Agent Curtis was testifying as an expert witness with regard to responses he observed before and after, but not during, a polygraph test that he administered to Mr. Get free summaries of new Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia opinions delivered to your inbox! Defendant contends that the trial court erred by instructing the jury that they were to determine the "guilt or innocence of the accused." Perhaps it would have been better to allow the excerpts to be read to the jury without admitting the text as an exhibit. Ferrell's family store was in close proximity to both the post office and the restaurant. These calls, when considered in conjunction with the calls to local women, are probative, because they tend to prove that Mr. Ferrell used fraud to entice Cathy Ford to the area of his mobile home for the purpose of obtaining some sexual concession or advantage. You already receive all suggested Justia Opinion Summary Newsletters. Officer Defendants, Murder Real Name: Paul William Ferrell Case: Appeal Location: Gormania, West Virginia Date: February 17, 1988 Details: Former Deputy Sheriff Paul Ferrell was convicted of murdering nineteen-year-old Gorman, Maryland resident Cathy Ford; he maintains that he is innocent. He wrote that Ferrell's On the element of fraud, the jury had ample evidence of Mr. Ferrell's use of fraudulent phone calls to obtain what he desired, so that they could reasonably infer that Mr. Ferrell used fraud to get Cathy Ford to meet him at or near his trailer. ___ W.Va. at ___, 399 S.E.2d at 837. Paul is related to Roberta K McIntyre and Rebecca Lea Ferrell as well as 2 additional people. She has a 1995 bachelor's degree in Journalism from West Virginia University. 19401. It is apparent that at any point along the way the salesperson could have terminated these voluntary activities by hanging up or by advising the caller that it was not customary to read books over the telephone. Ferril, Ferrel, et al.) Consequently, because there was a lack of evidence to show that Cathy Ford was abducted for the purpose of obtaining some sexual advantage or concession, the kidnapping charge cannot, in my opinion, be sustained. sexual reasons, his trial included circumstantial evidence that he had In Stinnett v. U.S., 173 F.2d 129 (4th Cir.1949), cert. Reconnect with William Ferrell by joining our alumni site today. In Smith v. Bordenkircher, 718 F.2d 1273 (4th Cir.1983), cert. The majority, however, was undoubtedly not concerned with this point because it intended to conclude that the error was harmless, a result which borders on the absurd. However, when his girlfriend, Cathy Bernard, visited his trailer on 14 February 1988, she had not noticed any stains on the master bedroom carpet, nor any strong odors. Consequently, she refused to leave work to meet him, and he responded that he would have to get in touch with her at a later date. It specified that she heard the sounds on February 17; she claims that she did not specify that day. As the trial progressed, the prosecution introduced rather "unorthodox" testimony. Yet, this was the very premise on which the State built its case. Select a record type to search. She later recanted her testimony, The trial court erred in not properly advising the petitioner in accordance with the Neuman instructions. He married his high school sweetheart, Rebecca Ruth . murder of Cathy Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from nearby Maryland. Moreover, one can only assume that the majority's reference to "[in]voluntary providers of sexual gratification" is intended to describe the salespersons who took the telephone calls at the bookstores. Upon an examination of the context in which the phrase "guilt or innocence of the accused" was used, and considering the purpose of the instruction in which that phrase is to be found, we find that there was no error. Soon after the search, they found out that Mr. Ferrell had replaced the carpeting in the bedroom. The majority does not even address whether the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the F.B.I. Aaron Tippin Bonnaroo Buzzfest CeCe Winans Coachella Fishfest . He gave the first general formulation of the equations of motion for a body moving with respect to the rotating earth and . He was the same age with Brian De Palma and William Finley when they made Phantom of the Paradise (1974). Posted in: Real Name: Paul William Ferrell [3] The testimony was unclear on the exact contents of the letter and of the subsequent conversation between Cathy Bernard and Paul Ferrell. The next day, Cathy's family and Darvin put up posters and organized search parties. Cathy Bernard's testimony on this matter was offered to link Paul Ferrell to the telephone call to Cathy Ford concerning a liquor investigation of her family's restaurant. View William Farrell results in Virginia (VA) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. proof of Ferrell's involvement in the Yellowstone murders, as they had agent, offered his opinion that the defendant had impliedly acknowledged his guilt, his testimony undoubtedly carried substantial weight with the jury. Author. zhuri james net worth 2021 / low carb ground beef and spinach recipes / low carb ground beef and spinach recipes promised. When adopted, it was identical to FRE 404(b). Mr. Ferrell discouraged a search of the area when Ms. Ford's Bronco was located; he wrote a letter to Ms. Ford's parents; he asked his girlfriend to make calls to indicate to Ms. Ford's family that she was all right; and he regularly used telephone impersonations to attempt to entice young women to meet him in secluded areas. . In sum, then, I do not believe that this evidence was admissible as an exception to the general rule prohibiting the introduction of evidence of other crimes or wrongs. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Paul A Ferrell. Agent Audrey Lynch, a forensic serologist, testified that her analysis of these samples demonstrated that one contained human protein, but could not be confirmed as containing blood, five contained blood which could not be confirmed as human, and the remainder contained human blood. I know of no court which has sanctioned such an approach. On the grounds that Ferrell might have committed the alleged crime for As I have already remarked, there was simply no evidence to connect the telephone calls to the bookstores with the kidnapping of Cathy Ford. His father, Paul Hamilton Williams, died in a car crash when Paul was 13-years-old. The FBI was able to identify some of the blood as human, and the blood type was not inconsistent with blood of a child of the victim's parents. He believes that she has been influenced by family and friends of Ferrell to try and recant her statement. Certainly, as a minimum beginning point, the majority writer might have cited his recent opinion in State v. Woodall, ___ W.Va. ___, 385 S.E.2d 253 (1989), where the threshold rule for the admissibility of expert testimony in such circumstances was outlined in Syllabus Point 1: "Under W.Va.R.Evid., Rule 702, expert testimony concerning generally recognized *849 tests is presumptively admissible and the burden of excluding such testimony is upon the side seeking exclusion. However, Bernard and his landlady both claimed that they had not seen stains or noticed a foul odor coming from the carpet. In State v. Sette, 161 W.Va. 384, 242 S.E.2d 464 (1978), a case involving the murder of a woman by her husband and his mistress, the prosecution presented evidence that as part of an extramarital relationship, the defendant husband and his *842 mistress had engaged in oral sex at a time when to do so was a felony. E.g., State v. Hanna, supra. On 29 February 1988, Mr. Ferrell made a collect call from Uniontown, Pennsylvania to his girlfriend, Cathy Bernard, in which he asked her to call the Ford family to say Cathy Ford was alright. . While the young woman was filling in, a man telephoned Viola Knotts, an elderly woman who lived across the street from the post office, and asked her to tell Rose Bosley to come and get her mail carrier whose car had broken down between Bismark and Cherry Ridge Road. On 18 February 1988, Mr. Ferrell ripped out and burned the carpeting from the master bedroom of his trailer (mobile home), replacing it with new carpeting on the following day. The defendant became enraged, broke into the man's house, and took the girl with him against her will. The people who found the Bronco knew to look there because they heard that smoke was seen hanging over the river on 17 February 1988. The trial court erred in admitting into evidence hearsay testimony as to what the alleged victim said prior to her departure from her family owned restaurant. An FBI agent testified that while giving Ferrell a hypothetical scenario When police searched Cathy's trailer, along with the blood, a cigarette butt of the type she smoked was found. On the evening of Friday, 26 February 1988, Paul Ferrell and two other officers met with a private citizen, Vonda Moreland, who wanted advice on organizing a search for Cathy Ford. He went into the woods near it to investigate. This man, however, was not a real magistrate; at the time, both magistrates in Grant County, West Virginia, were females and nearby Maryland does not have magistrates. Charlene Reinhart 12/28/12. The court found that the challenged expressions were more accurate when viewed in context than when viewed in "artificial isolation," and were not likely to "mislead the jury into finding no reasonable doubt when there was some." This Court held that because there was ample evidence of the sexual relationship, the evidence concerning oral sex had no probative value whatsoever on the issue of whether defendant had plotted with his mistress to murder his wife. Explore historical records and family tree profiles about Paul Ferrell on MyHeritage, the world's family history network. Huntington, West Virginia: New Douglass-Huntington High School Alumni and Classmates that have joined: Teresa McClain class of '56 Cheryl Minor class of '68 Evidence of irregularities in the dispensing of drugs was held admissible to prove motive and intent to commit arson, even though it raised a prejudicial implication of drug trafficking. 