Arrest and charges
Through the investigations of Scott Davis's attempted murder, as well as receiving the missing persons report of David Pauley's twin sister (who did not see her brother since October 22, 2011), the police were able to uncover the serial murders committed by Brogan Rafferty and Richard Beasley, who were both arrested for the homicides. [7] [8]
Beasley, alongside Rafferty, was charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery and other offences related to the serial killings. Beasley was formally indicted by a grand jury on January 20, 2012. [9] [10] Five days after his indictment, Beasley officially entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges against him. [11]
Conviction and sentence of Beasley
More than a year after his arrest, Richard Beasley stood trial on February 26, 2013, for the murders of Ralph Geiger, David Pauley and Timothy Kern. During the trial itself, the prosecution sought to prove that Beasley intentionally hatched the murder plot by luring victims who were down on their luck and desperate to turn their lives around with the fake promise of new jobs. In her opening address to court, special prosecutor Emily Pelphrey admonished Beasley as a "false prophet" for falsely giving his victims "a message of hope and change and a new start in life" and took advantage of their situation in his killing spree. [12] [13] The sole survivor, Scott Davis, also testified against Beasley, recounting how he was attacked by Beasley and eventually survived through hiding and his escape. [14]
On March 12, 2013, the jury found Beasley guilty of 26 counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and other charges. For the most serious charge of aggravated murder, the punishment was either life imprisonment or the death penalty under Ohio state law. [15] [16]
During submissions on sentence, The prosecution, led by Jonathan Baumoel, sought the death penalty, stating that the crimes committed by Beasley was "the worst of the worst" and urged the jury to consider the "enormous" magnitude and weight of the crimes based on its aggravating factors. On the other hand, the defence sought life imprisonment, and called on a psychiatrist, John Fabian, to support the notion that due to Beasley's troubled childhood, he suffered from depression, low self-esteem, and feelings of isolation, and also resorted to alcohol abuse. Beasley's mother also made an emotional plea in court for her son's life to be spared, and stated that her son suffered from both abuse from her second husband and sexual abuse from older children of their neighbourhood since young. [17]
On March 21, 2013, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for the deaths of all the three Craigslist murder victims. [18] [19] [20] An official sentencing hearing was originally scheduled to take place on March 26, 2013, before it was postponed to April 4, 2013. [21]
On April 4, 2013, Beasley was formally sentenced to death by Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan. [22] [23] [24] In her comment on Beasley's three death sentences, Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh stated that Beasley was a "cold-blooded manipulator with zero regard for human life", and he also never showed remorse for his actions, and she added that while it was never a happy occasion to condemn a person to death row, capital punishment was the "most appropriate sentence" for Beasley. [25]
During the sentencing hearing, victim impact statements were made by the victims' families and the surviving victim Scott Davis. Davis told the court that he was grateful to be alive and thanked the judge for sentencing Beasley to death, denouncing Beasley as a beast and addressed the families of the murder victims that none of the three men deserved to meet such brutal ends. The twin sister of one of the deceased victims, David Pauley, told the defendant that he had taken away her "best friend, confidant and (her) twin", and expressed rebuff at Beasley's own claims as a preacher or chaplain, stating that "no true man of God would take lives". [26]
Fate of Brogan Rafferty
Meanwhile, the murder trial of Beasley's accomplice, Brogan Rafferty, was held earlier than Beasley's. Rafferty was found guilty of three counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder on October 31, 2012. [27] [28] [29]
The following month, on November 9, 2012, Rafferty was sentenced to life without parole by Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan. Given the fact that Rafferty was below 18 at the time of the murders, he was ineligible for the death sentence and the only possible sentence was life imprisonment. [30] Prior to his sentencing, the defence and Rafferty had twice corresponded with the prosecution to make a sentencing deal to allow Rafferty seek parole after 26 years (first attempt) or 30 years (second attempt), but the agreement fell through for unknown reasons. [31]
In April 2015, the Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals rejected Rafferty's appeal for a lower sentence, after the court rejected the defence's arguments that it was unconstitutional and contrary to law to impose a life sentence without parole for Rafferty. [32] [33]
In November 2021, after new changes to the law, it was reported that Rafferty will become eligible for parole after a minimum of 25 years, with his earliest parole hearing set to begin in 2037. [34]
