BY KRISTEN DELGUZZI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Rayshawn Johnson showed little reaction to his sentence.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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A jury recommended late Thursday that Rayshawn Johnson be put to death for killing Shanon Marks with a baseball bat.
Mr. Johnson, 20, showed little emotion when the jury announced its recommendation at 9:50 p.m., instead looking at his family members, who began to sob loudly.
The final decision on whether Mr. Johnson will be put to death now rests with Judge Robert Ruehlman of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. He is expected to rule at a hearing June 1.
If Mr. Johnson receives a death sentence, an appeal would be automatic.
"How could he get a fair trial?" complained Marian Faulkner, Mr. Johnson's grandmother, noting heavy media coverage of the case and the fact that he had an all-white jury. Mr. Johnson is an African-American.
Defense attorney Peter Pandilidis said he had hoped for a better outcome, but said as the deliberations went on, he began to fear the jury would recommend the death penalty.
Mrs. Marks' family left the courthouse without comment.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said he would wait until the June 1 hearing before commenting.
Shanon Marks
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Mr. Johnson was barely a teen-ager when a juvenile court worker summed up his life in a written file: "He's a little bit on the cocky side. Has no conscience."
Years later, those words still ring true.
During the final day of testimony in his capital murder trial, Mr. Johnson's attorneys attempted to save his life by casting him in a light more sympathetic than that of a bat-wielding murderer. But much of the testimony from his grandmother, one-time foster mother and a psychiatrist only reinforced the image of Mr. Johnson as a selfish, self-centered criminal.
"He thought pretty highly of himself, and he thought he could probably do and get out of most anything," said Dr. James Hawkins, who evaluated Mr. Johnson for the trial. "I think his self-image is probably based on how well he cons the world."
Mr. Johnson was convicted Monday of five felonies, including aggravated murder, for the Nov. 12 beating death of Mrs. Marks, 29. She was getting ready for work when Mr. Johnson attacked her in the bathroom of her East Walnut Hills home, which he could see from his neighboring house.
Jurors considered Thursday whether to recommend a sentence of death or a lengthy prison term. They deliberated just under eight hours.
During testimony Thursday, jurors heard about Mr. Johnson's drug-addicted parents, the grandmother who raised him, and a criminal past that started when he stole a Nintendo game from a neighbor. Mr. Johnson spoke to jurors in an unsworn statement, meaning he was not under oath and was not subject to questioning -- either from his own attorneys or from prosecutors.
During his rambling statement, Mr. Johnson looked directly at the man he thought was Mrs. Marks' husband, Norman (it actually was his brother), and apologized.
"I'm sorry for what happened that day, and if I could bring her back, I would," he said. "If that day was today, I never would have went over there in the first place."
He also talked about his life, saying he slapped away every extended hand because those offering help did not understand him. Instead of applying himself in school or counseling or juvenile jail, he began doing drugs and associating with "what people call gangs but I call friends."
"Trouble just seems to follow me everywhere I go and everywhere I turn," he said.
He told jurors he does not think of himself as a killer. "I ain't a murderer," he said. "I may be a drug addict or whatever else, but I'm not a murderer. That ain't me. . . . Things just went wrong."
Though Mr. Johnson apologized, he did not exude regret. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said Mr. Johnson's statement was delivered with a "totally flat affectation and (failed) to demonstrate any remorse at all."
Dr. Hawkins said a lack of remorse is typical of someone with an antisocial or sociopathic personality.
"He didn't seem to have much regret about anything he'd done in the past, and I suspect he doesn't about this, either," Dr. Hawkins said.
