Media Reports on the trial of William Inman II, and Summary

Today, one day after sentencing William Inman II to life in prison without the possibility of parole, I was interviewed by NBC4 out of Columbus, Ohio, and the Columbus Dispatch.

I was interviewed by NBC4's Steve Wainfor for a news segment on the 5 o'clock news.  You can watch the resulting video here.




NBC4 News Article About My Interview

Article Featured On Columbus Dispatch Website

In this blog, I will try to simplify the case as much as I can in laymen's terms.

Evidence

We were shown nearly 190 piece of evidence.  However, only one piece of evidence tied the whole crime together.  The GPS unit was the only thing GIVEN to the detectives, and it was the one thing that we found to be the defining aspect of our guilty verdict.  Without the GPS, the detectives would never have known that the Inmans went to two car washes, (both had recoverable security camera footage), and an auto salvage store, where the Inmans switched the tires on their white 2003 Ford Crown Victoria, a former Streetsboro Police Department car.  The second car wash showed the Inmans appear to clean the car and remove the spotlight on the driver side "A pillar," (the one closest to the front of the car).

The owner of the auto salvage store stated during testimony that William Inman I (dad) had bought tires that were not as good condition as the tires that were on the car.

The GPS corresponded with a cell phone call that was made by the younger Inman in front of the Logan WalMart store.  Willie made this call to Summer to state that he was broken down near Mansfield and was not able to pick up the kids that day.  He was not in Mansfield, he was circling Logan waiting until Summer got off of work.  He lied to the police, and he lied to Summer.

I do have to add one thing.  Many people are saying that "oh they had 190 pieces of evidence, but one convinced them.  They must be stupid."  Listen.  An overwhelming majority of the evidence was pictures of the same thing, taken from different angles.  I think there were 20 pictures of the outside of the car......

Verdict

While looking through the evidence during deliberation, we found no evidence that William Inman II pulled the zip tie around Summer Inman's neck because any fingerprint evidence was destroyed when Summer's body was dumped in the septic tank of the Faith Tabernacle Church near Nelsonville, Ohio, (this is the same church where Summer and Willie met and were married).  However, while we did conclude that Willie was involved, we were not convinced that he was the sole proprietor (or principle offender, as the instructions said).  This simply means that Willie may have pulled the zip tie, but we found no evidence to show us that.  I know this is hard for people to accept, but this is how it's done in the court of law.  For this case, there were two stipulations for each aggravated murder charge (the highest form of murder in the state of Ohio).

Stipulation 1: William Inman II was the principle offender
Stipulation 2: William Inman II was a conspirator, and was involved with the murder, but did not necessarily pull the zip tie.

According to Ohio law, these two are to be deemed equal, and should be treated equally.

Sentencing

As mentioned in the Columbus Dispatch article, my first response was that Willie should get life with the possibility of parole after 30 years.  I was quickly persuaded though to accept life with no possibility of parole.


I must stress that no one was forced or pressured into the verdict.  Everyone was eventually convinced that life in prison without parole was necessary.

We felt that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating offenses.

Mitigating factors: William Inman II was, emotionally and psychologically, a 12-13 year old (even though he is 26).  He was spoiled by mom, with no restrictions or discipline, and a controlling father.  He had no self-identity and was wholly dependent on mom and dad to do everything.
Aggravated offenses: William Inman II was a conspirator, and involved with the murder, but did not necessarily pull the zip tie.

Because of our decision, death was to not be imposed, as per instructions from Judge Wallace.

Comments

I personally am against the death penalty, but because it was a secular institution, and because it was law, I felt that I would have been able to sign my name to put William Inman II to death.

Here are some comments that I am seeing on Facebook and the various news sources.

OMG this story is so scary! To think that he could have gotten away with this horrible gruesome murder if not for the GPS.Did the jury not hear or see all the 191 pieces of evidence? I am so sick of people crying about there childhood and using it as an excuse to kill someone.My Daddy made me do it. Bullsh--! He wanted to do it! I hope the next two juries are smarter then this one!


WELL IT'S A DAM SHAME THAT TAX PAYERS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY TO KEEP HIM FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE,I SAW THIS MAN IN JAIL AND HE COULD CARE LESS THAT HE IS THERE,IT'S A FREE RIDE FOR HIM!! THEY SHOULD TAKE HIS LIFE THE SAME WAY HE TOOK SUMMERS!!!!!!!


(My favorite)
He deserved to be eaten alive by wild dogs instead of afree ride at taxpayer's expense for the next 60 years.


weak. Why dont they sentence people to death anymore? I swear, we ahve to many people who are too sensitive to people getting punished. Oh well, were all going to pay for his living exspenses. Thank you Jury who voted for life w/o parole.


Should have got the death penalty ! Mental issues is a cop out excuse , if you can figure out how to kill someone u deserve the same !


Such a sleaze!!!!!


They should stuff him in a septic tank.


Then let those jurors pay for his time in prison because I do not want to pay for every meal he has that keeps him alive, all the water and soap to keep him clean and feeling good, the electricity used to power anything to help him read books or news papers. I don't want to pay for that and I'm sure nobody else does either


I still think they ought to tie him up in the town square and let the residents have a go at him. Instead we get to support him for the rest of his sorry life. :/


don't like we are paying for his keep, but the death penalty is too easy for him, he deserves so much more I agree with *********


If this is your first time to my blog, you probably should know that I suffer from clinical depression.  I was first diagnosed with depression back in about fourth grade.  In September of 2008, I was in a downward spiral, emotionally, mentally, and physically. I was dealing with a lot of issues concerning schooling, family, and friends.  The medications that I was taking weren't working. I attempted suicide on September 17, 2008 in my home outside of Logan, (thankfully I was treated and released from the hospital the same night).  I think the depression was brought on by the torment and bullying that I experienced all throughout school by the rotten spoiled rich kids.  It has affected my life drastically that I have to seek counseling and have to take medication everyday.  Folks, psychological issues are real.  These feelings don't just come and go, they come and they stay.  They stay for long periods of time.  They affect my life, my 
relationships, and my family and friends.

Taxpayer Cost

The one thing that I see consistently is that the taxpayers shouldn't keep him alive.  In Texas, it costs nearly 4 times more money to put someone to death than to keep someone alive.  Check out this website to see how much it costs to put someone to death.  We were to not consider the taxpayer cost in our deliberation.

Emotions

I also see a lot of people putting their emotions into this.  Putting your emotions and preconceived notions forward was the thing you should NOT do in jury.  You have to consider the facts and evidence shown, and NOTHING ELSE.

Advice For Future Jurors

I was asked by Steve Wainfor for some advice to future jurors:

1.) Do not let your emotions show, and do not let your emotions cloud your focus
2.) Leave all your perceived notions outside, and focus only on the facts and evidence.
3.) Leave your baggage and anger outside the courtroom.

Why did I do this?  I believe that jury duty is a very serious job.  I treated it like a job.  I did my job, even if I didn't like some aspects of it.  Anyone who has a job dislikes something about it.  My mother, who is a clerk, hates doing things more than once.  I kept my Christian beliefs out of this because I felt that this was not the appropriate time to bring it up or to be "religious."  Remember: Separation of church and state.

God bless the family and friends of Summer Cook-Inman in their time of pain.

UPDATE: Other jurors are coming forward with their stories.  You can see two of them at the CBS station in Columbus here.