Execution scheduled for man convicted of 1984 murder
NEW CONCORD – Now that John D. Stumpf has been sitting on death row for three decades, the Ohio Supreme Court has finally set his execution date for 2018.
After years of appeals and reviews of the case, the court scheduled his execution for Jan. 3, 2018.
Stumpf pleaded guilty in 1984 to the death of a New Concord woman. A three-judge panel in Guernsey County sentenced him to death for killing Mary Jane Stout during a robbery.
"We've exhausted several rounds of appeals and I'm hoping this date will stick," Guernsey County Prosecutor Daniel Padden said. "It's been a long time coming."
Though he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder, Stumpf has maintained that he never shot Mary Jane. He's also serving 25 years for the attempted murder of Mary Jane's husband, Norman.
His conviction stems from a May 14, 1984, incident in which Mary Jane and Norman were both shot multiple times, though Norman Stout survived. Stumpf and co-defendant Clyde Daniel Wesley asked to use the Stout's phone after their car ran out of gas on Interstate 70, according to trial records. Once inside, Stumpf and Wesley attempted an armed robbery.
Stumpf, an inmate at the Chillicothe Correctional Institute, shot Norman twice in the head during the robbery, according to court records. Mary Jane was also shot in the head three times.
Wesley was also tried and convicted in Mary Jane Stout's death. Wesley, an inmate at the Marion Correctional Institution, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years for aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated murder.
Stumpf and the state negotiated a guilty plea to aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, though Stumpf contested the death penalty when it went before the three-judge panel, court records show.
He appealed the panel's ruling, and the Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's decision in 1986.
The Ohio Supreme Court heard the case that year, as did the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988.The case then went through several reviews in the 1990s.
In 2004, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Stump's conviction and death sentence based on an involuntary guilty plea and inconsistent prosecution theories. But the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision by the circuit court, and then in 2013, the circuit court denied an appeal that would have repealed the death sentence.
Padden filed a motion last April for the Ohio Supreme Court to set an execution date.
"The defendant has fully exhausted all available legal challenges to the convictions and death sentence," according to that memorandum.
Federal defenders representing Stumpf filed a motion opposing the setting of an execution date last May. In that motion, attorneys David Stebbins and Sharon Hicks argue for more time to explore additional challenges they could make at the state or federal level.
As for the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling this week, Stebbins said he plans to look for additional issues to litigate.
"I'm not happy with it," Stebbins said of the announced execution date. "I guess we expected it at some point."
In the meantime, the defense awaits the possibility of clemency from Gov. John Kasich. The governor and the Adult Parole Authority review every death penalty case for clemency.
"There may still be additional litigation," Stebbins said. "We have two and a half years to work on it."
elagatta@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com
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Twitter: @EricLagatta