justins5256
12-29-2007, 01:36 PM
I'm not sure if anyone remembers this case. It was the second episode of the very short lived spin-off series "Final Appeal" that debuted in the fall of 1992. Some sleuthing turned up a few articles about the case. I'm not sure if this guy is innocent, but he is a free man as of 2004. It sounds like an interesting case, and I would not mind seeing this episode if anyone can provide a copy.
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EX-DEPUTY FREE ON BAIL
Washington Post
April 25, 1988
Edition: FINAL
From News Services and Staff Reports
Section: METRO
Page: d4
Record Number: 129163
A former Grant County, W.Va., sheriff's deputy accused of kidnaping and murdering a Gorman, Md., woman was released on bond Friday, court officials said.
Paul W. Ferrell was freed after his parents posted $100,000 bond in the form of real estate and cash, said officials in the Grant County prosecutor's office. Ferrell is charged with kidnaping and murdering Catherine Denise Ford, who has been missing since February.
Maryland authorities said Ford's disappearance coincided with telephone calls to other women from a person who said he wanted them to meet him in secret to aid in undercover police work.
A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said Ferrell will remain free on bond awaiting action in July by the Grant County grand jury
Copyright 1988 The Washington Post
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Order shortens slaying sentence Underwood commutes term in Grant case
Charleston Gazette (WV)
February 4, 2001
Lawrence Messina
Page: P6B
Record Number: 100F2ADFEF5A6C83
larrym@wvgazette.com
One of Gov. Cecil Underwood's final acts in office has gone largely unnoticed, amid the clamor over the comp time payments to his staff.
Underwood commuted the sentence of Paul William Ferrell, the rookie Grant County deputy sheriff convicted in 1989 for the slaying of a waitress from nearby Maryland.
Ferrell was 32 when the jury found he abducted Catherine Denise Ford, 19, killed her and then burned her body in her Bronco to hide the evidence.
The judge sentenced Ferrell to life in prison with a chance of parole for the kidnapping, to be followed by a five- to 18-year term for second-degree murder. The judge set a one- to three-year sentence for the arson to run consecutively with the other two terms.
Underwood's Jan. 12 order resets those sentences to run concurrently, thereby making Ferrell eligible for parole this spring.
Ferrell's case grabbed headlines well after his trial, and the commutation cites some of the reasons why.
Underwood's order said Ferrell's convictions "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."
Ford's body has never been found; the prosecutor presented the burning theory to explain its absence. Ferrell's supporters suggested that the Garret County, Md., woman ran away from home and is still alive.
There were no eyewitnesses. Investigators believe Ferrell killed Ford in or near a trailer he rented in a rural area. Ford's burned-out Bronco was found about 75 yards from the trailer. As Underwood's order indicates, no murder weapon or damning piece of physical evidence was found.
Investigators did have some witnesses. One said she heard a scream and a gunshot from the area of Ferrell's trailer on the night Ford vanished. But this witness, Kimberly Sue Nelson, has since testified on Ferrell's behalf that her statement was coerced. Another prosecution witness, Tamela Kitzmiller, similarly recanted her earlier testimony during a post-trial appeal hearing for Ferrell.
During Ferrell's trial, Grant County prosecutor Dennis DiBenedetto presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of physical evidence to convince the jury of his guilt.
Witnesses said when she left work at the restaurant her family owned, Ford told her mother she was going to meet an undercover officer working on an alcohol investigation. Another witness said he saw Ford's Bronco turn down the road toward Ferrell's trailer that night (the defense contends police knew that this witness mixed up his dates and did not see the Bronco that night).
DiBenedetto also asked the jury to consider other evidence:
- Ferrell allegedly indulged in a sort of involuntary precursor to phone sex lines. He had a habit of phoning bookstores across the country posing as a doctor, DiBenedetto said, to ask the clerks who answered to read explicit passages from books on sex.
- Before Ford disappeared, area police received reports that several "attractive women" were getting phone calls from a man asking them to meet him somewhere. These women all had at least one thing in common, investigators alleged: They all knew Ferrell.
