L-block. Officials began audio taping these telephone negotiations on April 13. They also installed microphones in tunnels that ran underneath L-block, which were able to record some of the inmates’ conversations, including some of the meetings of the gang leaders (“the tunnel tapes”).

{¶ 7} As days passed, there was some unhappiness and restlessness among the gang leaders about the lack of progress in the negotiations. These feelings were exacerbated by an April 14 television broadcast by Tess Unwin, a spokesperson for the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, which seemed to disparage the inmates’ threat to kill a hostage. During telephone negotiations on the morning of April 15, Skatzes repeated the gangs’ demand that water and power be restored to L-block, and he specified that, if the state did not comply by 10:30 a.m., “it’s a guaranteed murder.” The state did not comply, and at 11:10 a.m., the body of Corrections Officer Robert Vallandingham was placed on the recreation yard by four inmates.

{¶ 8} Later that day, the gang leaders agreed to release a hostage in exchange for making a radio broadcast regarding their demands. Skatzes made the radio broadcast on behalf of the inmates that night, and Corrections Officer Darrold Clark was released. Because many inmates and gang members were disappointed with Skatzes’ presentation of their demands in the radio broadcast, his role in the negotiations diminished after this point.

{¶ 9} After several more days of negotiation and after consulting with an attorney, the gang leaders agreed to a surrender on April 21, 1993. The surrender occurred over several hours as small groups of inmates were processed by the authorities. The gang leaders were the last inmates to surrender, and the remaining hostages were released. Some murders and attempted murders occurred during the surrender, including the murder of inmate David Sommers, whose body was found when the authorities reentered L-block. As part of their agreement with the authorities, over one hundred gang members were transferred out of Lucasville immediately upon their surrender.

{¶ 10} When the authorities entered L-block to conduct their investigation, they found vast destruction of prison property. For example, almost all of the windows, toilets, and sinks had been smashed, pipes had been exposed, and fires had been set. Because of the vast destruction, the number of inmates involved, and the elapsed time, the authorities were unable to uncover physical evidence linking crimes to particular inmates. Thus, they built cases based largely upon the testimony of other inmates. In all, fifty inmates were charged with felonies, and many more were disciplined administratively following the riot.

{¶ 11} Skatzes was indicted for the aggravated murders of Elder, Vallandingham, and Sommers and for kidnapping Elder, Vallandingham, and Clark. The evidence in support of each of these counts will be discussed infra. Each count of aggravated murder included four specifications of aggravating circumstances: that Skatzes was a prisoner at the time of the offense, that the offense was part of a course of conduct by Skatzes involving the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill two or more persons, that the offense was committed while committing kidnapping, and that he had previously been convicted of an offense involving the purposeful killing of another. Each count of kidnapping contained a specification that Skatzes had previously been convicted of an offense that was substantially equivalent to an aggravated felony of the first degree, namely aggravated murder

https://casetext.com/case/state-v-skatzes-5

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Carlos Sanders Ohio Prison Murder

Carlos Sanders was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a prison murder

According to court documents during the Lucasville Riots Carlos Sanders would murder a correctional guard 40-year-old Robert Vallandingham

Carlos Sanders would be convicted and sentenced to death

Carlos Sanders is also known as Siddique Abdullah Hasan

Carlos Sanders Photos

Carlos Sanders

Carlos Sanders Now

Number
R130559
DOB
01/04/1963
Gender
Male
Race
Black
Admission Date
08/22/1984
Institution
Ohio State Penitentiary
Status
INCARCERATED

Carlos Sanders Case

t can’t possibly be that 30 years have passed since that Easter Sunday when death and destruction took hold at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, setting off the longest prison riot in American history.

But it really happened. Those of us who were there, covering the unfolding drama for dozens of news outlets, can remember the experience as if it were yesterday.

On that Sunday in 1993, more than 400 inmates staged a bloody, violent takeover of L Block in the prison, in protest of new restrictions in the overcrowded prison.

By the time it was over 11 days later, nine prisoners — believed to be “snitches” — were killed by fellow prisoners, along with one 40-year-old prison guard, a veteran of the Vietnam war.

There were three prisoner gangs — the Black Gangster Disciples, the Black Muslims and the Aryan Brotherhood — who worked together to control L Block.

The Muslims were opposed to a tuberculosis vaccination plan that they believed would be a religious violation.

I was at the Enquirer in those days. My friend and colleague Ben L. Kaufman, who was one of the first on the scene in Lucasville, and I worked together for the duration as the de facto editors on the ground, directing a staff of 15 to 20 reporters and photographers.

It turned out to be one of the Enquirer’s finest moments in its long history.

Early on, prison officials set aside a patch of land in the northeast corner of the prison property as a media staging area. For the hundreds of journalists who shuttled in and out of Lucasville during the 11 days, it was more than a staging area — it was home.

It was where we worked, slept, ate and ran to port-a-potties, mainly because of the garbage we ate from the Lucasville sub shop.

Off-and-on rain, especially during the first week, left the “staging area” a gooey mass of mud, which seemed to envelope everything.

The Enquirer’s base of operations was photographer Michael Snyder’s old Range Rover.

We kept supplies in there; and there was enough room for two or three people to take cat naps. It was quiet enough for us to dictate stories back to Cincinnati. This was the dawn of the age of cell phones, and we had one clunky old thing that required punching in a complicated code before you get a cellular connection.

Later, the Enquirer paid for a single land line to run into Snyder’s Range Rover, making communication considerably easier.

On the second or third day — can’t remember which — the relatively new editor of the Enquirer, Larry Beaupre, wheeled into camp bearing supplies for the rapidly growing crew of reporters and photographers on the scene.

Larry, who had been part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team that covered the Attica prison riot in upstate New York, asked me what we needed.

“I need cash and lots of it,” I said. “We’ve got to feed these people, clothe these people, buy lanterns and batteries and whatever camping gear I can get my hands on.”

Beaupre reached in his pants pocket, pulled out a wad of $50 bills, and started peeling them off.

“Tell me when,” he said.

“More,” I said.

He handed me a stack of $50s that amounted to at least $500. I was satisfied. For the time being.

Almost every day, the editors back in Cincinnati threw more reporters and photographers into the fire, sending them out James A. Rhodes Appalachian Highway to join the crew at Lucasville.

They were not always prepared for what they found.

One morning, a young reporter showed up at the mud pit dressed in a white shirt, necktie and wing-tip shoes, in his Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.

“Dude, look around you,” I said. “You won’t last a day here wearing that stuff. Come on, get in my car. We’re going shopping.”

I drove him down the highway toward Portsmouth and wheeled into the Big Bear department store. We used part of Beaupre’s stash of $50s to buy him a pair of Dickies work pants, a couple of flannel shirts and some cheap boots.

I did that several times with reporters who seemed to think they were going to a prom party.

During the 11 days, there was a lot of waiting, hours of staring at the prison through binoculars, looking for signs of stirring within L Block. We worked in shifts, keeping the prison in sight 24 hours a day.

One of the most grotesque moments came after a spokeswoman for the prison dismissed the inmates’ threats to kill a guard. The inmates were enraged and strangled guard Bobby Valladingham.

The sight of the guard’s body being tossed out of a window and into the prison recreation yard was shocking.

A rumor began circulating in the town of refrigerated trucks hidden near the prison, to be used as mobile morgues should the slaughter inside L Block escalate.

It was true. The Enquirer had the story first. We found them alongside a two-lane highway that ran on the west bank of the Scioto River.

Thankfully, they were never called into action.

Meanwhile, another paper had published a story nearly every other news outlet in the mud pit was scrambling to match. The newspaper reported there were 19 bodies piled up in the prison gym.

Ben and I didn’t believe a word of that story. We had an extremely reliable source — Ed Boldt, FBI agent and press liaison during the riot, who was warning us off the story. Completely untrue, Boldt said. You have to ask yourselves this if you plan to repeat this — how foolish do you want to look when this is all over?

We had to fight off the editors back in Cincinnati, who wanted us to either match the story or quote it in our own story.

Ben and I flatly refused to do it.

You are in Cincinnati, a hundred miles away. We are here, living in this godforsaken mud pit, working around the clock, and I think we have a better handle on what’s going on here than you do.

They got the message. We did nothing. Some other Ohio papers quoted story. We did not.

And, of course, when it was over, there were no bodies stacked in the prison gym.

As it turned out, the best decision we made during the 11 days was to not report a story.

The stand-off came to an abrupt end on April 21 when prison officials agreed to 21 demands from the prisoners. The guards being held captive were released; prisoners, mostly naked, began filing out into the recreation yard.

https://news.wosu.org/2023-04-11/30-year-anniversary-lucasville-prison-riot-violence-mud-pit

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Jason Robb Ohio Prison Murder

Jason Robb was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for two prison murders

According to court documents Jason Robb was involved in the riot at SOCF (Lucasville prison riot in 1993), where he was accused of the murders of a correctional guard and an inmate

Jason Robb would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Jason Robb Photos

jason robb ohio

Jason Robb Now

Number
A308919
DOB
06/15/1967
Gender
Male
Race
White
Admission Date
04/12/1995
Institution
Ohio State Penitentiary
Status
INCARCERATED

Jason Robb Case

Beginning on January 27, 1995, defendant was tried before a jury on the seven consolidated counts. The state presented its evidence and argued its case against defendant upon a complicity theory pursuant to R.C. 2923.03. In summary, the evidence produced by the state at defendant’s trial reveals the following: SOCF is a maximum security prison located in Lucasville, Scioto County, Ohio. The prison is divided into three distinct cell blocks, designated J-block, K-block and L-block. J-block is a disciplinary block which is operated as a total lock-down facility. Blocks K and L are general housing blocks and are essentially identical.

Blocks K and L consist of a large central hallway with crash gates at one end and a large gymnasium at the other end. Two doors at the gymnasium end of the central hallway provide access to a large outdoor recreation yard. The cells in the blocks K and L are located in eight two-story “ranges” which extend laterally off the central hallway; four on each side. The ranges are designated by number and cell block; thus, the ranges in L-block are designated L-1 through L-8. Each range contains eighty cells, forty on the first floor and forty on the second floor. The second floor cells open onto a catwalk which overlooks the first floor cells.

At the front of each range, there is a door which provides access into the central hallway. These doors can only be opened from the outside. Even corrections officers within a range must be let out by another corrections officer outside of the range. Just inside the front doorway of each range, there is a console containing electric controls for opening and closing all of the cells in the range. At the back end of each range, there is an enclosed stairwell connecting the first and second floors. A key is required to open the doors into these stairwells, as they are intended to provide a safe haven for corrections officers during a disturbance.

At the time of the riot, each range within a cellblock was staffed by two corrections officers, one who operated the console, and one who patrolled the range. In addition, there were two corrections officers, known as upper and lower corridor officers, who patrolled the central hallway of each block and who had keys to the individual ranges within their block.

In the weeks prior to the riot at SOCF, a dispute arose between prison officials and Muslim inmates over the administration of tuberculosis tests. The Muslim inmates objected to the tests on religious grounds, while prison officials insisted that all inmates had to be tested. In the days immediately preceding the riot, this dispute had reached an impasse, and word reached the inmates that prison officials were planning to lock-down the prison on Monday, April 12, 1993, and forcibly administer the test to the Muslim population. In an attempt to prevent the forced administration of the tuberculosis tests, a group of Muslim inmates, lead by Carlos Sanders, decided to stage an uprising and take over a block of the prison.

On Sunday, April 11, 1993, at approximately 3:00 p.m., as inmates were re-entering L-block’s central hallway from the outdoor recreation area, Sanders and several other Muslim inmates attacked and overpowered the lower corridor officer and obtained his keys, thereby gaining access to all of the ranges within L-block. The riot rapidly spread through L-block, as the inmates used the keys to enter the ranges and release the prisoners celled therein. As the rioting inmates entered range L-1, Officer Vallandingham, who was on duty therein, locked himself in the employee rest room. However, after freeing the L-1 inmates from their cells, the rioters broke the rest room door down and took Officer Vallandingham hostage. Several corrections officers working in other L-block ranges sought shelter in the enclosed stairwells. Unfortunately, these stairwells proved to be less than secure, as the rioters were able to batter through the concrete block walls of the stairwells with weight lifting equipment and take the corrections officers hostage. Within about an hour from the start of the riot, the inmates had total control of L-block and held twelve corrections officers hostage.

The corrections officer hostages were initially held in the L-6 showers; however, they were soon dispersed throughout L-block and were frequently moved. The hostages were forced to dress in inmate clothing, were blindfolded and bound, and were kept under constant guard. The inmates guarding the hostages were under standing orders to kill the hostages if the prison was stormed by law enforcement authorities.

At the time of the riot, there were three principal inmate gangs operating inside SOCF: the Muslims, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Black Gangster Disciples. The Muslims, the largest of the principal gangs in SOCF, were led by Carlos Sanders, also known as Hassan, and had as many as fifty members in L-block during the riot. The Aryan Brotherhood, the next largest gang in SOCF, were led by defendant and George Skatzes during the riot. The Aryan Brotherhood had as many as thirty members in L-block during the riot. The Black Gangster Disciples, the smallest of the principal gangs, were led by Anthony Lavelle and had no more than twelve members in L-block during the riot.

During the riot, the leadership of the Muslims, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Black Gangster Disciples operated as a de facto governing council within L-block; collectively making all important decisions regarding inmate discipline, security, the care and treatment of the hostages, and the conduct of the negotiations with law enforcement authorities. Under the joint direction of this leadership group, the rank and file of the three gangs worked in close cooperation during the riot to maintain order, enforce discipline, and provide security within L-block.

Around 6:00 p.m. on the evening of the takeover, the inmates used the prison telephone system to contact the negotiation team which the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (“ODRC”) had assembled at the prison. During the first several days of the riot, Aryan Brotherhood leader George Skatzes served as the inmates’ chief negotiator.

https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/state-v-jason-robb-890576216

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