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Do IT this week: Layering
Prade, with support from Innocence Network, will make case that bite-mark analysis could exonerate him in ex-wife's killing. But prosecutors say mountain of evidence still proves guilt
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 22, 2009
LONDON, OHIO: He still has the bearing of a police commander and the charismatic voice of a seasoned public speaker, despite spending the past 11 years in a state penitentiary.
It is only when Douglas Prade begins talking about the woman who has believed in him for all those years — his sister, Caralynn Prade, a legal secretary from Pearland, Texas — that his voice begins to crack and tears fill his eyes.
''She has done everything for me in this case . . . everything . . . and it's just amazing,'' he said, barely able to get out the words during an interview at Madison Correctional Institution.
Douglas Evans Prade, now 63, said his sister has never wavered in her belief that he was wrongfully convicted of the murder of his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade, on the morning before Thanksgiving in 1997.
Next month, the case will be running on a more powerful level than brother-sister emotions.
It is scheduled for oral arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court on Prade's claim that the newest DNA testing methods used in the analysis of bite-mark evidence might reveal the killer's identity.
Prosecutors tied Prade to the bite mark in his 1998 trial primarily with the testimony of Dr. Thomas Marshall, a retired Akron dentist. Using photographs of the bite mark and comparing those to dental impressions of Prade's teeth, Marshall testified that the bite mark was Prade's.
He told the jury: ''Every mark lined up with every'' one of Prade's lower-front teeth.
Marshall's testimony, however, had nothing to do with the science of testing the bite mark for the killer's DNA.
The high court — with the exception of Justice Maureen O'Connor, who was Summit County prosecutor at the time of Prade's trial — will hear arguments Dec. 16.
''My prayer is — which I believe I have said and whispered every day, as it always has been since the start of this case — that the truth be brought to light,'' Caralynn Prade wrote in an e-mail response to questions from the Beacon Journal.
The appeal has two heavyweight legal organizations defending Prade, who was an Akron police captain with 29 years of service before the murder.
Barry Scheck's Innocence Network in New York City submitted a lengthy argument stating that the latest DNA technology should be used to test the bite mark for the killer's DNA. An attorney from the Jones Day law firm of Cleveland will argue that point to the justices in Columbus.
As authorities on wrongful convictions, Scheck and partner Peter Neufeld are members of the New York State Commission on Forensic Science and are regularly consulted in high-profile cases by officials at the state, local and federal levels.
Their pro bono efforts as defense counsel in post-conviction DNA testing cases have ''to date, exonerated over 200 innocent persons,'' according to the brief filed in Prade's case.
More than half of the 200 exonerations involved errors in forensic testing of evidence, including bite-mark analysis, the brief states.
Violent death
In broad daylight, Margo Prade, 41, an Akron doctor with a thriving family practice, was found by her medical assistant slumped behind the wheel of her van in her office parking lot on Wooster Avenue at 10:25 a.m.
Bleeding was extensive from six gunshot wounds, the autopsy revealed.
The police investigation determined there was a struggle inside the van before the shooting.
Evidence of the struggle was a bite mark on Margo Prade's left inner arm and buttons torn from her lab coat.
Douglas Prade, after a lengthy trial, was convicted in September 1998 of all charges in his indictment: aggravated murder, six counts of wiretapping and one count of possession of criminal tools.
Moments before Common Pleas Judge Mary Spicer, now retired, sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 26 years, Prade turned his back to the bench and addressed the spectators in the packed courtroom.
''I didn't do this,'' he said flatly. ''I am an innocent convicted person. God, myself, Margo and the person who killed Margo all know I'm innocent.''
As he did that day, Prade spoke calmly and to the point in his hourlong prison interview for this article.
Security video
Never wavering from his statements made more than a decade ago, he said, once again, that he did not kill his ex-wife and that the police investigators and prosecutors ''screwed up'' by pressing the case against him.
Prade said, again, that he was in the workout room at his Copley Township condominium complex when his ex-wife was shot.
