Sowell Convicted Of Murder, Imperial Women Leader Kathy Wray Coleman Interviews With Esparra Of Channel 19, Channels 5 And 3

Submitted by JournalistKathy... on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 11:18.

 The Home on Imperial Ave. in Cleveland, Oh. of Anthony Sowell where the gruesome remains of 11 Black women were found on Halloween Day in 2009.
 
 
Serial Murderer Anthony Sowell .

From the Metro Desk of the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) (See videos at the end of this article)

A 12-member Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas jury convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell on Friday of the murders of 11 Black women at his home on Imperial Ave. in Cleveland and the attempted murder and rape or attempted rape of three others, among a host of the other charges, all but aggravated robbery of which the previously convicted sex offender was found guilty of, convictions on 82 of 83 counts. And Imperial Women leader Kathy Wray Coleman, who started the grassroots group around the unprecedented murders of the Black women with other community activists, was there and among the media to participate in Cleveland's most haunted and celebrated case, giving either an interview or comments to 19 Action News Anchor and Reporter Lydia Esparra, News Channel 5 Chief  Investigative Reporter Ron Regan and Jennifer Lindgren, a reporter for Channel 3 News in Cleveland .


Community Activist Gean Witt, a member of the Imperial Women and Black on Black Crime Inc. who had attended the trial regularly to pray for all that needed it on both sides of the case, also commented to Lindgren after the much anticipated verdict, one that came following 15 hours of jury deliberations.
 
Sowell's defense attorneys, Rufus Sims and John Parker, argued at trial that the evidence was circumstantial and without any DNA linking him to the crimes, though prosecutors dismissed the assertions as shabby police work, and secondary to the 11 bodies found in and around his Mt. Pleasant home on Cleveland's predominantly Black East Side of town. 
 
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose read the verdict, with the majority White jury convicting Sowell of killing Nancy Cobbs, Tishana Culver, Crystal Dozier, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Leshanda Long, Michelle Mason, Kim Yvette Smith, Janice Webb and Diane Turner. A former marine who served 15 years in prison for attempted rape before committing The Imperial Ave. Murders Sowell was also found guilty on multiple charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and kidnapping.
 
 
Family members of the Imperial Ave victims that were in the courtroom as Ambrose read the verdict over an hour-long period beginning shortly before 3 p.m. remained composed , though some rocked back and forth, holding on to other family members for comfort. It was the first step toward closure for some, though the mitigation phase on whether Sowell should be put to death will begin Aug 1.

After the anticipated guilty verdicts attorneys for the prosecution and Sowell would not speak in detail to reporters due to a gag order, and family members for the most part slipped out the back door without commenting to the media, many of them still emotionally drained by the unprecedented ordeal.


Coleman was sought after by the media for comment given  that The Imperial Women and other grassroots factions such as Black on Black Crime, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, The Oppressed People's Nation The People's Forum, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, Peace in the Hood and The Cleveland Chapter of The New Black Panther Party had fought for changes in public policy around the murders since the remains for the dead Black women were uncovered beginning on Halloween Day at the Sowell home in 2009.

Listen to Coleman's almost three-minute interview on the verdict with Esparra, by clicking above and on the 19 Action News web site at  

Community reacts to Cleveland Strangler verdict and her comments to Regan, shown in the News Net 5 video at www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, as well as her comments and those of Witt to Lingren of Channel 3, which can be heard in the video at
 
Also see the last years's Oct 29 Anniversary Rally with The Imperial Women, Black on Black Crime, Peace in the Hood and other activist groups with community members and members of The Imperial Ave. murder victims families as the second story reprint dated July 23, 2011 at www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com
 

Posted By Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman to THE KATHY WRAY COLEMAN ONLINE NEWS BLOG.COM at 7/23/2011 11:20:00 PM 
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