Man sentenced to death for murdering couple at their Cleveland car dealership in 2017

please write once again if you see that ladies and gentlemen ladies and gentlemen once again I thank you for your patience in every jury trial the court tells the jury to evaluate the case on the law as it is given to them the court had monitors them not to apply their own conception of what they believed the law should be I can follow mode different directive on Thursday of last week the jury found that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating factors beyond reasonable doubt and therefore filed the verdict of death to be appropriate the defendant on numerous occasions indicated to the court that he would not be presenting mitigating evidence upon announcement of the verdict indicated that he did want to have an evaluation performed the court prevailed upon this court psychiatric clinic to prepare mitigation report the defendant issued a subpoena to have the doctor appear in court when it was time to call the doctor to the stand the defendant rested it much to the surprise and astre grilling of the court a sidebar conference was held in the defendant acting pro se stood fast arrested thereafter closing arguments were heard and the jury charged the jury verdict was returned and read the jury was polled and discharged the defendant never requested that the court review both the pre-sentence investigation report and the mitigation report neither of which were submitted to the jury the court did review these documents and has evaluated this case in conjunction with the mitigation phase and the mitigation factors of 29:29 o4b in the Ohio Revised Code as well as the statement seduced here in today in addition to in addition to the mitigating factors in ORS c29 2904 be the court has considered the statements of six family members all of whom relate that the defendant had a tough childhood his older sister indicated that at age of five he found his mother's gun and shot himself in the leg the mitigation report prepared by the court psychiatric clinic add some more significant insight he found his mother's body after she Oded on heroin he was 19 he was hit on the head with a brick at age 12 and suffers from seizures and age 9 he was repeatedly raped by his mother's male friend according to a 2008 psych evaluation defendant has chronic problems with anger and has little regard for authority there was a suicide attempt at the Euclid jail in 2006 dr. Ravi ho diagnosed him as having post-traumatic stress disorder and finally a 20-18 evaluation at the murids forensic unit at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare observed the defendant interacting appropriately and logically with staff and others notwithstanding this these medica Tory observations the court after carefully weighing the statutory mitigation elements the testimony of the defendants witnesses the unsworn statement of the defendant and the pre-sentence report and psychological evaluation report the court finds that the aggravating circumstances do outweigh the mitigating factors that prove beyond a reasonable doubt at this point in time mr. was open Your Honor with regard to the sentencing on the other eight counts that the non homicide counts that remain first and foremost your honor the state of Ohio we're only here today as a collective effort and a team effort and the state wants to thank the Cleveland Police Department including the homicide unit the crime scene unit scientific investigation unit and the fifth District the FBI the medical examiner's office in the Cuyahoga County Regional Forensic Science Laboratory without these entities we can't put a thorough case on as we did in this manner and we can't produce and establish and present evidence as overwhelming as we were able to do in this particular case before the state says its piece your honor I know this would be an appropriate time for family members typically to address the court nobody in from the family wishes to address the court in open court at this time however your honor I don't want you to think that they certainly aren't feeling the effects of this your honor you've seen them sitting in the courtroom every single day of this trial from the time we began the general voix Deer until up to and including today behind me your honor the over the last two years the cooze Nix the sakowskis they've been with us every step of the way and have been more than patient and we've had their full support but they do not wish to address in open court today however your honor is you're well aware the murders of Michael and Trina and the subsequent closing the necessary closing of mr. cars had a great effect on the north Collinwood neighborhood and the businesses in the area the families in the area and your honor at this time on behalf of the neighborhood on behalf of the citizens of Collinwood councilman Mike poletik would like to address the court thank you your honor I too would like to thank the jury time county prosecutor Michael Malley and his magnificent team of prosecutors detective Echols members of CPD the homicide unit the fifth District and all the other law enforcement agencies that were involved in this process your honor from day one this was never about vengeance it's been about justice I stood there on that good Friday night as they carried out Mike and Trina and Axl and body bags I was there I saw the pictures from the corner I saw what this individual did to them the viciousness of the crime he is a demonic killer a demonic killer it's one thing that Rob's somebody it's another thing to do what he did him and his cohorts what they are our predators they prey upon our communities upon our businesses upon our citizens and as we try to stabilize and rebuild our neighborhoods in our city this is what we have to be confronted with the