Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce has denied former Akron police captain Douglas Prade a new trial in the death of his ex-wife.
“The defendant has failed to introduce any new evidence that the jury had not already considered during the 1998 trial,” Croce said in her 18-page decision released Friday afternoon.
Croce said the DNA evidence that another judge found should exonerate Prade was “likely the product of incidental transfer and or contamination, rendering those profiles meaningless.” She said the introduction of the DNA evidence at a new trial therefore likely wouldn’t change the verdict.
Kenya Prade, one of Prade’s two daughters who is supportive of her father, first learned about Croce’s ruling Friday on Facebook. She said she planned to talk to her father over the weekend.
“I am just upset with the decision,” she said. “That’s pretty much it.”
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, though, who fought against the new trial, was pleased.
“In this case, there was overwhelming evidence that Douglas Prade stalked and terrorized Margo Prade prior to killing her. Judge Croce agreed that the DNA found on Margo’s lab coat was unreliable and meaningless,” Walsh said in a statement. “For the past 19 years, Doug Prade has tried to find one way or another out of prison. It’s time for him to accept the jury’s verdict and take responsibility.”
A fight for freedom
David Alden, Prade’s attorney with the Ohio Innocence Project, was on the road Friday returning from vacation and had not yet had the chance to read the ruling.
“We’re reviewing it and will see if there are grounds to appeal, which I suspect there are,” he said.
Prade, who will turn 70 later this month, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1997 shooting death of his ex-wife, Margo Prade, that happened inside her van at the parking lot of her Wooster Avenue Medical office.
Prade was seeking a new trial based on DNA evidence that excluded his genetic markers from the most scrutinized evidence in the case — a bite mark impression left under two layers of a lab coat worn by Dr. Prade on the morning of the slaying.
In January 2013, Prade was freed from prison after Summit County Common Pleas Judge Judy Hunter ruled the DNA evidence proved his innocence. An appeal by prosecutors sent him back to prison in October 2014.
Croce’s long-awaited decision focused on whether Prade should be granted a new trial based on the new DNA evidence, forensic odontology — the study of bite-mark evidence — and eye-witness testimony. She heard oral arguments in June.
Alden said DNA evidence found near a bite mark on Margo Prade’s coat and under four of her fingernails excludes Douglas Prade from the act — though the man the DNA belongs to hasn’t been identified. He also questioned the reliability of matching teeth marks found beneath two layers of clothing on Margo Prade’s body.
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Brad Gessner, however, argued the bite mark and DNA wouldn’t be enough to sway a future jury.
Croce agreed. She dismissed the relevance of the new evidence, repeatedly saying it “does not disclose a strong probability that a different verdict would be reached if a new trial is granted.”
Likely contamination
Croce said the DNA evidence on Margo Prade’s lab coat “traveled at various times to at least five different laboratories and were handled by an undetermined number of individuals.” The judge said it is likely the DNA “occurred due to incidental transfer and/or contamination rather than containing the true DNA from Margo Prade’s killer.”
Croce also noted “the overwhelming other circumstantial evidence in this case,” including Prade’s motive, financial problems, the impending divorce, and his jealousy. She quoted from a Ninth District Court of Appeals’ decision.
“The amount of circumstantial evidence that the state presented at trial in support of Prade’s guilt was overwhelming,” the appeal’s court said. “The picture painted by the evidence was one of an abusive, domineering husband who became accustomed to a certain standard of living and who spiralled out of control after his successful wife finally divorced him, forced him out of the house, found happiness with another man, and threatened his dwindling finances. The evidence, while all circumstantial in nature, came from numerous, independent sources and provided answers for both the means and motive for the murder.”
Alden said he was surprised and disappointed by Croce’s decision. He said the evidence, as judge Hunter found, supports both a finding of innocence and the need for a new trial. He said the ruling will be a crushing blow for his client, who is incarcerated at Allen Correctional Institution in Lima.
“For him, it’s just unimaginable — to be found innocent and wrongly re-incarcerated and now not to be granted a new trial unless we prevail on appeal,” Alden said. “He’s [nearly] 70 years old and sitting in prison. That’s a very unfortunate fact.”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.