Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 19, 2006 17:56:41 GMT -5
Judge won't allow prior manslaughter conviction in death penalty
case----Roommate testifies he heard brutal beating of Middletown woman.
Dean Geldrich bound his roommate's hands and legs with duct tape, smashed
her nose with his fist, beat her with a large stick so hard it splintered
and slashed her body with kitchen knife 20-plus times before she bled to
death, according to prosecutors and testimony from a man who heard the
attack while sitting in the kitchen of the Malvern Street home.
John Sanders was the 1st witness in Geldrich's death penalty trial that
began in Butler County Common Pleas Court Monday before a 3-judge panel.
Geldrich, 40, is accused of brutally killing Miranda Lint Jan. 1 at the
small house he shared with her and Sanders.
But just prior to the start of the 3-day trial, Judge Andrew Nastoff ruled
Geldrich's previous conviction in 1987 for voluntary manslaughter cannot
be admitted as evidence in his current trial after prosecutors petitioned
the court to admit evidence, claiming there are 20 similarities between
the slaying of a Hamilton man in 1986 and the Lint murder.
Geldrich, who is charged with 2 counts of kidnapping and aggravated
murder, became enraged when Lint continued a loud telephone conversation,
interrupting Sanders and Geldrich. When she did not quiet down, the
accused became violent and began an attack that lasted for hours, said
Assistant Prosecutor Craig Hedric during opening statements.
Sanders testified he was able to calm Geldrich the 1st time he shoved Lint
against the wall and held her by the neck. He then went to take a shower
when he heard Lint's shrieks.
"I heard Miranda holler my name like she was hurt. I came straight out of
the shower," Sanders said.
He said he found the 28-year-old woman laying on her side on the bed;
Geldrich was hovering over her, holding her by the neck.
Geldrich held up a knife and said "all he wanted to do was scare her a
little bit," Sanders said, adding Geldrich called Lint a liar. "He told me
to go back into the kitchen."
Sanders obeyed. He recounted for the court what he heard from the other
room.
"Frog (Geldrich) popped her in the mouth or nose. I heard something pop,"
Sander said during testimony.
Then he heard the sound of duct tape being pulled from a roll and "Frog"
telling Lint "put your hands and feet together."
"She said 'don't put it over my mouth; you broke my nose I can't
breathe'," Sanders said.
At points in the attack, Geldrich pulled back a sheet separating the
living room from the kitchen and talked to Sanders, once asking for for
water.
"At first I thought what I heard was him beating on the bed, a least that
is what I hoped it was. In my mind I knew it wasn't."
Sanders described Lint as "outspoken, abrasive and straight forward."
During the beating, Lint stood up for herself, Sanders said. At one point
she told Geldrich to take off the tape and fight her face to face. After
he cut her she told Geldrich to drag her outside and let her bleed to
death, Sanders said.
When Lint became vocal, Geldrich "whizzed" past Sanders in the kitchen and
grabbed a large stick near the door.
"He was covered in blood from under his chin to the top of his knees,"
Sanders said.
Then from the other room he heard more beating.
"It seemed like there was no pause. Bam, bam, bam," Sanders said.
It was at that point Sanders said he made up a story about going to get
cigarettes and left the residence after Geldrich told him it was a good
idea.
Sanders ran to the Reinartz Road underpass and sat for hours because he
was scared Geldrich may follow him, he said. The next day he went back to
611 1/2 Malvern St., but no one knocked answered his knocks on the windows
and door.
On Jan. 3, Sanders said he went to the police because he was concerned
Geldrich lied when he told him Lint left, and also Sanders said he got
calls from Lint's family who had not seen her.
During cross examination by defense attorney Melynda Cook-Reich, Sanders
admitted to crack cocaine use on New Year's Eve and after the murder
occurred. Sanders also said he took prescription medication for a
work-related injury. The defense questioned whether the drug use affected
Sanders' memory.
Cook-Reich also questioned why Sanders stayed in the house for hours while
hearing the beating.
Sanders said because of his injury, he could not run and he did not think
he could get the door open quietly and fast enough to escape.
"I didn't know what had happened to (Geldrich). I thought he had
completely lost his mind," Sanders said.
The prosecution also introduced into evidence a number of gruesome
photographs of Lint's blood-soaked body found wrapped in a blanket beside
a bed. The victim's mother gasped and sobbed as a photo showing massive
blood splatter on the walls was flashed on the courtroom screen. The
crying increased when Tina Lint saw the slash wounds on her daughter's
body and the bloody clothes pulled out of evidence bags.
Tina Lint, who lived in Middletown, said she moved back to Pennsylvania
with her family and has spent months in the hospital due to the trauma of
her daughter's death.
"I am seeing his man's face on my walls and in my sleep," Tina Lint said.
"My daughter was no saint, I admit that, but how anyone could do something
like this I don't understand."
Geldrich is noticeably heavier now than at the time of the killing.
Defense attorneys say Geldrich suffers from mental illness and now is
medicated, which contributed to the weight gain.
Geldrich's family also was in the courtroom, but declined comment.