576, 281 S.E.2d 319 (1981); Blanton v. State, 150 Ga.App. While the majority relies on the harmless error rule set out in Syllabus Point 2 of State v. Atkins, 163 W.Va. 502, 261 S.E.2d 55 (1979), cert. He sometimes joins with his challenge to the admissibility of the phone calls on anal sex, a contention that excerpts from the book The New Our Bodies, Ourselves, supra, should not have been admitted for the jury to read. Paul William Ferrell, a rookie sheriff's deputy, was convicted of the murder of Cathy Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from nearby Maryland. E.g., Ballweg v. State, 158 Ga.App. There was insufficient evidence of malice being an essential element of second degree murder, and therefore, the verdict must be set aside. Ferrell will be eligible for parole in 2002. When she went to talk to the waitress that looked like Cathy, she ran back into the kitchen. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results William Ferrell (1758 - 1817) . Ferrell was released pending an evidentiary hearing, but he was He was told that a woman had been calling, asking for him. . However, the carrier's route did not take him to that area, so the employee hung up. Approximately thirty-two percent of the population. For example, where prisoners briefly confined prison guards in the course of an escape, and did not use any guards as hostages or shields, this Court held that the kidnapping was incidental to the escape. (emphasis added), (VIII.) By 1850, approximately half of Kanawha County's slaves worked in the salt industrymany mined coal to fuel the furnaces. Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. [1] From these meager facts, the *847 majority concludes that "[t]he record shows that Paul Ferrell made numerous phone calls to bookstores and libraries, and that he regularly received sexual gratification from interaction with persons who were not voluntary providers of sexual gratification." On 11 March 1988, the police questioned Paul Ferrell, and after obtaining his written permission, searched his trailer. Id., at 394, 242 S.E.2d at 471. Ferrell claimed that he did this because he wanted people to stop searching and didn't want them to find Cathy's car in his backyard. Delbarton . A witness described the robbers as a white woman and a black man who left the scene in a yellow car. His current term ends on December 1, 2024. Storm, where defendant's trailer was located. Select this result to view Martha Comisky Ferrell's phone number, address, and more. Indeed, this point was strenuously pointed out by defense counsel in cross-examination. [4] I am aware of no appellate court which has sanctioned expert opinion based on body language tests. [6] The testing process also destroyed the samples, leaving the defendant with no opportunity to have the test results verified. exposure on Montel Williams and Unsolved Mysteries. 1882), aged 21, Cornish blacksmith travelling aboard the ship "St Paul" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 16th . State v. Woodall, supra; State v. Barker, ___ W.Va. ___, 366 S.E.2d 642 (1988); State v. Clawson, 165 W.Va. 588, 270 S.E.2d 659 (1980). There was absolutely no evidence that Cathy Ford had been sexually assaulted or abused following her disappearance. He also said that smoke from some unexplained source had been spotted near it. They are certain that she would have contacted them at some point. Instead, the defendant challenges the conclusions of Agent Lynch, asserting that it was error to allow her to testify, in effect, that the bloodstains found at the defendant's trailer could have come from Cathy Ford based on her analysis of the victim's parents' blood and to offer statistical analysis as to the percentage of the population with the same genetic markers revealed by the analysis. Mr. Ferrell then went into the truck bay area of the fire hall, where a phone available to the public was located, remained there a while and then left. Therefore, we find no reason that defendant cannot be convicted of the separate offenses of kidnapping and murder. 