Killer's claim: prison made errors

Killer's claim: prison made errors
BY JANICE MORSE JMORSE@ENQUIRER.COM

LEBANON -- Prison officials helped set the stage for murder by housing Timothy Hancock, a convicted killer who hated sex offenders, in a cell with child rapist Jason Wagner, an expert witness told a Warren County jury this morning.
In the first Ohio case of its kind, the jury is considering whether to reinstate a previous jury's recommendation of a death sentence for Hancock. The 37-year-old Allen County man was granted a new "penalty phase," but not a new trial, after a series of appeals. The jury was seated Wednesday; officials expect testimony and closing arguments to wrap up on Monday.
Although Warren County assistant prosecutors argue that the heinousness of the slaying and other factors call for the death penalty, lawyers from the Ohio Public Defender's Office are presenting evidence attempting to persuade the jury to spare Hancock's life.

Testifying for the defense, Steve J. Martin, a Texas corrections consultant, told the jury today that Warren Correctional Institution officials violated state and local policies when they failed to properly collect and assess information about the character of Hancock and Wagner before they put the inmates together in 2000.There were factors “compelling that these two particuclar inmates be housed in different cells," Martin said. As a convicted child rapist, Wagner was despised among other inmates, Martin said.Wagner also had a history of mental illness and mild mental retardation, and openly talked about his crime, making him more vulnerable to attack. Further, records describe him as small in stature and "weak," Martin said. "In his case, any one of those factors could have been...enough to keep him by himself," Martin said. Hancock had a documented chronic history of mental illnesses, violence, and expressed dislike of sex offenders. He also objected to sharing a cell with Wagner, Martin said. Because of both inmates' histories, "There was a failure to manage what is an obvious and known risk...Them coming together in a cell," Martin said.Josh Engel, Warren County assistant prosecutor, attacked Martin's credibility, noting he lacked specific knowledge of Ohio prison statistics that would have a bearing on how often inmates are put into cells in pairs and how many are in prison for crimes against other people.