(source: Middletown Journal)
case----Roommate testifies he heard brutal beating of Middletown woman.
Dean Geldrich bound his roommate's hands and legs with duct tape, smashed
her nose with his fist, beat her with a large stick so hard it splintered
and slashed her body with kitchen knife 20-plus times before she bled to
death, according to prosecutors and testimony from a man who heard the
attack while sitting in the kitchen of the Malvern Street home.
John Sanders was the 1st witness in Geldrich's death penalty trial that
began in Butler County Common Pleas Court Monday before a 3-judge panel.
Geldrich, 40, is accused of brutally killing Miranda Lint Jan. 1 at the
small house he shared with her and Sanders.
But just prior to the start of the 3-day trial, Judge Andrew Nastoff ruled
Geldrich's previous conviction in 1987 for voluntary manslaughter cannot
be admitted as evidence in his current trial after prosecutors petitioned
the court to admit evidence, claiming there are 20 similarities between
the slaying of a Hamilton man in 1986 and the Lint murder.
Geldrich, who is charged with 2 counts of kidnapping and aggravated
murder, became enraged when Lint continued a loud telephone conversation,
interrupting Sanders and Geldrich. When she did not quiet down, the
accused became violent and began an attack that lasted for hours, said
Assistant Prosecutor Craig Hedric during opening statements.
Sanders testified he was able to calm Geldrich the 1st time he shoved Lint
against the wall and held her by the neck. He then went to take a shower
when he heard Lint's shrieks.
"I heard Miranda holler my name like she was hurt. I came straight out of
the shower," Sanders said.
He said he found the 28-year-old woman laying on her side on the bed;
Geldrich was hovering over her, holding her by the neck.
Geldrich held up a knife and said "all he wanted to do was scare her a
little bit," Sanders said, adding Geldrich called Lint a liar. "He told me
to go back into the kitchen."
Sanders obeyed. He recounted for the court what he heard from the other
room.
"Frog (Geldrich) popped her in the mouth or nose. I heard something pop,"
Sander said during testimony.
Then he heard the sound of duct tape being pulled from a roll and "Frog"
telling Lint "put your hands and feet together."
"She said 'don't put it over my mouth; you broke my nose I can't
breathe'," Sanders said.
At points in the attack, Geldrich pulled back a sheet separating the
living room from the kitchen and talked to Sanders, once asking for for
water.
"At first I thought what I heard was him beating on the bed, a least that
is what I hoped it was. In my mind I knew it wasn't."
Sanders described Lint as "outspoken, abrasive and straight forward."
During the beating, Lint stood up for herself, Sanders said. At one point
she told Geldrich to take off the tape and fight her face to face. After
he cut her she told Geldrich to drag her outside and let her bleed to
death, Sanders said.
When Lint became vocal, Geldrich "whizzed" past Sanders in the kitchen and
grabbed a large stick near the door.
"He was covered in blood from under his chin to the top of his knees,"
Sanders said.
Then from the other room he heard more beating.
"It seemed like there was no pause. Bam, bam, bam," Sanders said.
It was at that point Sanders said he made up a story about going to get
cigarettes and left the residence after Geldrich told him it was a good
idea.
Sanders ran to the Reinartz Road underpass and sat for hours because he
was scared Geldrich may follow him, he said. The next day he went back to
611 1/2 Malvern St., but no one knocked answered his knocks on the windows
and door.
On Jan. 3, Sanders said he went to the police because he was concerned
Geldrich lied when he told him Lint left, and also Sanders said he got
calls from Lint's family who had not seen her.
During cross examination by defense attorney Melynda Cook-Reich, Sanders
admitted to crack cocaine use on New Year's Eve and after the murder
occurred. Sanders also said he took prescription medication for a
work-related injury. The defense questioned whether the drug use affected
Sanders' memory.
Cook-Reich also questioned why Sanders stayed in the house for hours while
hearing the beating.
Sanders said because of his injury, he could not run and he did not think
he could get the door open quietly and fast enough to escape.
"I didn't know what had happened to (Geldrich). I thought he had
completely lost his mind," Sanders said.
The prosecution also introduced into evidence a number of gruesome
photographs of Lint's blood-soaked body found wrapped in a blanket beside
a bed. The victim's mother gasped and sobbed as a photo showing massive
blood splatter on the walls was flashed on the courtroom screen. The
crying increased when Tina Lint saw the slash wounds on her daughter's
body and the bloody clothes pulled out of evidence bags.
Tina Lint, who lived in Middletown, said she moved back to Pennsylvania
with her family and has spent months in the hospital due to the trauma of
her daughter's death.
"I am seeing his man's face on my walls and in my sleep," Tina Lint said.
"My daughter was no saint, I admit that, but how anyone could do something
like this I don't understand."
Geldrich is noticeably heavier now than at the time of the killing.
Defense attorneys say Geldrich suffers from mental illness and now is
medicated, which contributed to the weight gain.
Geldrich's family also was in the courtroom, but declined comment.
(source: Middletown Journal)