Hocking College student found guilty of murder after 8-hour jury deliberation

By Jess Mosser
City Senior Writer
The Post, May 13, 2008
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After four days of emotionally charged testimony, a jury found Ronald Hendrickson II guilty last night of murdering his ex-girlfriend.

But there was more to say.

The parents of Hendrickson’s ex-girlfriend, student Jodi Blankenship, addressed Hendrickson and the court before he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Hendrickson, 22, stabbed Blankenship, 21, to death last April.

“Ron, do you realize, by taking one person’s life, how many lives you’ve destroyed?” said Debbie Blankenship while crying.

The Blankenships spoke while family photos of their daughter were shown on a projector screen. Rick Blankenship expressed his anger over the way Hendrickson did not look at that same screen when jurors viewed autopsy photos of Jodi on Friday.

“You should have had to look at those pictures we had to look at this week,” he said. “To see what you’ve done.”Judge L. Alan Goldsberry issued the sentence before Hendrickson was taken to Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail in Nelsonville for the night. Tomorrow, he’ll be taken to the Corrections Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, for 30 days before being placed in a state prison, said C. David Warren, Athens County prosecutor.

Before leaving, Hendrickson apologized to the Blankenship family and his own for “everything (he had) put them through.” As sheriff’s deputies took Hendrickson away, members of his family wept, said goodbye and circled in prayer.

The sentence was the second-longest option for Hendrickson, whose lawyers argued unsuccessfully that jurors should be allowed to considered lesser charges, such as manslaughter.

The judge told jurors to only consider aggravated murder — which requires prior planning of the murder — or the lesser offense of murder, which doesn’t require any plan. Jurors took more than eight hours to reach a verdict.

Hendrickson’s lawyer, Victor Hodge, argued in his closing statement that his client never showed prior planning or intent. The situation was one of disarray and Hendrickson had an “emotional, highly charged reaction,” he added.

Hendrickson, who also suffered a stab wound, told several police officers he stabbed Blankenship only after she came after him with a knife. Blankenship was found dead with 14 stab wounds last April in the Nelsonville apartment she shared with Hendrickson and four others.

Hendrickson and Blankenship were Hocking College students at the time.

The number of wounds and the fact that Hendrickson waited so long for Blankenship to emerge from a locked bathroom showed he intended to kill her, Warren argued.

He also argued Blankenship had never been seen with a knife and that roommates remember Hendrickson appearing to have something in his hands while outside the bathroom. “He wasn’t waiting to talk — he was stalking her,” he said.

Warren also pointed to Hendrickson’s lack of defense wounds, arguing that if he wrestled the knife from Blankenship he would have cuts on his hands and arms. Blankenship’s autopsy showed such wounds.

While prosecutors are pleased with the verdict and sentence, they understand an appeal is likely, said Colleen Flanagan, assistant Athens County prosecutor. Any appeal would be heard in the Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals and handled again by the Athens County Prosecutor’s office.

The trial’s end provides closure for prosecutors as well as families, Warren said. The nature of the crime made it very personal for his staff, he added.

“This really hit home,” Warren said.
(Photo by Mike Henry, The Post)

Einstein letter says belief in God ‘childish,’ Jews not chosen people

Breitbart.com
May 13, 2008
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Albert Einstein described belief in God as “childish superstition” and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they “have no different quality for me than all other people”.

“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

“No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this,” he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house’s managing director Rupert Powell.

In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel’s second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God’s chosen people.

“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions,” he said.

“And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people.”

And he added: “As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

Previously the great scientist’s comments on religion — such as “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” — have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith.

Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein’s real thoughts on the subject. “He’s fairly unequivocal as to what he’s saying. There’s no beating about the bush,” he told AFP.

IRNA: Iran, G5+1 to exchange packages to end dispute on nuclear program

Tehran, May 13, IRNA
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Iran and the Group 5+1 will exchange packages to resolve the dispute on nuclear program in the next few days.
Longstanding negotiations between Iran and the European Union has turned to package exchange indicating the resolve on both sides to uphold diplomacy in the international relations.

“Exchange of packages between the two parties will take place in a matter of days,” Majlis national security commissioner said on Tuesday.

The head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi told IRNA it was highly possible that a delegation from the G5+1 to present package of incentives to Iran by weekend (Thursday and Friday are weekend in Iran just like Saturday and Sunday in Europe).

Commenting on the possibility of resumption of Iran-G5+1 talks, Boroujerdi said holding talks by the two sides is inevitable, as a routine process, and that issues brought up in the EU’s package of incentives will be discussed.