Ex-Ranger found guilty of retiree ax murder

[unhappycamper]

Ex-Ranger found guilty of retiree ax murder
James Meriweather - Gannett News Service
Posted : Friday Feb 1, 2008 5:44:58 EST

For a third time, Bruce Banther has been convicted of first-degree murder in the February 1997 ax killing of Dennis Ravers, a 57-year-old Air Force retiree.

Given that Delaware state law provides only for life in prison without possibility of release, Superior Court President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. was prepared to pass sentence immediately. But in deference to a defense request for time to prepare post-trial motions, he set sentencing for Feb. 12.

Banther’s first conviction was thrown out by the Delaware Supreme Court because a juror failed to disclose that she had been the victim of a violent crime.

A second conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court because the trial judge allowed the state to argue that Banther, 46, and a co-defendant, John Schmitz, had plotted to kill Ravers — and Banther already had been acquitted on a conspiracy charge in the first trial.

Defense attorneys argued that the Supreme Court ruling robbed the state of its case and tried unsuccessfully to persuade Vaughn to throw out the original indictment against Banther. The judge ruled, however, that the higher court ruling did not preclude the state from arguing that Banther single-handedly killed Ravers or that he “unilaterally” joined Schmitz, a former airman at Dover Air Force Base, in the murder without an agreement between the two men.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/gns_ax_murder_080131/