Trial testimony established that there were security cameras at an auto dealership next to the murder scene. The cameras, equipped with videotape that was used and reused, showed a shadowy figure walking to Dr. Prade's van and entering it at 9:10 a.m.
A minute and a half later, the figure left he van, returned to a light-colored car and left the medical office parking lot.
Police never identified the person in the video and never found the light-colored car.
Prade said the early work of his sister, Caralynn, eventually led to a frame-by-frame analysis — called photogrammetry — of the shadowy figure by former NASA aerospace engineer and Ph.D. Charles S. Palm.
Palm's analysis focused on the position of the shadowy figure at the passenger door, Prade said, and showed the suspect was between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-9.
''And I'm 6-foot-3,'' Prade said.
That video, along with the DNA bite-mark evidence that his defense hopes to find, Prade said, will prove his innocence.
''I'm not stupid. I'm not going to ask them to look for DNA if my DNA is there, or to look with more technical equipment at this video if that's going to show me in the video, which I know it's not,'' Prade said. ''I've been asking for this for 11 years.''
But why should anyone believe him when the jury, in one of Akron's most notorious and widely publicized murder cases, convicted him of all charges?
''Twenty-nine years I spent working a job where my integrity meant something, and I've never been known as a liar. That's the beginning,'' Prade said.
''And No. 2, I wouldn't be asking for DNA testing if they were going to find my DNA. It just doesn't make sense for me to do that.''
Prade said his sister also made early contacts with the Ohio Innocence Project in Cincinnati, which, in turn, was instrumental in bringing in Jones Day and Scheck's Innocence Network.
New DNA technology
Despite the availability of DNA testing at the time of the murder, the defense brief emphasizes that those tests were unable to provide any evidence ''as to [the] killer's identity.''
Dr. Prade's killer, the brief explains, ''bit her forearm with enough force to leave a mark on her skin through two layers of clothing — her lab coat and blouse.''
''However, according to the state's DNA expert, it was impossible to isolate and identify any DNA left by the perpetrator using the then-available DNA forensic technology, because the bite area was covered with Dr. Prade's blood,'' the brief states.
Jones Day attorney David Booth Alden, who will argue Prade's case before the high court, said the newest technology can identify the tiniest amount of male DNA, even when it is mixed with large amounts of female DNA, as was the case with the lab coat.
''Where the state's case was built around this being a bite mark by the killer,'' Alden said, ''if you were to find and identify male DNA in the bite mark that was not [Doug Prade's], or even better, identifies someone else's DNA, that's a game changer.
''I think that's the kind of thing that would reverse convictions, and it has. Your own county had the same thing happen with Clarence Elkins. I mean, Clarence Elkins was [arrested] in the same year as Doug Prade.''
Elkins, now 46, spent nearly eight years in prison, wrongly convicted of the 1998 murder of his mother-in-law.
New DNA evidence in his case, which came to light through the investigative efforts of his former wife, Melissa Elkins, vindicated him and pointed to another man.
The killer, Earl Gene Mann, pleaded guilty in August 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison.
Alden called Summit County's opposition to new DNA testing in Prade's case ''insane.''
''I mean, why?'' he asked. ''They've already spent more money opposing [our] motion than they would have by doing the testing.''
'Classic murder case'
Mary Ann Kovach, chief legal counsel for Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, said if new DNA tests ''would definitely tell us who did it, we'd be the first people to agree to have the testing done.''
Kovach said prosecution experts have indicated that DNA from saliva — the evidence that the defense is looking for in the bite mark — cannot be separated from other DNA in this case.
Kovach also said that the most compelling evidence leading to Prade's conviction, in the first place, had nothing to do with DNA.
And that, she said, was the reasoning cited in February, when Akron's 9th District Court of Appeals denied Prade's request for new DNA testing.
According to the unanimous opinion by the three-judge panel, Prade was convicted largely on the basis of evidence unrelated to DNA.
In making that point, Kovach stressed Prade's convictions on six counts of wiretapping and the number of shots fired by the killer inside the van.
