“Everybody’s bodies.”
That’s what prosecutors say Eric Hendon was overheard saying shortly before he went to a Barberton home on New Year’s Eve 2013 to rob a man of marijuana and money — and ended up shooting the man and two teens.
Assistant Prosecutor Dan Sallerson pointed to this statement in his closing argument in Hendon’s triple-murder trial Wednesday as evidence that Hendon went to the home intending to rob — and potentially kill — the occupants.
“What does that mean?” Sallerson asked of Hendon’s statement. “People are going to die. What happened here? People died — exactly what Eric Hendon claimed he intended to do.”
Defense attorneys, however, countered that the state failed to prove its capital-murder case against Hendon. They questioned the reliability of the testimony of the surviving victim and pointed to a lack of forensic evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, to tie Hendon to the crime scene.
“This case is full of reasonable doubt,” said Don Malarcik, one of Hendon’s two attorneys.
A Summit County Common Pleas Court jury now will decide Hendon’s guilt or innocence. The jury of seven men and five women began deliberations Wednesday afternoon. The jury is sequestered until a verdict is reached.
Hendon, 33, was indicted on 13 charges in the Dec. 31, 2013, shooting deaths of John Kohler, 42; his son, David Carpenter-Kohler, 14; and David’s sister, Ashley Carpenter, 18; and the attempted murder of Ronda Blankenship, Kohler’s girlfriend, who was shot and stabbed in the face but survived. The shootings happened during a home-invasion robbery for a small amount of drugs and money at Kohler’s Barberton home.
The charges against Hendon include several counts of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, as well as attempted murder. He faces the death penalty.
Michael Hendon, 24, Eric’s younger brother, was convicted in August of complicity to commit aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors and police say Eric Hendon, and not his brother, was the shooter. Blankenship has consistently identified the shooter as the taller of the two men, which would be Eric. Defense attorneys, though, have questioned Blankenship’s ability to correctly remember what happened and have pointed to a journal entry in which she identified Michael as the shooter.
Blankenship, who lost an eye in the assault and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said during her emotional testimony last week that she mixed up the names. She said the taller of the brothers was the one “doing all the yelling and screaming and shooting.”
Sallerson told the jury during his closing argument that Blankenship’s testimony isn’t the only evidence in the case. He pointed to data from the GPS ankle device Hendon was wearing that gave multiple readings that placed Hendon in Kohler’s house, including in the middle of the home when Blankenship was shot in the face.
“These points pile up and show that he was inside that house,” Sallerson said.
Sallerson also pointed to the statement Hendon made before the shootings that was overheard by another man at an East Huston Street home. He said Hendon possessed marijuana and coins stolen from Kohler’s home when he returned to the Huston Street house after the shootings.
“Eric Hendon was responsible for everything that happened that night,” Sallerson said. “It was all him. He was in charge.”
Hendon’s attorneys, who put on their defense in one day, called three experts — one who questioned the reliability of GPS data and two others who raised the issue of whether the medications Blankenship received after her injury and the reports she read on media and social media may have colored her recollection of the incident.
In his closing argument, Malarcik said investigators removed 80 samples from Kohler’s home and took multiple items from Eric Hendon. He said nothing was found — DNA, blood, footprints or other evidence — to tie Hendon to the crime scene.
Malarcik also said Blankenship was unable a week after the incident to pick Eric Hendon out of a photo array.
“If that’s not reasonable doubt, I’m not sure what is,” he said.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.