Ohio's Death Row Part One

I was looking into the issue of the death penalty state by state when I was guided to the state of Ohio, with the recent announcement of John Spirko's commutation of his death sentence which was scheduled to be carried out on January 24th this year, in the same week that Kenny Richey was released from death row. I thought I would dig a little and look into the cases of a few other inmates on the Row there.

there are two cases that stand out the first being that of Maurice "Reese" Mason, it is a case that makes me cringe, how on earth this man was convicted has me stumped. Maurice Mason an African American was convicted and sentenced to death in Ohio for the 1993 Rape and murder of Robin Dennis.

Robin Dennis was 19 years old when she was found Raped and murdered on February 13th 1993, she was married to Chris Dennis at the time it was a violent and volatile marriage as Chris had a history of violence he had beaten Robin repeatedly causing her injuries, in a previous Marriage he had also beaten his ex wife Annette Dennis. It is well know that Chris Dennis was a violent Alcoholic even beating a friend into unconsciousness and left him in the woods to die.

Robin Dennis and Maurice Mason had a sexual relationship that began in 1992, after her husband in a drunken state had left her Robin ran into Maurice mason whom she had met earlier in the day, Reese and Robin went out to eat and later a sexual relationship began this continued until the 8th of February 1993 the day that Robin disappeared.

On the 8th of February 1993 Robin her husband Chris and Maurice Mason all attended a party at the home of Michael and Carolyn Young it was at this party that Maurice and Robin had their last sexual encounter. Chris Dennis had passed out drunk in the living room of the Young's home, When he awoke Robin had left, still under the influence of alcohol Chris Dennis became enraged and threatened to kill Robin for leaving him there, he was going to beat her so bad and leave her.

On the 10th of February Robin Dennis's car was located near a munitions shed in a field it was here that Robins body was found several days later, on the same day Maurice Mason was detained by police for questioning where he denied any involvement in Robins disappearance, he was released the same day.On February 12th Maurice Mason was again detained by police and questioned for 4 hours he was later arrested by his parole officer for a parole violation and Jailed. Robin Dennis body was found on the 13th February. Here is where things get interesting. Robin was found with her panties and jeans down around he feet, she had been beaten to death. she was clutching blond hair in her hand and a shoe print was found near the car, in the munitions shed was her jacket that was covered in mud and burrs.

Chris Dennis was at the same time suffering severe bruising to his hands and Knuckles that he claimed was from punching the walls at his home., Chris Dennis also had long blond hair. The hair found in Robins hand was never put through DNA Analysis, nor was Chris Dennis's shoes ever examined. The Shoe was never matched to Maurice Mason however this was used repeatedly in the prosecutions closing statements. Maurice's clothes were examined and no traces of mud or burrs were found on them. the coroner also reported that Robin Dennis was killed on the 13th, Maurice Mason was in Jail at the time of Robins Death.

Maurice Masons semen was found on Robin Dennis's panties however, the states own expert witness testified that the location of the semen had to have been deposited there when the panties were pulled up and there was no trauma to the genitalia of Robin Dennis indicating that she engaged in consensual sexual contact and was not killed directly after the act. a second pair of panties were also located in the trunk of Robin Dennis car they also contained semen however this was never tested.

During Maurice Masons trial the jury never got to hear evidence about Chris Dennis violent history including an incident a year prior to the trial where Chris Dennis attacked the boyfriend of his former wife Annette with a machete severely wounding him, however the jury was made aware that Maurice Mason had violated his parole due to his involvement in the case. Mason also showed a need for the continuance during his trial demonstrating in detail that his defense was unprepared the court ordered that his trial continue under the threat that counsel would be removed and no fees payed.

now this is what I want to know how can a man be convicted of Rape when there is no evidence that a rape even occurred, how can an African American man be found guilty when the hair found in the victims hand was Blond and did not belong to the victim, and there is no evidence that he was involved in the murder, how can this man be sentenced to Death when he was in jail and alibied by the police when the murder occurred. and most importantly how can we not listen to a man screaming for justice.

Justice was not served in this case, Maurice Mason did not commit this crime of that I am sure. There is something very wrong in Ohio and it may cost an Innocent man his life.