The Prades were divorced in April 1997 after 18 years of marriage. The couple had two daughters together.
Prosecutors at the trial hammered away at the theory that Prade was electronically stalking his ex-wife and killed her because he had lost control over her.
''I think that's what the jury went on, clearly,'' Kovach said.
She called it a classic murder case involving domestic violence.
''He was very possessive of her, and he had to know, through the wiretapping that he was doing, that she had a new relationship and she was about to announce her engagement to a lawyer in Columbus that she was seeing,'' Kovach said.
''I think in Prade's mind, their relationship hadn't ended. Usually, when there are multiple shots like this, it's an indication of anger, resentment, frustration, lack of control — all of the signs of a stalker or a person involved in domestic violence exerting dominance . . . over the victim.''
Former Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Mike Carroll, now in retirement, was co-counsel in Prade's trial. ''We got the right man, and we didn't screw it up,'' he said.
''The evidence is so compelling, and it's not based on DNA. When you look at the wiretapping he did . . . and all the things he told people about how much he hated her, that's pretty good evidence in total. The verdict came back in two or three hours after a lengthy trial, so there wasn't much issue with the jurors.''
Evidence piles up
Attorneys from both sides at Prade's trial called 52 witnesses in 12 days of testimony and offered 243 pieces of evidence in a case ''based almost solely on circumstantial evidence that was so compelling, jurors needed only four hours to return a guilty verdict,'' the Beacon Journal's 1998 story stated.
Caralynn Prade, however, said she sat through the entire trial and cannot understand why Summit County has so strongly resisted new DNA testing for all these years.
''Why not let somebody test the DNA? Why not? There has to be DNA in a bite mark,'' she said.
She also disputed the prosecution theory that her brother lost control when he realized he was about to lose his ex-wife and their two daughters to another man.
''I undoubtedly, without a smidgen of doubt, believe in Douglas' innocence. He would not have been capable of hurting his daughters' mother,'' she said.
Prade's two daughters, now in their 20s — one is a nurse in St. Louis, the other an aspiring singer in Los Angeles — exchange letters with him frequently, he said.
They were the focus of his last words in his prison interview before corrections officials led him back to his compound.
Prade said he has challenged the system for new DNA testing for so long ''because I need to get this baggage out of their lives.''
''I don't want my kids to go through the rest of their lives thinking I killed their mother,'' he said.
''And Margo, she deserves better. She deserves justice, because they screwed it up.''
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
LONDON, OHIO: He still has the bearing of a police commander and the charismatic voice of a seasoned public speaker, despite spending the past 11 years in a state penitentiary.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, oh
Posted 05:54 AM, 11/22/2009
Doug Prade is guilty. He had no upper bite marks because he has upper false teeth.
Prade if a vedictive man who lost his trophy wife and killed her.
Prade is living where he should and the justice system worked. Except the death penalty was in order.
Akron, Oh
Posted 06:39 AM, 11/22/2009
DNA tests can confirm his guilt or innocence. They should do the test.
N. Canton, Oh
Posted 07:00 AM, 11/22/2009
I can't believe it has been 11 years already...Margo Prade was a very, very sweet and a great doctor whose life was cut short by this person.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:34 AM, 11/22/2009
Testing will be inconclusive due to biting through clothing. He'll then go with the "See, they don't know who killed her" attitude fueling the conspiracy theories. Remember, this man sits all day and has nothing better to do. He's guilty. Classic possessive killer profile.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:43 AM, 11/22/2009
He was found guilty, true, but many innocent people have been found guilty. If there is a chance the DNA test can conclusively rule him out as the killer, it should be performed.
South Carolina, SC
Posted 09:15 AM, 11/22/2009
Prade's sister is living in never never land if she thinks her brother is innocent. Is his sister ignoring other evidence, they caught her in a lie ie: he was working out at the time of the shooting and yet when his witness that was to attest to the fact she saw him at the gym, came to testify.....she backed out on her story.
There are many things that point to Prade and Prade alone.
Sorry I'm all for the innocence project, but think they're wasting time and money on this one.