- After Ford vanished, her family received a letter with a Pittsburgh postmark purportedly from the teen and a "companion." The letter said Ford was "an adult and we had to leave fast," and that they had come into "dangerous money." Investigators believe Ferrell wrote the letter.
DiBenedetto said the evidence showed that Ferrell had woven a "fantasy world" around himself. He targeted Ford as the first woman to make that perverse world a reality, the prosecutor argued.
The state Supreme Court cited the phone call evidence when it upheld his convictions in a 1990 ruling. But then-Justice Thomas Miller blasted that evidence, and the court's ruling, in a dissent to the 3-2 decision.
Ferrell offered an alibi defense during his nine-day trial. He was allegedly seen at the store his family owned in Gormania when Ford disappeared.
Since his trial, his lawyers have repeatedly challenged the convictions. One, Lonnie Simmons of Charleston, secured one of the few items used as evidence in the case for modern genetic testing.
The item was a blanket found in Ferrell's vehicle that allegedly had tiny stains of blood. Though no known genetic sample from Ford exists, a comparison of her parents' DNA to the stains showed they could not have come from their offspring, the defense said.
Simmons' DNA-based appeal convinced the Supreme Court to allow Ferrell's release from prison in 1994 while it reviewed the case. After more than two years on home confinement, the court reaffirmed the convictions and returned Ferrell to prison.
Ferrell's time on home confinement was counted toward his sentences. Underwood's order said he "has proved to be an exemplary inmate ... as reflected by his institutional record and educational achievements" and had no prior criminal record. Ferrell had requested a full or conditional pardon, the order said.
To contact staff writer Lawrence Messina, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
Copyright, 2001, Charleston Newspapers
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Underwood decision draws criticism Ex-governor acted rashly in changing murderer's sentence, officials say
Charleston Gazette (WV)
February 6, 2001
Lawrence Messina
Page: P1A
Record Number: 100F2ADBEAFC816F
larrym@wvgazette.com
Former Gov. Cecil Underwood didn't do his homework before he changed a Grant County man's prison sentence for a 1989 murder, officials in the case said Monday.
"It's a terrible miscarriage. It's terrible for anyone to make that drastic a decision without getting both sides," Grant County prosecutor Dennis DiBenedetto said.
DiBenedetto said no one contacted him, investigators or the family of the murdered Maryland woman before Underwood's last-minute intervention in the case.
But Underwood said he scrutinized the case before he ordered Paul William Ferrell eligible for parole this spring, several years ahead of time. "I go strictly by the record, and the record raised a lot of doubts," Underwood said Monday from his Huntington residence.
Ferrell was 32 and a rookie sheriff's deputy when he abducted Catherine Denise Ford, 19, and killed her in 1988, a jury found. The jury also convicted Ferrell of torching the Maryland waitress' vehicle.
Ford's body has never been found. Ferrell's lawyers have seized on that fact as well as recanted testimony and genetic testing to appeal his case.
Ferrell's was one of five cases Underwood decided Jan. 12, his last day in office. In his order, Underwood wrote that Ferrell's convictions "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."
"That is absolutely incorrect," said Allen H. Loughry II, the senior assistant attorney general who represented prosecutors during Ferrell's appeals.
Loughry cited how DiBenedetto had presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of evidence to convince the 1989 jury of Ferrell's guilt.
"Our job is not to affirm convictions. It's to make sure that justice prevails," Loughry said. "When the state makes mistakes, I've pointed out the errors. The facts in this case and the circumstantial evidence were overwhelming."
With his order, Underwood second-guessed the jury as well as the state Supreme Court, a U.S. District Court judge and a federal appeals court panel, all which ruled against Ferrell.
"Gov. Underwood has somehow decided that he is in a better position to make factual determinations," Loughry said. "I think that he has totally circumvented the process. He is setting a precedent for future governors."
But Underwood said he relied on the view of one of the Supreme Court justices who heard Ferrell's appeal.