19401. An FBI expert said that during one interrogation he gave Ferrell a hypothetical scenario about Cathy's murder. A mix of clouds and sun. Laboratory tests showed the Id. However, this was but a small part of a very long and complicated trial; although the court gave no cautionary instruction, the extensive cross-examination by defense counsel adequately pointed out to the jury the inconclusiveness of nodding during conversation. In light of the overwhelming evidence on the murder and arson charges we find no reversible error. Id. See also State v. Banjoman, ___ W.Va. ___, 359 S.E.2d 331 (1987); State v. Thompson, ___ W.Va. ___, 342 S.E.2d 268 (1986); State v. Tanner, ___ W.Va. ___, 301 S.E.2d 160 (1982); State v. Church, 168 W.Va. 408, 284 S.E.2d 897 (1981); State v. Haverty, 165 W.Va. 164, 267 S.E.2d 727 (1980). William Ferrell is a 1978 graduate of Douglass-Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia. The new post office had opened two days before, and did not yet have phone service, so Juanita Bosley, the regular postmistress asked the younger woman to fill in for her while she made telephone calls to various utility companies. rensselaer county police blotter 2020; Sndico Procurador . Some believed that the truck The magistrate told her assistant that the man talking on the phone outside was their new deputy sheriff. Lived In Portsmouth RI, Alexandria VA, Miami FL, Arlington VA. Related To Margaret Farrell, Ml Farrell, Katherine Farrell, John Farrell, Joan Farrell. Evidence of Mr. Ferrell's motive for luring Cathy Ford to his trailer comes from the telephone calls he made to bookstores and libraries for sexual gratification. However, when a test is novel or not generally accepted, that circumstance alone meets the threshold requirement of rebutting any presumption of admissibility under Rule 702 and, therefore, with regard to tests that are not generally accepted the burden of proof that the test is reliable remains on the proponent.". about Cathy Ford's murder, he had observed signs of guilt in Ferrell's A West Virginia journalist was fired last month after exposing alleged abuse of disabled people in the state's health agency. Ferrell believed that he was being accused of something. He assumed office on December 1, 2022. Rehearing Denied November 8, 1990. [1] The appellant assigns myriad errors, many of which are so obviously without merit that we find that they are not fairly raised. Includes Address (11) Phone (9) Email (7) See Results. All of the recipients were attractive women between the ages of nineteen and thirty-nine. If, therefore, there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant used fraud to entice Ms. Ford to his mobile home with the intent of gaining a concession or advantage from her, then his conviction must be affirmed. [1] The defendant did admit making several calls from a different phone. They have also lived in Morgantown, WV. The party seeking to impeach blood test evidence is free to cross-examine the proponent's experts and offer experts of his own to discredit the conduct of the tests and the underlying statistical probabilities.". On 21 January 1988, Paul Ferrell rented a mobile home off of the Bismark Road. The record shows that Paul Ferrell made numerous phone calls to bookstores and libraries, and that he regularly received sexual gratification from interaction with persons who were not voluntary providers of sexual gratification. The letter said: Richard Williams, an FBI handwriting expert, testified that the letter and its envelope were both in Paul Ferrell's handwriting. William Ferrell, SHRM-SCP, PHR Talent Acquisition Manager at Kearfott Corporation New York City Metropolitan Area. State v. Wyant, ___ W.Va. ___, 328 S.E.2d 174 (1985); State v. Kopa, ___ W.Va. ___, 311 S.E.2d 412 (1983). Traces of saliva found on the filter demonstrated that the smoker had been a Type A secretor. In fact, the phone calls do not show that defendant's character made him more likely to kidnap someone. This case lacks even the circumstantial evidence that was present in State v. Hanna, supra, where the defendant's former live-in girlfriend had attempted to break off her relationship with the defendant and had begun dating another man. However, in State v. Hanna, ___ W.Va. ___, 378 S.E.2d 640 (1989), which also involved the kidnapping and disappearance of a young woman, this Court said, "[i]t is clear that kidnapping can be accomplished under our statute without force or compulsion since it uses terms such as `fraud', `decoy', `inveigle' or `entice away'". However, Agent Curtis went further than simply stating that Mr. Ferrell nodded, and opined that, based upon his expertise in interpreting body language, Mr. Ferrell's nodding was an admission of guilt. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 on Wednesday, 17 February 1988 (the day the victim disappeared), the magistrate and her assistant observed Mr. Ferrell using the public pay phone outside of the office. State v. Brumfield, ___ W.Va. ___, 358 S.E.2d 801 (1987). Publisher. Removing from the State's case Agent Curtis' opinion on the meaning of Mr. Ferrell's nodding, the remaining evidence is clearly sufficient to convince impartial minds of Mr. Ferrell's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. To outward appearances, he seemed to be settling down; he was in a serious relationship with Cathy Bernard, a local woman with two children. In Syllabus Point 1 of Wimer v. Hinkle, ___ W.Va. ___, 379 S.E.2d 383 (1989), we stated: "An objection to an adverse ruling on a motion in limine to bar evidence at trial will preserve the point, even though no objection was made at the time the evidence was offered, unless there has been a significant change in the basis for admitting the evidence.". [4] The Boston Women's Health Book Collective Staff. fibers. The commutation made Ferrell eligible for parole which he was You can explore additional available newsletters here. 2. Around the time he started working for the sheriff's department, Ferrell rented a trailer off of Bismarck Road, just outside of Gormania. There was no affirmative evidence of a sexual relationship between the defendant and the victim, and the medical examiner was unable to determine if she had been sexually assaulted due to the decomposition of the body. Decades after the alleged abuse took place, two victims from Fenwick and another young man from Minnesota targeted by Farrell have made their stories known. A few days after that, he sent the anonymous letter to the restaurant. Paul William Ferrell, a rookie sheriff's deputy, was convicted of the See State v. Fortner, ___ W.Va. ___, 387 S.E.2d 812 (1989); State v. Miller, ___ W.Va. ___, 336 S.E.2d 910 (1985). [5] I believe resolution of this question demonstrates further the majority's *850 disregard of the law in order to reach a desired result. In Woodall, however, we also recognized the dangers inherent in the use of statistical evidence based on blood tests where the premise on which such evidence rests is faulty: "In the celebrated case People v. Collins, 68 Cal. The calls simply prove elements essential to the kidnapping case, namely motive and intent, and also tend to show a common plan or scheme. 2d 828 (1984), the Fourth Circuit addressed a similar problem, in a case involving a West Virginia prisoner. others, and might be stained by blood from a variety of sources. At 10:50 a.m. the same day, Robin Tichnell received a call from a man claiming to be a West Virginia magistrate. Lat: 38 43' 54"N, Lon: 81 16' 02"W [Intro] A F#m A F#m D E A [Verse 1] A D A In coal mining country, green rolling hills A E A Where my true love is waiting he loves me A D A I had to go my rambling ways A E A I'm always thinking of him, the sweet love we made [Chorus] F#m The last time I saw him A F#m We did the West Virginia Waltz A F#m The West Virginia Waltz D E A No . The State contends that the evidence of the phone calls was probative because it established motive, intent, and common plan or scheme, and that the evidence was essential to prove the charge of kidnapping. Without such an initial showing, our cases are clear that the test results should not be admitted. Extra Notes: This case first aired on the September 25, 1992 episode of Final Appeal: From the Files of Unsolved Mysteries. (XVII.) That number comes from a resiliency plan developed by the city, which lays out how money would be spent if awarded. At trial, the found blood look like that of Ford's. Farrell's opening remarks lasted about an hour and a half followed by an . William M Ferrell Birth 12 Oct 1837. Although Cathy has never been found, it is assumed that she is deceased. Paul was named West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Member of the Year (2002) and is the Past President of the West Virginia Association for Justice (2011-2012). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Decisions. 2d 137 (1985). It is entirely possible that Mr. Ferrell was simply nodding to show that he was listening, and in no way agreed with what Agent Curtis was telling him. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth above, the judgment of the Circuit Court of Grant County is affirmed. However, because of the small quantity available for test purposes, only one exhibit (Q 134) was found to contain more than one genetic marker. He said that Ferrell nodded in agreement with the scenario. Updated: September 26, 2013 The caller posed as various people, including a doctor, a magistrate, a police officer, and a passing motorist. In short, both instructions do not misstate the law in any way that hurts the defendant. A caller pretending to be a magistrate (the same as the person that called her) asked a woman to meet him at the fire hall at that time. agent William Scobie to testify without proper qualifications and an adequate foundation that based upon the blood found at the alleged crime scene that a violent act had to have occurred. First Name. reincarcerated for the crime in 1997. 3. Also Mr. Ferrell's landlord had not noticed any stain or odors in the trailer on 21 January 1988. claiming that the prosecution convinced her to testify by telling her that "Q What percent of the population has a Haptoglobin of 1? Directly across the river from the Bronco, and running parallel to the Bismark Road, ran the Cherry Ridge Road.