Posted 09:43 AM, 11/22/2009
Do the DNA testing. For the small cost involved, do it, get the results and be done with it. It will probably reveal nothing and he'll continue his innocence march. If it shows his DNA, story closed. If another males DNA, then release him. It shouldn't be a difficult decision, unless there are other political motivations behind it. ?????
Akron, OH
Posted 10:00 AM, 11/22/2009
''Twenty-nine years I spent working a job where my integrity meant something, and I've never been known as a liar. That's the beginning,'' Prade said.
How about all the affairs & child out of wedlock he had behind his wife's back through their years of marriage? That's not lying or lack of integrity?
My opinion, if he didn't do it he knows who did because he hired them to do it.
Akron, oh
Posted 10:12 AM, 11/22/2009
I DON'T THINK HE KILL HER I THINK A WOMAN DID IT,BECAUSE SHE TOOK HER MAN. WHAT ARE PEOPLE GOING TO SAY IF HE NOT LIEING
Posted 10:30 AM, 11/22/2009
OJ Simpson did it.
akron, oh
Posted 10:56 AM, 11/22/2009
I blame the mayor...
akron, oh
Posted 11:38 AM, 11/22/2009
I say Douglas and Caralynn Prade, Should be Held responsible for the Results.
YEP but if it shows his DNA is in there. Send HER the bill. For all the time to do the tests. And all the Man hours that it will take. Since she is the one pushing this.
Attach all her assets till she pays. Send a message to others that would waste our money On such things.
Now if the DNA shows someone else. Who's bite marks just Happens to be Identical to Mr Prades.
Then Lets find him and put him behind bars. But lets be honest what are the odds of that? Less than hitting the power ball lottery jackpot I would think.
Macedonia, Oh
Posted 11:39 AM, 11/22/2009
DNA testing can accomplish much but it can never make a guilty man innocent.
Lefty Lemmingville, Oh
Posted 11:50 AM, 11/22/2009
Seriously, if this man's remaing days hangs in the balance over a test, by all means perform the DNA analysis.
Why is the prosecution side denying the test? This article mentions the Elkins scenario, so give the man this new method of evidence analysis.
Posted 11:56 AM, 11/22/2009
I'm with May.Anyone who wants dna testing done should get.If it comes back negative the state should pay.If it comes back positive the family should pay.Do it and be done.Prade and cutts are innocent.Cops do no wrong.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:56 AM, 11/22/2009
During the trial and the revelation of no upper teeth bite marks and the testimony of Doug having false upper teeth, I thought that they had the right person.
I was skeptical about a cop doing such a crime in the middle of the day and using six shots. I believe that it was a crime of passion. That blurred video camera image made me think that it was a woman, who knows? I know that she had been seeing a man in the 5'6"-5'9" range.
Why fight the DNA analysis? The cost is relatively minor but the results are infinite.
My number one question is, can the defense do the test on their dime without asking for permission through the Ohio Supreme Court? If they can, then do the test and let the results force public pressure for exoneration. If permission is needed from the court then it should be a no-brainer, do the test.
The article mention that male DNA can be extracted but what if it was a woman? A 6'3" angry man would've had no problem subduing a 5'2" petite woman, that is where the other woman angle becomes relevant. As well as the six shots. Where is the light colored car? Vehicle registration records, his closest friends, and motor vehicle theft reports could have answered those questions.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:57 AM, 11/22/2009
"DNA testing can accomplish much but it can never make a guilty man innocent".
To that I say, ask Clarence Elkins.
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 12:04 PM, 11/22/2009
Flush this turd! I can't believe it is still floating after all this time.
Macedonia, Oh
Posted 12:08 PM, 11/22/2009
"To that I say, ask Clarence Elkins."
To that I say, think again. In the Elknis case, DNA testing made an innocent man innocent. Nice try, but no cigar.