North Shore caldera the greater Collinwood community is a great neighborhood this crime on Good Friday not only devastated the family and tore that family apart it devastated the community because they didn't know the businesses didn't know who was going to be next if there's going to be somebody else it could have been somebody else it was Mike and Trina it was their night to be preyed upon by him and his cohorts what we want judge and what we're asking for is justice on behalf of the people of the community and on behalf of Mike and Trina's family hill-hill hill-hill he'll be around tomorrow Mike and Trina aren't they are not there this I saw what happened to that family I saw what happened to that business I've known this family for almost 40 years how they contributed to our community how they were supportive of one event one activity after another since that brutal murder murders that business has been closed other businesses have been apprehensive whether to invest in the community but you know what we're not going to let him and the other two parasites that were with them destroy our neighborhood we're not going to let them destroy communities we're gonna rise above it not only in this community but across the entire city that's the message we're looking for the court to send today then when you commit these atrocities there's a price to pay there's a price to pay and all the work that these fine folks that here all the investigators was not in vain and remember what this family has gone through I know how many times I've talked to them on a phone and have heard and it the the pain in their voice saw what happened was there we want and deserve justice on behalf of Mike and Trina and Axel and behalf of the greater community thank you think your honor may it please the court again Your Honor with regard to the non-capital counts but the eight remaining counts the state is here today to first ask for consecutive sentences your honor pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code we believe that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime not only to punish the offender and that they would not be disproportionate to the seriousness of his conduct and to the danger he poses to the public Your Honor you heard during the mitigation phase of this trial that the defendant has a long and sordid criminal history a juvenile record of at least 13 adjudications and a trip to ODU is did nothing to rebuild to him as a young adult he committed a burglary was placed on probation and while on probation went ahead and robbed somebody at knifepoint the defendant did eight and a half years in prison and still was not rehabilitated he came out in six months later on Good Friday on April 14th of 2017 walked into mr. cars on Lake Shore Boulevard and ended the lives of two innocent people killed a dog and forever altered the lives of their family Your Honor the third prong that you need to consider is that you must find that one of the three statutory factors are present and that's that the offender committed one or more of the offend offenses while he was under post-release control for a prior offense well he was he was on post release control for his 2008 burglary at least two of the multiple offenses were committed as part of one or more courses of conduct and the harm caused by those was so greater unusual than no single prison term would adequately reflect the seriousness your honor he killed two people for what as mr. Schroeder stated last week for some cash and two used cars to end two lives and the dog and that the offender's criminal history of criminal conduct demonstrates that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crimes it's been abundantly clear your honor all three of these prongs of which you need only meet one apply to Joseph McAlpin the one thing we didn't hear today your honor was any remorse for the crime we didn't hear any condolences to the family the only ones we heard were they half-hearted attempts while questioning witnesses making his self-serving unsworn statement and in his closing argument and the one thing that he repeatedly talked about during his argument was family that the state's going to commit an aggravated murder with prior calculation and design of him without considering his family or the fact that he has kids or grandkids or that he's a son and a brother or an F or an uncle and a nephew well your honor the defendant is sitting there today because of his actions his choices Colin Corrine and young Kane are without a mother a father a stepfather a stepmother because of his actions through no fault of their own they're without a dog a family dog that was loved by Colin used to go with him everywhere because of his actions through no fault of Colin's through no fault of currents through no fault of Cain's or any of their other loved ones Michael and Trina were a son and a daughter they were an aunt and an uncle they also had people that loved them and you heard testimony your honor through the course of five weeks mr. Kars was alike a family it was a second home as Colin called it one of the ironic things about the timing of this trial was not only were we in session on the two-year anniversary of the homicides on April 14th but Randy coos Nick opened mr. cars on April 1st of 1977 so we sat through this trial that effectively closed that business forever on the 42nd anniversary of its opening you heard Colin testified that they had repeat customers for years and years something was wrong with the car bring it back Mike butch one of them would fix it it was almost like a lifetime warranty you saw the people that they dealt with you heard testimony from Darrell Sanders the last person who had any contact with either Michael or Trina when he spoke with Trina at 5:30 p.m. on April 14th to tell her there was a problem