When he dissented in the case, now-retired Justice Tom Miller blasted much of the evidence presented against Ferrell. Underwood said Miller was one of those who wrote him on Ferrell's behalf.
"I was influenced by the prevailing public opinion in the record, and by the appeal from former Justice Miller," Underwood said.
"I take all those things very seriously."
DiBenedetto said Ferrell's fate is now with the state Parole Board. The board must consider input from him, as well as from Ford's family, and invite them to any hearing for Ferrell.
"I hope they look at the whole set of circumstances," he said.
"I have no reason to doubt that Mr. Ferrell has been a model prisoner, but that doesn't change what he did, and that he needs to suffer the consequences for that."
To contact staff writer Law-rence Messina, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
Copyright, 2001, Charleston Newspapers
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Ex-deputy granted parole in 1980s murder case
Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
May 26, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Section: News
Page: P6C
Record Number: 2004147562:
A convicted murderer whose life sentence was commuted by a departing Gov. Cecil Underwood has been granted release by the state Parole Board.
Paul William Ferrell continues to deny that he kidnapped and killed Catherine Denise Ford in 1988. The former Grant County deputy sheriff instead cited his clean record in prison.
"He's had an outstanding record in there," defense lawyer Lonnie Simmons said Tuesday.
"I'm very disappointed in the parole board," Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Dennis DiBenedetto said of Monday's decision. "They have put ahead of the life of this victim and the agony of her family the idea that because he's been a good prisoner, he ought to be released."
Ferrell was 32 and a rookie deputy when Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from Maryland, disappeared. Her body was never found; DiBenedetto argued Ferrell burned it along with her Bronco, which was found near his residence.
Ferrell was sentenced to consecutive terms of life with a chance of parole for her kidnapping, five to 18 years for second-degree murder and one to three years for arson.
"The jury did recommend mercy," Simmons said. "They knew he would be parole eligible."
Underwood ordered the sentences combined on the day he left office in January 2001, making Ferrell eligible for parole that spring.
Citing allegations raised by Ferrell's failed appeal and post-conviction court petitions, Underwood found that the charges against him "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."
DiBenedetto had presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of evidence during Ferrell's trial to link him to the crimes.
"He ought to have served 20 or 25 years," DiBenedetto said Tuesday. "To let him out in only 15 is really a travesty."
Copyright, 2004, Charleston Newspapers
==================================================
Ex-deputy granted parole in 1988 murder conviction
Charleston Gazette (WV)
May 26, 2004
Lawrence Messina The Associated Press
Section: News
Page: P1C
Record Number: 2004147611:
A convicted murderer whose life sentence was commuted by a departing Gov. Cecil Underwood has been granted release by the state Parole Board.
Paul William Ferrell continues to deny that he kidnapped and killed Catherine Denise Ford in 1988. In his parole request, the former Grant County deputy sheriff cited his clean record in prison.
“He’s had an outstanding record in there,” defense lawyer Lonnie Simmons said Tuesday.
“I’m very disappointed in the parole board,” Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Dennis DiBenedetto said of Monday’s decision. “They have put ahead of the life of this victim and the agony of her family the idea that because he’s been a good prisoner, he ought to be released.”
Ferrell was 32 and a rookie deputy when Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from Maryland, disappeared. Her body was never found.
DiBenedetto argued Ferrell burned her body along with her Ford Bronco, which was found near his residence.
Ferrell was sentenced to consecutive terms of life with a chance of parole for her kidnapping, five to 18 years for second-degree murder and one to three years for arson.
“The jury did recommend mercy,” Simmons said. “They knew he would be parole-eligible.”
Underwood ordered the sentences combined on the day he left office in January 2001, making Ferrell eligible for parole that spring.
Citing allegations raised by Ferrell’s failed appeal and post-conviction court petitions, Underwood found that the charges against him “are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim’s body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers.”
DiBenedetto had presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of evidence during Ferrell’s trial to link him to the crimes.
“He ought to have served 20 or 25 years,” DiBenedetto said Tuesday. “To let him out in only 15 is really a travesty.”
Copyright, 2004, Charleston Newspapers
==================================================
EX-DEPUTY FREE ON BAIL
Washington Post
April 25, 1988
Edition: FINAL
From News Services and Staff Reports
Section: METRO
Page: d4
Record Number: 129163
A former Grant County, W.Va., sheriff's deputy accused of kidnaping and murdering a Gorman, Md., woman was released on bond Friday, court officials said.
Paul W. Ferrell was freed after his parents posted $100,000 bond in the form of real estate and cash, said officials in the Grant County prosecutor's office. Ferrell is charged with kidnaping and murdering Catherine Denise Ford, who has been missing since February.
Maryland authorities said Ford's disappearance coincided with telephone calls to other women from a person who said he wanted them to meet him in secret to aid in undercover police work.
A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said Ferrell will remain free on bond awaiting action in July by the Grant County grand jury
Copyright 1988 The Washington Post
==================================================
Order shortens slaying sentence Underwood commutes term in Grant case
Charleston Gazette (WV)
February 4, 2001
Lawrence Messina
Page: P6B
Record Number: 100F2ADFEF5A6C83
larrym@wvgazette.com
One of Gov. Cecil Underwood's final acts in office has gone largely unnoticed, amid the clamor over the comp time payments to his staff.
Underwood commuted the sentence of Paul William Ferrell, the rookie Grant County deputy sheriff convicted in 1989 for the slaying of a waitress from nearby Maryland.
Ferrell was 32 when the jury found he abducted Catherine Denise Ford, 19, killed her and then burned her body in her Bronco to hide the evidence.
The judge sentenced Ferrell to life in prison with a chance of parole for the kidnapping, to be followed by a five- to 18-year term for second-degree murder. The judge set a one- to three-year sentence for the arson to run consecutively with the other two terms.
Underwood's Jan. 12 order resets those sentences to run concurrently, thereby making Ferrell eligible for parole this spring.
Ferrell's case grabbed headlines well after his trial, and the commutation cites some of the reasons why.
Underwood's order said Ferrell's convictions "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."
Ford's body has never been found; the prosecutor presented the burning theory to explain its absence. Ferrell's supporters suggested that the Garret County, Md., woman ran away from home and is still alive.
There were no eyewitnesses. Investigators believe Ferrell killed Ford in or near a trailer he rented in a rural area. Ford's burned-out Bronco was found about 75 yards from the trailer. As Underwood's order indicates, no murder weapon or damning piece of physical evidence was found.
Investigators did have some witnesses. One said she heard a scream and a gunshot from the area of Ferrell's trailer on the night Ford vanished. But this witness, Kimberly Sue Nelson, has since testified on Ferrell's behalf that her statement was coerced. Another prosecution witness, Tamela Kitzmiller, similarly recanted her earlier testimony during a post-trial appeal hearing for Ferrell.
During Ferrell's trial, Grant County prosecutor Dennis DiBenedetto presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of physical evidence to convince the jury of his guilt.
Witnesses said when she left work at the restaurant her family owned, Ford told her mother she was going to meet an undercover officer working on an alcohol investigation. Another witness said he saw Ford's Bronco turn down the road toward Ferrell's trailer that night (the defense contends police knew that this witness mixed up his dates and did not see the Bronco that night).
DiBenedetto also asked the jury to consider other evidence:
- Ferrell allegedly indulged in a sort of involuntary precursor to phone sex lines. He had a habit of phoning bookstores across the country posing as a doctor, DiBenedetto said, to ask the clerks who answered to read explicit passages from books on sex.
- Before Ford disappeared, area police received reports that several "attractive women" were getting phone calls from a man asking them to meet him somewhere. These women all had at least one thing in common, investigators alleged: They all knew Ferrell.
- After Ford vanished, her family received a letter with a Pittsburgh postmark purportedly from the teen and a "companion." The letter said Ford was "an adult and we had to leave fast," and that they had come into "dangerous money." Investigators believe Ferrell wrote the letter.