AKRON, OH
Posted 12:18 PM, 11/22/2009
DO THE TEST - THEN CLOSE THE FILE
Tallmadge, oh
Posted 12:31 PM, 11/22/2009
She was a dentist and wearing a lab coat, which was bitten thru. Even if the test does confirm that there is other DNA present, not sure this would exonerate Mr. Prade.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:32 PM, 11/22/2009
Perhaps Mr. Prade should take another avenue and contact Cynthia George and see how she got released.
akron, oh
Posted 01:03 PM, 11/22/2009
Hey Jason 12; how did you like Steely Dan?
somewhere near you, US
Posted 01:11 PM, 11/22/2009
Test his DNA, at his expense, and get it over with.
It's inexcuseable that DNA testing continues to be an issue for people in prison. The courts shouldn't be wasting their time arguing over whether to do it or not. If DNA evidence exists, there is no acceptable reason not to test it.
If DNA test results match the murderer, execute the fool immediately and move on to the next one.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:24 PM, 11/22/2009
If you can't even bite into an apple or an ear of corn with false teeth, how can you bite through a lab coat and a blouse and stll draw blood? They showed him trying to bite in the courtoom, and his teeth came out with a slight tug. That was the first doubt I had. Plus, bite mark analysis is not very exact science. The rest of it is all circumstantial.
Akron, Oh
Posted 01:45 PM, 11/22/2009
No reason to even bother commenting ..lol. It's over with and he'll never get off. Just soemthign for people to get their panties in a bunch
orlando, fl
Posted 01:56 PM, 11/22/2009
Yes it is hard to believe that eleven years has gone by so fast and Margo is resting in peace with the father now, She was my doctor her girls are young ladies now, maybe with questions still not answered. They deserve to know without any doubt if there father did this to their mother. If DNA will give them truth it should be done.I remember all the negative things that came out about the former law officer. I never understood why someone with as much time invested in the APD would throw it away on a battle he had already lost. His wife had not been his for a long time. Just maybe the video had the killer. The woman who didn't want Margo to have what she wanted, and perhaps the officer is paying for the sins of the breakdown of his marriage. The fact that it was a nasty breakup made him the right fall guy for such an ugly act of violence. DNA might lay it all to rest or even open up a new can of worms.....
akron, oh
Posted 02:16 PM, 11/22/2009
hey, im pretty sure he's guilty, but give him a chance. there are a lot of pretty sure guilty people in jail that are probably not guilty; sometimes things arent what they seem!
akron, oh
Posted 02:27 PM, 11/22/2009
This is why you only hire the best candidates from the civil service test instead of using.....alternative methods??????? Way to go Akron!
Akron, OH
Posted 02:34 PM, 11/22/2009
My guess is the Innocence Project is involved in this case in hopes of setting a precedent that will make it easier to have DNA testing done on untested evidence in future cases. As long as the Supreme Court allows the testing the IP wins. If it turns out the DNA confirms Prade's guilt, they'll move on and still have the precedent they need.
All that said, run the test and see what happens. Hoping for peace for all of those effected by this crime.
Posted 03:23 PM, 11/22/2009
I reallt think that if there is dna to test then test it no questions asked.Then there is no chance of it being done while incarcerated and finding out someone is innocent and paying them a large sum of money.
cuyahgoa falls, oh
Posted 04:18 PM, 11/22/2009
I am survior of against domestic violence and once was brutally beaten. I am a firm believer that any man should be punished if he is guilty of such horrific assault. We all know that you can be found guilty and wrongly acused. For Douglas Prade to want his case further investigated knowing he's gulity is insane on his part. He was a captain for gods sake for 29 years!! Though the evidence points to him through bite marks doesn't have to mean he's the one. In the beginning I belived he did IT! Kill HIM! Reading more about the case and allowing my heart to feel and not judge him he should be able to go as far as he can to prove his innonce to his children at least. Even if it means spending the next ten years in prison he wants his daughters to know the absolute truth. We all deserve second chances how many have you had? We need to look in our own backyard before we're quick to hang someone. For me to suggest this is awesome because I've been there and survied, what about your children?
