EP medical examiner Paul Shrode's testimony challenged in

Ohio case
By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
Posted: 05/19/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- The testimony of El Paso's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Paul Shrode in a murder
trial may help an Ohio inmate escape the death penalty, according to the Ohio Parole Board's
ruling.

The board voted 4-3 on Tuesday to recommend clemency for Richard Nields, 59, who was
convicted of killing Patricia Newsome in 1997. Nields, who was scheduled to die June 10 by
lethal injection, had pleaded not guilty.

The board said it reached its decision because of questions over the medical evidence presented
in the trial, including Shrode's testimony. Shrode could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Shrode was in Hamilton County in 1997.

In a telephone interview, Justin Thompson, an assistant public defender who was appointed to
help with Nields' application for clemency, said, "The board relied heavily on the fact that
Shrode's testimony was misleading."

Thompson said it is hard to predict what Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland will do. The governor has
until June 10 to approve or reject the board's recommendation.

Shrode had just completed his fellowship training at the Hamilton County coroner's office when
he testified at Nields' 1997 trial. Shrode testified that bruising on the victim proved Nields beat
his girlfriend, then returned 15 minutes later to strangle her.

For Nields to be considered for the death penalty, prosecutors needed to prove the murder was
premeditated.

But Dr. Robert Pfalzgraf, the deputy coroner who supervised Shrode at the time, told the parole

board that some of Shrode's conclusions were not supported by science.

Pfalzgraf, now a deputy medical examiner in Florida, said there was no scientific evidence to
support how old the bruises on Newsome's body were.

Although Shrode had just completed his fellowship training, the prosecution had him testify at
the 1997 trial instead of Pfalzgraf, his supervisor.
"Dr. Shrode testified shortly after he completed his fellowship," according to Pfalzgraf's affidavit
for the Ohio Parole Board. "Therefore, this may have been one of the first times he ever
testified."

El Paso County commissioners hired Shrode in 2005. He is paid a yearly salary of $254,000.

Earlier this year, for the second time since Shrode was hired, the commissioners discussed
questions from the public about Shrode's résumé.

In February, the county Human Resources Department told the commissioners that Shrode's
résumé contained several discrepancies. For example, he did not have a graduate law degree
from Southwest Texas State University, as he claimed on his résumé.

His résumé also said he was a deputy medical examiner for the Lubbock County Medical
Examiner's Office before coming to El Paso. However, the Human Resources Department said
that he was actually an employee of Texas Tech in Lubbock, which had hired him as a professor
of pathology.

Texas Tech used to have an arrangement to do medical examiner work for Lubbock County.

El Paso County Commissioner Veronica Escobar said Tuesday that she requested an item be
placed on the Commissioners Court meeting agenda for next week to discuss the Ohio case.

"I consulted with the district attorney and county attorney, and we will discuss this at our next
meeting," Escobar said.

District Attorney Jaime Esparza said he wants to consult with the district attorney in the Ohio
case and review the case documents before rendering an opinion.

"To be fair, I haven't had a chance to talk to the prosecutors, other than to read the (parole
board's) report," Esparza said. "I'm going to do a full review, and I'm going to do it quickly. And,
then make a determination as to what my opinion is as to his ability to continue to be the medical
examiner, especially in the cases I deal with -- murders, manslaughters and so forth."

No one was available for comment late Tuesday at the Hamilton County District Attorney's
Office in Cincinnati.

During the March Democratic Party primary election, lawyer Theresa Caballero, a candidate for
county attorney, said she would ask the commissioners to fire Shrode if she were elected.

She lost the race to Jo Anne Bernal, the first assistant county attorney, who previously had said
that Shrode is qualified to stay on as El Paso's chief medical examiner.

Caballero said county officials who supported Shrode were covering up for him. "They are
despicable people," she said.
Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Woman’s killer doesn’t deserve to die, attorneys say

Monday, May 10, 2010 1:37 PM

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

COLUMBUS -- Public defenders for a man who strangled his live-in girlfriend say the crime of
passion is not deserving of a death sentence.

The lawyers told the Ohio Parole Board today that Richard Nields was an alcoholic with brain
damage when he killed Patricia Newsome during a 1997 argument in suburban Cincinnati.

A Cincinnati federal appeals court is skeptical about Nields' death sentence, noting it barely
reached the threshold for a capital charge.

Nields, scheduled to die June 10, is asking the board to recommend he be spared.

Hamilton County assistant prosecutor Phil Cummings says death was warranted because Nields
often threatened to kill Newsome, then stole her car and travelers' checks after the slaying.

Parole Board recommends clemency for killer

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 11:00 AM

Updated: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 11:55 AM

By Alan Johnson

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ODRC
Richard Nields

The Ohio Parole Board said today that a Cincinnati man who killed his long-time girlfriend in an
alcohol-induced rage should not be executed.

By a 4-3 vote, the board recommended to Gov. Ted Strickland that he should grant clemency for
Richard Nields, who turns 60 on Wednesday.

Nields is scheduled to be lethally injected on June 10 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
near Lucasville.

The four members of the board who voted to recommended clemency said they were concerned
about faulty medical evidence in the case and also about judicial opinions indicating the Nields
may not deserve the death penalty.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the facts in the case "just barely get Nields over the
death threshold."

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer wrote a strong dissenting opinion when the case was
decided in 2002.

"The type of crime Nields did is not the type of crime the General Assembly did contemplate or
should have contemplated as a death penalty offense...It is about alcoholism, rage and rejection
and about Nields' inability to cope with any of them. It is a crime of passion imbued with pathos
and reeking of alcohol."

Parole board members who said Nields should be denied clemency cited his history of abuse
against women, the fact robbery was part of the crime, and that Nields has not been "forthcoming
about details of the offense and his prior history of violence."

Strickland will make the final life-or-death decision in Nields case.

There is no doubt that Nields was guilty of strangling to death his long-time girlfriend, Patricia
Newsome, 59, on March 27, 1997. He told several people at bars he visited shortly after the
murder that he killed her. Later he confessed to police.

Nields also described the murder in correspondence he wrote that became part of a book, Truth
Be Told Life Lessons from Death Row.

"I threw her down on the kitchen floor and strangled her to death. It was rage, insanity, I can't
explain it. I just hated her so much at the moment I wanted her dead. I killed my best friend."

Nields added, "I didn't plan it, it happened in a blackout an alcoholic blackout. "

Court records show the couple had a volatile, decade-long relationship. She sold real estate; he
was a musician who occasionally played keyboards in bars and clubs.
The coupled argued violently after Newsome told Nields to pack up and leave the house.

He was picked up by police after he discussed the murder with several people at bars he visited
after the murder.

Nields was given the death penalty because prosecutors showed the murder happened during a
robbery. Nields stole Newsome's Cadillac, jewelry and traveler's checks after he strangled her.

ajohnson@dispatch.com