DiBenedetto said the evidence showed that Ferrell had woven a "fantasy world" around himself. He targeted Ford as the first woman to make that perverse world a reality, the prosecutor argued.
The state Supreme Court cited the phone call evidence when it upheld his convictions in a 1990 ruling. But then-Justice Thomas Miller blasted that evidence, and the court's ruling, in a dissent to the 3-2 decision.
Ferrell offered an alibi defense during his nine-day trial. He was allegedly seen at the store his family owned in Gormania when Ford disappeared.
Since his trial, his lawyers have repeatedly challenged the convictions. One, Lonnie Simmons of Charleston, secured one of the few items used as evidence in the case for modern genetic testing.
The item was a blanket found in Ferrell's vehicle that allegedly had tiny stains of blood. Though no known genetic sample from Ford exists, a comparison of her parents' DNA to the stains showed they could not have come from their offspring, the defense said.
Simmons' DNA-based appeal convinced the Supreme Court to allow Ferrell's release from prison in 1994 while it reviewed the case. After more than two years on home confinement, the court reaffirmed the convictions and returned Ferrell to prison.
Ferrell's time on home confinement was counted toward his sentences. Underwood's order said he "has proved to be an exemplary inmate ... as reflected by his institutional record and educational achievements" and had no prior criminal record. Ferrell had requested a full or conditional pardon, the order said.
To contact staff writer Lawrence Messina, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
Copyright, 2001, Charleston Newspapers
==================================================
Underwood decision draws criticism Ex-governor acted rashly in changing murderer's sentence, officials say
Charleston Gazette (WV)
February 6, 2001
Lawrence Messina
Page: P1A
Record Number: 100F2ADBEAFC816F
larrym@wvgazette.com
Former Gov. Cecil Underwood didn't do his homework before he changed a Grant County man's prison sentence for a 1989 murder, officials in the case said Monday.
"It's a terrible miscarriage. It's terrible for anyone to make that drastic a decision without getting both sides," Grant County prosecutor Dennis DiBenedetto said.
DiBenedetto said no one contacted him, investigators or the family of the murdered Maryland woman before Underwood's last-minute intervention in the case.
But Underwood said he scrutinized the case before he ordered Paul William Ferrell eligible for parole this spring, several years ahead of time. "I go strictly by the record, and the record raised a lot of doubts," Underwood said Monday from his Huntington residence.
Ferrell was 32 and a rookie sheriff's deputy when he abducted Catherine Denise Ford, 19, and killed her in 1988, a jury found. The jury also convicted Ferrell of torching the Maryland waitress' vehicle.
Ford's body has never been found. Ferrell's lawyers have seized on that fact as well as recanted testimony and genetic testing to appeal his case.
Ferrell's was one of five cases Underwood decided Jan. 12, his last day in office. In his order, Underwood wrote that Ferrell's convictions "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."
"That is absolutely incorrect," said Allen H. Loughry II, the senior assistant attorney general who represented prosecutors during Ferrell's appeals.
Loughry cited how DiBenedetto had presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of evidence to convince the 1989 jury of Ferrell's guilt.
"Our job is not to affirm convictions. It's to make sure that justice prevails," Loughry said. "When the state makes mistakes, I've pointed out the errors. The facts in this case and the circumstantial evidence were overwhelming."
With his order, Underwood second-guessed the jury as well as the state Supreme Court, a U.S. District Court judge and a federal appeals court panel, all which ruled against Ferrell.
"Gov. Underwood has somehow decided that he is in a better position to make factual determinations," Loughry said. "I think that he has totally circumvented the process. He is setting a precedent for future governors."
But Underwood said he relied on the view of one of the Supreme Court justices who heard Ferrell's appeal.
When he dissented in the case, now-retired Justice Tom Miller blasted much of the evidence presented against Ferrell. Underwood said Miller was one of those who wrote him on Ferrell's behalf.
"I was influenced by the prevailing public opinion in the record, and by the appeal from former Justice Miller," Underwood said.
