Eric Hendon’s triple-murder trial may go forward next week, despite several outstanding issues, including whether the surviving victim will be permitted to testify.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones hasn’t yet ruled on the defense attorneys’ request for sanctions against prosecutors, which include forbidding Ronda Blankenship from taking the stand. Blankenship was shot in the face and stabbed in the New Year’s Eve 2013 incident that left her boyfriend and two teenage children dead.
When the subject of a potential postponement was broached during a hearing Tuesday, Corrigall Jones made it clear she wants the trial to begin as scheduled Wednesday.
“I’m not inclined to delay this trial,” the judge said.
Defense attorneys argue sanctions are warranted against prosecutors for withholding evidence in the case and failing to cooperate. Other suggested sanctions were the dismissal of the charges or the removal of the death-penalty specification.
Prosecutors say they have cooperated and that the sanctions request should be dismissed.
Eric Hendon and his younger brother, Michael, were charged in the New Year’s Eve 2013 shooting spree at the Barberton home of 42-year-old John Kohler, Blankenship’s boyfriend. Kohler, his stepdaughter, Ashley Carpenter, 18, and her brother, David Carpenter-Kohler, 14, died of gunshot wounds to the head during a home invasion for a stash of marijuana and drug money. Blankenship was stabbed in the cheek and shot in the head, losing her left eye.
Michael Hendon was convicted of multiple counts of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison with no parole.
Blankenship was a key witness in Michael Hendon’s trial, testifying that Eric Hendon was the principal offender. However, an entry in Blankenship’s diary that surfaced in October showed she identified Michael Hendon as the family’s attacker. Prosecutors say she simply mixed up the names but has been consistent in her physical descriptions of her attackers.
The journal entry led defense attorneys to seek Blankenship’s medical and psychological records, any electronic devices she used to communicate about the case and her email and social-media passwords.
Concerned about the personal information being requested, Blankenship contacted the Justice League, a nonprofit organization based in Columbus that provides legal help to crime victims in criminal proceedings. (The league recently changed its name to the Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center.)
Elizabeth Well, an attorney with the group, filed an appeal with the Ninth District Court of Appeals challenging Corrigall Jones’ initial order for Blankenship’s personal items.
Corrigall Jones and Well engaged in a spirited exchange Tuesday about whether this appeal is still necessary, in light of how Blankenship has provided all of the requested information to the court.
“That issue is moot,” the judge said.
Wells said the mechanism used to request the information — by court order, rather than subpoena — didn’t give her the opportunity to argue in court that the information should be protected because of Blankenship’s privacy rights.
“This simply was not done properly,” Well said. “My client should have the chance to respond to the subpoena.”
Corrigall Jones said she did an in-camera review of the forensic images of Blankenship’s cellphone and laptop and found no evidence of Blankenship commenting on the case beyond what the attorneys already have seen or heard Blankenship say during a hearing in October. She said the images won’t be provided to the attorneys.
Don Malarcik, one of Hendon’s attorneys, asked the judge to hold a hearing so the attorneys can question Blankenship about whether these are the only devices she used to communicate about the case and if information was deleted from them.
Corrigall Jones, though, turned down this request. She said the attorneys can question Blankenship during the trial.
“We can’t go down the road where we question every bit of information,” she said. “It does result in a fishing expedition.”
Brian Pierce, Hendon’s other defense attorney, said an initial review by the defense’s memory identification expert of Blankenship’s medical records showed she was prescribed Fentanyl and Propofol after the incident. He said a medical expert is needed to analyze the records and discuss the potential effect of these drugs on memory. Fentanyl is a powerful pain medicine, while Propofol slows activity in the brain and nervous system, according to Drugs.com.
Another hearing is scheduled for 8 a.m. Tuesday, the day before jury selection is scheduled to begin.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.