Convicted killer and former cop Douglas Prade, who murdered ex-wife Akron Dr. Margo Prade, gets a stay by Ohio Supreme Court of court order to return to prison, an appeals court overturned a judge's decision to free him after 15 years in prison, the judge that freed Prade is a visiting retired judge assigned to cases by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor
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| Dr. Margo Prade |
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher, Editor-n-Chief,
Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog,
Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog
Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
AKRON, Ohio-The Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed a Summit County trial court ruling that in 2013 freed former Akron police capt. Douglas Prade from prison and Prade yesterday was ordered back behind bars by Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce, only to get a stay by the Ohio Supreme Court hours after he reported to the Summit County Jail.
Akron is a city some 30 miles south of Cleveland and the native home of NBA basketball icon and Miami Heat power forward LeBron James.
Prade's attorney said yesterday that he will appeal the appellate decision to the Ohio Supreme Court and Prade successfully appealed the judicial order that resulted in a stay by the state's high court. For now the convicted killer of a woman is a free man, and the stay, unless lifted, is in effect until the Ohio Supreme Court decides whether it will hear Prade's appeal.
Prade, 67, was convicted in 1998 of murdering ex-wife Dr. Margo Prade, 41 at her death and a well respected Akron medical doctor slated at the time to marry a local attorney.
The popular Black doctor was found dead outside of her medical office in a mini-van in November 1997. She was shot six times and had a bite mark on her arm, the coroner said.
Douglas Prade had two daughters with Margo Prade.
Margo Prade's sister, Veronica Sadler told reporters yesterday that the back-and-forth- actions by the court around her sister's death have a circus atmosphere and that she has developed "post-traumatic stress."
Douglas Prade served 15 years in prison of a life sentence until 2013 when Summit County common pleas retired visiting judge Judy Hunter exonerated him on DNA evidence. At issue was a bite mark that prosecutors say proved Prade was the killer.
Prade's lawyers argued at trial that prosecutors' evidence was circumstantial and could not link the former police captain to the murder of his former wife.
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| Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh |
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, who is internationally known and a hard-nose prosecutor, particularly on the murders of women and others, has said that she will file a response to the stay to seek an order for Douglas Prade to remain in prison pending the outcome of the Ohio Supreme Court appeal, if the state's high court agrees to hear the case.
It is rare though that a defendant who loses a murder case gets to hang out as a free man, an indication, some say, that Douglas Prade must still have connections with the Akron Police Department.
It is rare though that a defendant who loses a murder case gets to hang out as a free man, an indication, some say, that Douglas Prade must still have connections with the Akron Police Department.
And if past behavior has anything to do with it, the zealous Walsh will be working overtime to get justice for Margo Prade and her family.
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| Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor |
