OH OH - Richard Beasley & Brogan Rafferty, 3 Craigslist killings, Noble County, 2011

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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_...ichard-beasley-facing-trial-in-ohio-killings/

Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of the alleged mastermind of a deadly plot that killed three men and left one man wounded after they were lured with phony job offers on Craigslist.

Nine uniformed deputies watched as more than 200 prospective jurors gathered for the murder trial of 53-year-old Richard Beasley. They entered the lobby of the Akron Civic Theater because there was no courthouse room big enough.

Judge Lynne Callahan said jury selection could extend into next week and the trial could last six weeks. She expects opening statements on Feb. 27. Beasley waived his right to be present during the selection. He has pleaded not guilty to a 27-count indictment.

The jury will be sequestered, fyi.
 
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/craigslist-killings-trial-begins-1.376328


Richard Beasley is no saint. He’s also not a triple murderer, his attorney told a jury Monday.

The opening remarks by defense attorney James Burdon reflected the first public defense of Beasley, the self-proclaimed Akron minister and purported mastermind of the 2011 Craigslist killings.

Burdon urged a newly seated Summit County jury to reserve judgment on Beasley and consider the lack of direct evidence linking the 53-year-old to any of the three killings of men who answered the Internet ad for a bogus farmhand job in rural southeast Ohio.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, countered that Beasley is merely a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who preyed on down-on-their-luck men in need of work.

One of those victims is the state’s key witness, Scott Davis, a Stark County resident who answered the help-wanted ad and wound up being shot while visiting the rural site in November 2011.

It was only after Davis survived being shot that authorities learned of three other men who were killed after responding to a similar ad. The investigation led to the arrest of Beasley and his co-defendant, Stow teenager Brogan Rafferty.

Burdon, however, told jurors that Davis wasn’t targeted for murder. He implied instead that Beasley may have acted in self-defense during a “violent encounter” with Davis.

It was Davis’ identity of Beasley, along with computer and cellphone records linking Beasley to the ad, that led authorities to arrest the one-time street minister. Burdon said law enforcement followed the wrong path.

“He is not a saint. He has done a lot of things wrong in his life,” Burdon said of his client.

However, he said, Davis is accusing Beasley “of something he did not do.”

Among Beasley’s wrongdoings, Burdon said, was befriending members of two area motorcycle clubs with a reputation for violence. One of those friends, Burdon said, owns property near the site of the Davis shooting and the shallow graves of two other men.

Burdon did not accuse the bikers or anyone of the killings. He did, however, imply that Beasley’s personal links to the clubs might have led prosecutors to the wrong conclusion.

Defendant in wheelchair

Burdon also referred to Beasley’s physical health and the 2006 work-related crash that led to his deteriorating physical condition. Beasley, as he has since his arrest, appeared in court seated in a wheelchair.

Defense attorneys are expected to suggest that Beasley was too fragile to kill three men and bury them in shallow graves.

“He’s not an invalid,” Burdon said. “It’s very clear, however, that he is badly impaired.”


Last year, prosecutors convicted Rafferty, 17, for his role in the shootings and Callahan sentenced him to life in prison without parole.




During his own trial, Rafferty said he helped Beasley, a family friend, bury the men out of fear of the self-proclaimed religious man, who volunteered for a local church and acted as a minister for recovering addicts and prostitutes.
 
http://www.ohio.com/news/survivor-o...tand-identifies-beasley-as-assailant-1.376670

The lone survivor of the 2011 Craigslist shootings distinctly remembered hearing a click, then “a curse word.”

Scott William Davis, who grew up in Massillon, told a Summit County jury how he managed to escape on “a sunshiny morning,” Nov. 6, 2011, after being shot once in the right elbow by a man he knew then as “Jack.”

Davis identified that man from the witness stand Tuesday morning, stepping down from his seat because his view at the defense table was obstructed.

“That’s him right there,” Davis said once he could see.

He was pointing at the defendant, Richard James Beasley, 53.

Beasley is facing the death penalty for aggravated murder in the slayings of three men and his role in allegedly attempting to kill Davis.
 
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/sist...onging-to-craigslist-shooting-victim-1.377090

Pauley, of Norfolk, Va., was 51 when he was shot to death the morning of Oct. 23, 2011, in southern Ohio. Authorities have verified he was the second victim who answered a bogus ad promoting a nonexistent job on land in Noble County.

Bruce, of West Bath, Maine, told the jury she last talked to her brother the previous night. He had stopped in his pickup truck at a Red Roof Inn in Parkersburg, W.Va., on the way to what he thought would be his ideal job as caretaker of a large cattle farm.
 
From Your Link, Joe:

joe jones said:
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/lo...ms-read-in-court-during-richard-beasley-trial

letters written by victims read in court
Click to expand...

Daniel Dewitt said he was offered the job and the next day Beasley came to his home. Dewitt explained to the jurors that he grew suspicious because Beasley seemed interested in his vehicles.

"I said there's a lot of stuff that goes on, on craigslist, and I'm thinking, 'What if somebody is trying to get my vehicles and come down there, and then when I get down there, shoot me?"

Dewitt said he later got an e-mail that explained he no longer had the job.

David LeBland and George Brown both testified they met with a man at Chapel Hill Mall in Akron to discuss the job posting. Both identified Beasley as the man who interviewed them.

Brown said Beasley seemed to lose interest in him after he explained that he was a former security officer and knows martial arts.
- See more at: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/lo...ng-richard-beasley-trial#sthash.hguihANI.dpuf
 
Beasley testifies.

http://fox8.com/2013/03/06/accused-craigslist-killer-beasley-takes-the-stand/

“He knew I was a rat and an informant, somebody who either is a snitch or is going to be a snitch and you have to take the weak link out of the chain,” said Beasley.

Beasley testified that he was cooperating with authorities, providing information about the activities of the motorcycle clubs.

He also testified that he was using a prostitute as a source of information for other kinds of criminal activity.

When asked what kind of information he was providing, Beasley said:

“Some of it was routine, some of it of no value, I just told them what I saw and heard.”

Beasley testified that he was the one who was the intended murder victim.
 
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