Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 18:29:47 GMT -5
Death row inmate, OU grad looks back
While he studied at Ohio University in the early 1990s, James Filiaggi was
known as a local boxing champion "Fooge," as his friends call him.Now
they have to file forms to visit him, and he has a different
identification: Inmate No. 311180 on Ohio's death row. As a Bobcat,
Filiaggi studied business and accounting after spending 4 years of
military duty, graduating with honors in 1992. He married Lisa Huff in
1990, while he was still in school, and they had 2 daughters before
divorcing shortly after his graduation.
Filiaggi, now 41, talks fondly about his days at OU from a small
conference room at the Mansfield Correctional Institution. His cuffed
hands jingle as he gestures. His voice becomes clinical when the subject
is the conviction he received for fatally shooting Huff in 1994. His
lawyers argued a defense based on doctors' findings of a chemical
imbalance in his body that indicated bipolar disorder, a condition marked
by mood swings. The appeals are over, and ultimately the courts upheld his
conviction.
"I'm done," he said.
"I'm just waiting for a date."
His execution date, usually given about 90 days in advance, likely will be
set this month, he added.
'Crazy thinking'
The divorce from his wife began a downward spiral of events that led
Filiaggi to plan to shoot himself in front of his ex-wife, a plan he now
calls "crazy thinking;" the result of a failure to see other options. On
January 24, 1994, Filiaggi visited Huff in northern Ohio where she stayed
with her fianc. "From there, it was just like a dream," he said.He
describes the ensuing chase into a neighbors house with the tone of a
distant outside. "It was so surreal. I can see it now, but it's like it
wasn't me, but I'm watching from out of my body," Filiaggi said. Filiaggi
found Huff hiding in a closet, and the gun he carried went off in a
struggle, hitting Huff in the shoulder, he said.
"Next thing I know, she's sitting on the bedroom floor with her head down,
and I walked up behind her and pulled the trigger," he said. "She just sat
there. And I turned around and walked out of the house, and that was
that."
He left the area for a week and eventually peacefully surrendered to
olice.
The same FoogeCollege friends and acquaintances of Filiaggi, a Lorain
County native, say they still have trouble comprehending how the studious
boxer and rugby player they knew is a man now convicted of murder. Athens
resident Cindy Hayes attended OU with Filiaggi and was shocked by news of
the shooting. She tried to keep contact with her friend but stopped as she
struggled to make sense of the situation. When she decided to visit again
2 years ago, Hayes said she hoped she would find a man who fit some
criminal image, an image that made sense. Instead, he seemed like the same
Fooge she knew, she said.
Herman Carson, the Athens attorney who represented Filiaggi after a
1-punch, college bar fight that resulted in a misdemeanor assault
conviction, said he remembers his client as a very polite guy and bright
student.
"You wonder what went wrong, was there something someone could have done,"
Carson said.
Filiaggi himself has no clear explanation. "How did I end up here? I dont
know, he shrugs. He adds quickly, however, that hindsight has illuminated
mistakes. Making peace Filiaggi has mixed thoughts about the
appropriateness of his punishment, which he says he came to terms with
more than a decade ago. People would empathize more if the situation were
reversed with his ex-wife as the shooter, he said, but he makes no attempt
at explanation of the crime. "How do you justify taking somebody's life?"
he asked.
"You don't."
Thats exactly what Hayes said she has come to realize while she can't get
her mind around it, her friend has accepted the circumstances and seems to
have made peace with the course of his life. Filiaggi lives vicariously
through the stories and photos of friends like Hayes. The visits are a
welcome break from the solitary "concrete coffin" where Filiaggi spends
most of his days, he said, days that offer plenty of time for reflection.
"You never realize how good you got it out there until you dont have
things," Filiaggi said.
"I mean, hell, I ain't walked on grass in over a decade. What I wouldn't
do to walk on some grass."
(source: The Post)
While he studied at Ohio University in the early 1990s, James Filiaggi was
known as a local boxing champion "Fooge," as his friends call him.Now
they have to file forms to visit him, and he has a different
identification: Inmate No. 311180 on Ohio's death row. As a Bobcat,
Filiaggi studied business and accounting after spending 4 years of
military duty, graduating with honors in 1992. He married Lisa Huff in
1990, while he was still in school, and they had 2 daughters before
divorcing shortly after his graduation.
Filiaggi, now 41, talks fondly about his days at OU from a small
conference room at the Mansfield Correctional Institution. His cuffed
hands jingle as he gestures. His voice becomes clinical when the subject
is the conviction he received for fatally shooting Huff in 1994. His
lawyers argued a defense based on doctors' findings of a chemical
imbalance in his body that indicated bipolar disorder, a condition marked
by mood swings. The appeals are over, and ultimately the courts upheld his
conviction.
"I'm done," he said.
"I'm just waiting for a date."
His execution date, usually given about 90 days in advance, likely will be
set this month, he added.
'Crazy thinking'
The divorce from his wife began a downward spiral of events that led
Filiaggi to plan to shoot himself in front of his ex-wife, a plan he now
calls "crazy thinking;" the result of a failure to see other options. On
January 24, 1994, Filiaggi visited Huff in northern Ohio where she stayed
with her fianc. "From there, it was just like a dream," he said.He
describes the ensuing chase into a neighbors house with the tone of a
distant outside. "It was so surreal. I can see it now, but it's like it
wasn't me, but I'm watching from out of my body," Filiaggi said. Filiaggi
found Huff hiding in a closet, and the gun he carried went off in a
struggle, hitting Huff in the shoulder, he said.
"Next thing I know, she's sitting on the bedroom floor with her head down,
and I walked up behind her and pulled the trigger," he said. "She just sat
there. And I turned around and walked out of the house, and that was
that."
He left the area for a week and eventually peacefully surrendered to
olice.
The same FoogeCollege friends and acquaintances of Filiaggi, a Lorain
County native, say they still have trouble comprehending how the studious
boxer and rugby player they knew is a man now convicted of murder. Athens
resident Cindy Hayes attended OU with Filiaggi and was shocked by news of
the shooting. She tried to keep contact with her friend but stopped as she
struggled to make sense of the situation. When she decided to visit again
2 years ago, Hayes said she hoped she would find a man who fit some
criminal image, an image that made sense. Instead, he seemed like the same
Fooge she knew, she said.
Herman Carson, the Athens attorney who represented Filiaggi after a
1-punch, college bar fight that resulted in a misdemeanor assault
conviction, said he remembers his client as a very polite guy and bright
student.
"You wonder what went wrong, was there something someone could have done,"
Carson said.
Filiaggi himself has no clear explanation. "How did I end up here? I dont
know, he shrugs. He adds quickly, however, that hindsight has illuminated
mistakes. Making peace Filiaggi has mixed thoughts about the
appropriateness of his punishment, which he says he came to terms with
more than a decade ago. People would empathize more if the situation were
reversed with his ex-wife as the shooter, he said, but he makes no attempt
at explanation of the crime. "How do you justify taking somebody's life?"
he asked.
"You don't."
Thats exactly what Hayes said she has come to realize while she can't get
her mind around it, her friend has accepted the circumstances and seems to
have made peace with the course of his life. Filiaggi lives vicariously
through the stories and photos of friends like Hayes. The visits are a
welcome break from the solitary "concrete coffin" where Filiaggi spends
most of his days, he said, days that offer plenty of time for reflection.
"You never realize how good you got it out there until you dont have
things," Filiaggi said.
"I mean, hell, I ain't walked on grass in over a decade. What I wouldn't
do to walk on some grass."
(source: The Post)