Robert Anthony Buell

Background

Robert Anthony Buell was a former Akron city planner who lived in the nearby town of Clinton. He lived in Mansfield Correctional Institution and was on Death Row at the time of his execution. Buell was 62 years old.

Buell was convicted in 1984 of murdering Krista Lea Harrison. Krista Harrison was abducted from a park across the street from where she lived in the village of Marshallville while she collected aluminum cans with a boy. Krista’s body was found six days later in Holmes County.

Buell claimed he was innocent and that there was no eyewitness or DNA evidence connecting him to the crime. He maintained that position during his appeals and up to his execution.

The offence

In July 1982, Krista Harrison was abducted from a park across the street from her home in the village of Marshallville. Her body was found six days later in a remote area of Holmes County.

The autopsy showed Krista had been sexually assaulted and then strangled.

Investigation

Investigators collected evidence from the crime scene. Two gloves with orange carpet fibers were found. Other items discovered included a clump of hair, a blanket, a green garbage bag with tape on it, and two pieces of a cardboard box with the shipping label sprayed over with black paint.

Testing showed carpet at the crime scene matched carpet seized from a van owned by Buell and from Buell’s home. Testing also showed hair samples from Krista and hair samples found at the crime scene were consistent.

Fibers on Krista’s body matched fibers taken from carpet in Buell’s van, and blue and tan paint found on men’s jeans dumped at the crime scene matched paint found in Buell’s home.

The crime went unsolved for 15 months until a 28-year-old woman who was abducted at gunpoint and raped and tortured at Buell’s home escaped and ran to a neighbor’s house. The details of the assault led to his arrest for Krista’s death.

Investigators also admitted that some witnesses in the murder case had been hypnotized to aid recall.

Arrest

Buell was identified as the prime suspect immediately after he was arrested in October 1982 for abducting a Columbiana County woman at gunpoint, handcuffing her to his bed in Summit County’s Franklin Township, and raping her.

Trial

Buell was convicted of aggravated murder, sexual penetration and kidnapping of Krista on April 4, 1984. On April 11, 1984, the trial court sentenced him to death after agreeing with the jury’s recommendation.

The trial was moved from Wayne County to Cuyahoga County to avoid potential pretrial publicity. A jury trial was held.

Buell’s lawyers argued that prosecutors withheld evidence that witnesses had been hypnotized, and Buell’s lawyers contended that hypnosis enhanced or altered witnesses’ memories before they testified. The appellate courts ruled prosecutors did not act improperly and that the witnesses were not crucial to his conviction.

An issue on hypnosis was addressed in the appellate ruling, which stated: “Neither the disclosure that witnesses had been hypnotized nor the suppression of hypnotically refreshed testimony would have created a reasonable probability that the result of Buell's trial would have been different.”

Sentencing

Buell was sentenced to death on April 11, 1984 for the kidnapping and murder of Krista.

Separately, Buell pleaded no contest in 1983 to rape of two women and was sentenced to 121 years in prison.

Buell also pleaded no contest to rape, kidnapping, and holding a captive at his home for 3 days in connection with a rape involving a Chester, W.Va., woman.

Appeals

Buell appealed his death penalty case. His appeal was to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, marking Buell’s 3rd and final round of appeals.

He appealed based on objections related to the hypnotizing of witnesses at his trial, among other claims. State and federal courts turned down his last-minute appeals based on those objections.

In his appeal, Buell argued that U.S. District Judge Paul R. Matia should have recused himself because, as a state senator in 1981, Matia sponsored a bill restoring Ohio’s death penalty. The appellate judges rebuffed Buell’s contention regarding recusal and upheld Matia’s rulings that many of Buell’s appeals were invalid because they previously had not been argued to lower courts.

The appellate panel also denied claims of constitutional violations concerning the trial court’s jury instructions, the judge’s refusal to allow testimony from an eyewitness identification expert, ineffective counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, and claims that the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Buell’s habeas petition related to his 1984 conviction and death sentence for the sexual assault and murder of eleven-year-old Krista Lee Harrison. In the federal proceedings described in the case record, the judgment of the district court was affirmed and Buell’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus was denied.

Buell received a last-minute reprieve from the electric chair in January 1996 with a 5-4 stay by the U.S. Supreme Court. That stay remained in place.

On October 19, 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Buell’s appeal.

On February 7, 1992, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Buell’s appeal.

More appeals were denied on July 22, 1999.

Outcome

Buell was executed by lethal injection in Ohio.

Buell was scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 25, 2002, and his time of death was 10:30 a.m. on September 24, 2002. State and federal courts turned down last-minute appeals.

State Governor Bob Taft refused clemency. Taft said: “In spite of the overwhelming evidence of his guilt, Mr. Buell is unrepentant and has failed to accept responsibility for the death.”

Taft also stated: “I find the aggravating circumstances and brutality of this crime, as well as Mr. Buell's other extensive and violent conduct, outweigh any mitigating factors, and I can find no compelling reason to grant clemency in this case,”

The Ohio Parole Board recommended against clemency.

Aftermath

Buell gave a one-minute statement directed to the parents of Krista Harrison, Gerald and Shirley Harrison.

“Jerry and Shirley, I didn't kill your daughter. The prosecutor knows that . . . and they left the real killer out there on the streets to kill again and again and again. So that some good may come of this, I ask that you continue to pursue this to the end. Don't let the prosecutor continue to spin this out of focus and force them to find out who really killed your daughter. That's all I have to say."

Prison officials said Buell awoke at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday and had a breakfast of bran flakes and a glass of milk.

He spent time listening to the radio in his cell. He ate his special meal at 4:06 p.m. Tuesday described as “a single black, unpitted olive.”

Protesters were outside the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility on Wednesday, including Tom O’Brien, 38. O’Brien said: “I saw the injustices that were prevalent throughout the system, and said I need to take a stand against it,”

Kathy Soltis, a member of the Cleveland Coalition Against the Death Penalty, was also described as at the protest. Soltis said the number of protesters shrank since the state switched to daytime executions and that Buell was a “less sympathetic figure.”

Buell’s execution was witnessed by Krista Harrison’s father, Gerald, and older brothers Mark and Dana. It was also stated that, although he was permitted to have 3 witnesses, Buell declined that option.

Buell left his mother Ola, sister Carole, and a 37-year-old daughter.

It was also stated that Buell declined to participate in interviews and maintained innocence.

Timeline

• July 17, 1982 — 11-year-old Krista Lea Harrison of Marshallville was abducted.
• July 23, 1982 — Krista’s body was found.
• October 1983 — A 28-year-old woman fled the home of Buell, claiming she was kidnapped and raped.
• November 15, 1983 — Buell was indicted for the slaying of Krista.
• April 4, 1984 — Buell was convicted of aggravated murder, sexual penetration and kidnapping of Krista.
• April 11, 1984 — Judge upholds a jury’s death sentence recommendation for Buell.
• Jan. 22, 1996 — Buell taken to “Death House” at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
• Jan. 23, 1996 — The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution.
• Aug. 22, 1988 — Prosecutors admitted some witnesses in the murder case were hypnotized to aid recall.
• Dec. 30, 1988 — Request for a new trial was denied.
• Oct. 7, 1986 — U.S.
• July 22, 1999 — More appeals were denied.
• July 11, 2002 — Execution by lethal injection set for Sept. 25.