OHIO MARINE LANCE CPL ROBERT CRUTCHFIELD HOME ON LEAVE FROM IRAQ KILLED FOR $8

2 indicted in killing of Ohio Marine home from Iraq; prosecutors seeking death sentence

THOMAS J. SHEERANAP News
Jun 26, 2008 18:56 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=229065

Two men arrested in the curbside killing of a Marine who was robbed of $8 while on leave from Iraq were indicted Thursday on aggravated murder charges and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Ean Farrow, 19, and Thomas Ray III, 20, of Cleveland, were indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on charges of aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault and aggravated robbery in the Jan. 5 shooting of Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield.

The 21-year-old Crutchfield was crippled by a gunshot while waiting for a bus
in Cleveland and died of a related infection on May 18.

"It's sickening and appalling that this Marine, who put his life on the line fighting for our country, comes home only to face a deadlier enemy on our streets — a couple of thugs who have no regard for human life," prosecutor Bill Mason said.

Attorneys listed in court records for the defendants did not return phone messages left at their offices after business hours Thursday. Calls made to listings for both defendants were not returned.

Police tied the suspects to Crutchfield's shooting while investigating a robbery on the following morning across the street from the scene of the attack.

Crutchfield, warned by commanders that he could be a robbery target as a Marine on leave with a pocketful of money, was carrying only $8, his military identification and a bank card.

"They took it, turned his pockets inside out, took what he had and told him since he was a Marine and didn't have any money he didn't deserve to live," his aunt, Albert Holt, told The Associated Press last month. "They put the gun to his neck and shot him."

Holt described her nephew as a well-behaved, churchgoing individual who had enrolled in a suburban high school to escape his unruly Cleveland school and prepare for a career as an architect.

Mason's office received more than 60 e-mails and letters from across the country, almost all asking him to seek the death penalty.

The death penalty specifications in the indictment were based on the evidence in the case, and members of the grand jury were not aware of the outpouring of support for executing the suspects, Mason's staff said.