with the title he had known them for 10 years he was still buying cars from them in fact he thought he may have paid too much for a used minivan but still had no problem calling him and they decided they'd work it out on Monday you heard from Albert Martin Albert's led a rough life but you heard that Mike and Trina kept him around to do odd jobs around the dealership because it kept him out of trouble it kept him off drugs it was something for him to do your honor walked through that dealership on the jury view you saw Michael and Trina's Ford Focus that you saw in the video that was parked out on Lake Shore Boulevard and you saw that Corrine and Cain's Easter baskets were still sitting in the backseat of that car two years later the family that will never be the same are both families but the striking difference your honor is that mr. McGowan's family won't be the same because of mr. McAlpin's choices because of his actions and through no fault of the coos Nick's in the sakowskis and their loved ones and their children they will never see or speak with their loved ones again and every year regardless of whether it's April 14th or at the end of March Good Friday will always have a significance to them so they get it doubled they get a good Friday and on April 14th another holiday without their family members your honor the lasting effects that this case is going to have on the families of Michael and Trina necessitate consecutive sentences the state would ask that you sentence on each of those eight counts a maximum possible sentence and run them each consecutive to each other thank you your honor each of those aggravated murder counts would have a three years firearm specification pursuant to Revised Code 29:29 14 B 1 G your honor is required to run the two most serious firearm specifications for aggravated murder aggravated burglary or aggravated robbery consecutive to one another and everything else so we would ask that after those first two I would agree that they they would merge episodes go forward under the three that's correct thank you okay courts going to proceed to impose sentence at this time with regard to count number one the aggravated murder of Trina - Mullen kuzmic courts would impose a sentence of death plus three years on the firearm specification Cod number two for the aggravated murder of Michael kuzmic death plus three years on the fire of specification count number eight aggravated robbery this involves the robbery of Trina eleven years plus three years for the gun specification consecutive each other did I say copied yes thank you count number seven shillings without of order here an aggravated robbery of Michael 11 years plus three years for the firearm specification town number eleven aggravated burglary on Trina eleven years plus three years for the gun specification count number twelve aggravated burglary of Mike 11 years plus three years on the firearm specification having weapon well under disability count 21 thirty-six months count 23 and 24 both grand theft 18 months each and pad number 26 Cruelty to Animals twelve months counts 21 23 24 and 26 do not have any specifications attached thereto with regard to the case at chief obviously pounds 7 8 11 12 21 23 24 26 will in fact be served consecutive to each other and this is necessary to properly protect the public from any future crimes that the defendant week commitment and are proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and finally the court does observe as stated in the pre-sentence report that the defendant wasn't post police patrol when he committed does have an extensive criminal history so anything further I don't think I've overlooked anything double-check now please oh yeah your honor yes for clarification of the record I just want to make sure your findings that the aggravating circumstances outweigh any a shoe-in ball counts wanted to it applies it to each that's correct yeah I didn't take both counts but yeah that was just going to take care of that in fact yeah five years mandatory post release control relative to counts seven eight eleven and twelve three years post release control with regard to counts twenty one twenty three twenty four twenty six obviously five years would be guiding and kind of moved but nonetheless I think that properly takes care of Bobby sighs okay mr. McAlpin you do that the right to appeal this case you have the right to have transcripts to prepare it you cannot afford the cost of appeal court will appoint but will pay for the cost of preparation of transcript and order the documents prepared without cost and you have the rate that of a notice of appeal time we filed on their behalf mr. McAlpin I assume you want this case appealed okay and unless you indicate otherwise later the court will appoint Thomas Ryan to represent you because this is capital Bob Dixon to be a second appeals attorney on this and x times Ryan all right [Music] we didn't we have to be able to recite okay welcome to quite Bob Dixon to representative on the point is second when I review the assignment council was pleased to see who is appeal eligible necessary background what one last matter that was brought up at sidebar is that it's kind of silly under this case but if you violate the terms and conditions of post release control any violation to resulted in additional prison time under this case number not to exceed 50% again that which the trial court has put into place okay absolutely did I ever forgot about anything else well you are indigent this we have yes ma'am okay court cost will be suspended in this case please ride

Channel: News 5 Cleveland

Views: 3,986,351

Rating: 4.6391864 out of 5

Keywords: joseph mcalpin, death sentence, trial, court, mr. cars, murder

Id: oPf1JsC-zaA

Length: 22min 31sec (1351 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2019