Johnny S. Clarke & Lisa Straub- young Ohio couple murdered

[Lady Cop]

TheBlade article

Attorneys for a Toledo man charged in the 2011 asphyxiation deaths of a Springfield Township couple have filed a motion claiming Cameo Pettaway is ineligible for the death penalty because he is mentally disabled.

A motion was filed recently asking Judge James Bates to dismiss the death-penalty specifications from Mr. Pettaway's aggravated murder case.

Accompanying the motion but placed under seal was a psychological evaluation.

Mr. Pettaway, 22, of 133 Essex St., is charged with two counts of aggravated murder, one count of aggravated burglary, and two counts of kidnapping. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Mr. Pettaway and co-defendant Samuel Williams, 24, of 1626 Kelsey Ave. are charged in the Jan. 31, 2011, asphyxiation deaths of Lisa Straub and Johnny Clarke. The pair were found bound by duct tape, with plastic bags over their heads, in the home of Ms. Straub's parents on Longacre Lane home.

Both men have trial dates set for July 17.

Although the written evaluation by Cleveland psychologist John Matthew Fabian was filed under seal, he expressed some of his findings in a letter filed as part of a defense request to disqualify Judge James Bates from the case. Also in that request -- which was subsequently denied -- Mr. Pettaway's lawyers wrote that their client's "full scale IQ score" was 71.

"I have found significant cognitive and neuropsychological deficits, IQ in the mentally retarded range, and reading skills in the early elementary level," Mr. Fabian wrote in the May 5 letter filed with the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Executing those who are developmentally disabled was found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002. However, in that opinion, the high court left it up to individual death-penalty states to develop their own criteria for determining a definition for a person with developmental disabilities.

In December, 2002, the Ohio Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that a definition requires: "(1) significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, (2) significant limitations in two or more adaptive skills, such as communication, self-care, and self-direction, and (3) onset before the age of 18."

The prosecutor's office will have the opportunity to respond to the motion. Lawyers for Mr. Pettaway and the state are barred from discussing the motion because of a gag order imposed by the court.

Family members of both victims have attended court proceedings but have said that they decline to comment on the case until it is concluded.