COLUMBUS, Ohio -Just days after a mistrial, prosecutors said yesterday the admitted highway shooter will be tried again, and they will not seek the death penalty in the only fatal shooting.
Evidence of Charles McCoy Jr.'s severe mental illness presented at the first trial will outweigh any evidence that would support a death sentence, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said after meeting with defense attorneys and the judge.
Based on what I know now
taking the death penalty out of the indictment is the appropriate thing to do O'Brien said.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys said they remain open to negotiating a plea agreement, which would require prison. McCoy, 29, pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to 24 counts in 12 shootings in 2003 and 2004 on and around Columbus-area highways.
If a jury were to accept his plea, he would be sent to a mental hospital.
Judge Charles Schneider declared a mistrial on Sunday after the jury could not decide after four days of deliberations whether McCoy was insane because of his paranoid schizophrenia, meaning he didn't understand right from wrong during the shootings.
The jury consistently split 8-4 in favor of conviction in three votes, The Columbus Dispatch reported yesterday, citing jurors and other unidentified sources.
If convicted of aggravated murder without the death penalty, McCoy could receive a sentence of 23 years to life in the death of Gail Knisley, who was shot while riding in a car. If convicted of a less serious charge of murder, the sentence would be 18 years to life. Each charge includes an additional three years because a gun was used.
O'Brien said he won't add lesser charges such as manslaughter or reckless homicide to the indictment. Schneider wouldn't allow those charges to be included in jury instructions in the first trial because he said the evidence didn't support them. O'Brien met with Knisley's husband and a son Monday and said they weren't demanding the death penalty. Messages seeking comment were left yesterday with Knisley's sons and at the office of McCoy's father, Charles McCoy Sr. Neither parent has a listed home telephone number.
The second trial won't be any easier without the death penalty, Defense Attorney Michael Miller said.
I never thought there was a jury in America that would execute Charles he said.
The remaining charges of attempted murder, assault and firing into buildings would add decades to any sentence.
Neither side said they needed to gather more evidence before a second trial.
The prosecution's expert had criticized the defense expert for not reading police reports before his first interview with McCoy. The defense hadn't yet received the reports, Miller said, and the expert read them later and had more interviews with McCoy.
I don't think he needs to do any more
Miller said. He saw him four times.
The experts had differed on whether McCoy understood the shootings were wrong. The defense argued that shooting would temporarily still voices in his head that constantly berated him. But prosecutors argued the steps he took to avoid capture show he knew the shootings were wrong.
No trial date was set. The attorneys will meet with the judge next on June 7. A second trial will be shorter, Schneider said, because the evidence is collected, procedure is decided and jury selection will take less time because potential jurors won't be asked if they could vote to execute a defendant.
The three defense attorneys must first decide if they all will continue with the case. McCoy's parents, both state employees, paid them for the first trial, but it's not clear if they can afford a second one. McCoy's only income is Social Security disability payments.
Since this is no longer a capital case, Schneider said he can approve only $5,000 for a single court-appointed attorney.
Miller said if he had to decide now, It would be all three of us
if we had to do it for nothing.
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