"I take all those things very seriously."
DiBenedetto said Ferrell's fate is now with the state Parole Board. The board must consider input from him, as well as from Ford's family, and invite them to any hearing for Ferrell.
"I hope they look at the whole set of circumstances," he said.
"I have no reason to doubt that Mr. Ferrell has been a model prisoner, but that doesn't change what he did, and that he needs to suffer the consequences for that."
To contact staff writer Law-rence Messina, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
Copyright, 2001, Charleston Newspapers
==================================================
Ex-deputy granted parole in 1980s murder case
Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
May 26, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Section: News
Page: P6C
Record Number: 2004147562:
A convicted murderer whose life sentence was commuted by a departing Gov. Cecil Underwood has been granted release by the state Parole Board.
Paul William Ferrell continues to deny that he kidnapped and killed Catherine Denise Ford in 1988. The former Grant County deputy sheriff instead cited his clean record in prison.
"He's had an outstanding record in there," defense lawyer Lonnie Simmons said Tuesday.
"I'm very disappointed in the parole board," Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Dennis DiBenedetto said of Monday's decision. "They have put ahead of the life of this victim and the agony of her family the idea that because he's been a good prisoner, he ought to be released."
Ferrell was 32 and a rookie deputy when Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from Maryland, disappeared. Her body was never found; DiBenedetto argued Ferrell burned it along with her Bronco, which was found near his residence.
Ferrell was sentenced to consecutive terms of life with a chance of parole for her kidnapping, five to 18 years for second-degree murder and one to three years for arson.
"The jury did recommend mercy," Simmons said. "They knew he would be parole eligible."
Underwood ordered the sentences combined on the day he left office in January 2001, making Ferrell eligible for parole that spring.
Citing allegations raised by Ferrell's failed appeal and post-conviction court petitions, Underwood found that the charges against him "are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim's body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers."
DiBenedetto had presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of evidence during Ferrell's trial to link him to the crimes.
"He ought to have served 20 or 25 years," DiBenedetto said Tuesday. "To let him out in only 15 is really a travesty."
Copyright, 2004, Charleston Newspapers
==================================================
Ex-deputy granted parole in 1988 murder conviction
Charleston Gazette (WV)
May 26, 2004
Lawrence Messina The Associated Press
Section: News
Page: P1C
Record Number: 2004147611:
A convicted murderer whose life sentence was commuted by a departing Gov. Cecil Underwood has been granted release by the state Parole Board.
Paul William Ferrell continues to deny that he kidnapped and killed Catherine Denise Ford in 1988. In his parole request, the former Grant County deputy sheriff cited his clean record in prison.
“He’s had an outstanding record in there,” defense lawyer Lonnie Simmons said Tuesday.
“I’m very disappointed in the parole board,” Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Dennis DiBenedetto said of Monday’s decision. “They have put ahead of the life of this victim and the agony of her family the idea that because he’s been a good prisoner, he ought to be released.”
Ferrell was 32 and a rookie deputy when Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from Maryland, disappeared. Her body was never found.
DiBenedetto argued Ferrell burned her body along with her Ford Bronco, which was found near his residence.
Ferrell was sentenced to consecutive terms of life with a chance of parole for her kidnapping, five to 18 years for second-degree murder and one to three years for arson.
“The jury did recommend mercy,” Simmons said. “They knew he would be parole-eligible.”
Underwood ordered the sentences combined on the day he left office in January 2001, making Ferrell eligible for parole that spring.
Citing allegations raised by Ferrell’s failed appeal and post-conviction court petitions, Underwood found that the charges against him “are not supported by the presence of the alleged victim’s body, weapon, eyewitnesses, or physical evidence such as fingerprints, hair and fibers.”
DiBenedetto had presented more than 70 witnesses and 150 pieces of evidence during Ferrell’s trial to link him to the crimes.
“He ought to have served 20 or 25 years,” DiBenedetto said Tuesday. “To let him out in only 15 is really a travesty.”
Copyright, 2004, Charleston Newspapers