_________, OH
Posted 05:17 PM, 11/22/2009
Gary
Great minds think alike! I thought of OJ as I read this story. I think Prade, like OJ, viewed his wife as a possesion...and felt her act of leaving or moving on with someone else was the ultimate betrayal. I am sure in his small mind he has excused away the violence he displayed to "she had it coming". He felt justified in his act,so it can be reasoned away and he deserves freedom blah,blah,blah. He has an illness.It's called narcissism. He is where he belongs. Give him his bleeping test ...then throw away the key.
Posted 05:52 PM, 11/22/2009
He was an abusive, controlling jerk to her, let him rot!
Posted 05:56 PM, 11/22/2009
My only problem with doing the DNA problem is this:
He has nothing to lose and everything to gain from the test.
Think about it!
At worse, he's in the same situation he's currently in (life w.o parole)
He knows that he didnt leave much DNA or that it was mixed in her blood and impossible to separate
As a former law enforcement officer, he knows how to weasel his way through the system.
akron, oh
Posted 06:15 PM, 11/22/2009
i feel he has a right to have dna testing because u never know there are so many cases that the wrong person was accused so give the man dna testing
akron, oh
Posted 06:18 PM, 11/22/2009
i hate when ppl get on here and talk about how somebody was dont speak on them if u dont know them pesonally not that im on his side or anything but ppl talk about how he was and not even know him grow up
Macedonia, Oh
Posted 06:18 PM, 11/22/2009
Prade viewed everyone in Akron as his possession. He was an obnoxious, power hungry, ugly, violent and mean control freak. Any citizen who had the misfortune of dealing with him knows that. There is another one just like him at the helm of the medal detector at the Stubbs Justice Center who makes it a point to be obnoxious and controlling to all visitors. And, the APD does with him just as they did with Pray. They look the other way and write off complaints as though they are the problem of the one who complains. Welcome to Akron!
Akron, OH
Posted 06:21 PM, 11/22/2009
Knowing both Margo and Doug it was very hard to watch, listen and speculate on this trial. But the girls and all family members do deserve to know the truth. I have found it very hard to participate in conversations with others when this case comes up because I have not wanted to beleive that Doug would do this to her. No matter how much he still may have wanted to be a part of her life, if that was the case. Doug was always about doing things the right way. I met Doug thorugh a case in which I was victimized. He was very protective and straight forrward in upholding the laws and making sure the person attacking and threatening me and my child was prosecuted and that we were ok. He later stood for me when I was attempting to join the police force. All that said he deserves to have the truth come out whether it vindicates or confirms he did this. There daughters have had to live without both parents either by mistake(of the courts and police dept.) or by wrong doing on his part. The truth needs to be found. So his girls can have some peace and both families.
I too have entertained the thought that it could have been a woman who shot Margo. Primarily because someone of his stature and training would have easily been able to subdue Margo and also not need to fire six shots to kill her. An inexperienced female would need to struggle and perhaps use all six shots. Admittedly so the issue with not having upper bite marks did raise a lot of credence to the prosecution's side. But there is also a big difference in 5'8" to 6'3". Even from a distance. In this article Doug states he is not stupid and would not be asking for further investigation if he had something to show his guilt. I agree, if there is something to be found it will be, if they allow it to be done. Let this terrible crime be laid to rest in one way or another. And for all those people who don't beleive that innocent people do get convicted of crimes they did not commit, You are so naive.
Akron, OH
Posted 06:22 PM, 11/22/2009
It happens every day in the Black community it's like waking up. Just hope none of you have to walk in our shoes.
Akron, OH
Posted 06:29 PM, 11/22/2009
And I should add this I am not a Police officer in anyway shape or form.
Canal Fulton, Oh
Posted 07:22 PM, 11/22/2009
Make his day,do the test.That will speak volumes.
Im seriously wondering tho,why dont Walsh want this done? They above it??
uniontown, oh
Posted 07:38 PM, 11/22/2009
The folks from Innocence Project helped to get OJ off even though the DNA evidence was spot on to OJ being the killer. The jury couldn't understand the science and let him off anyway. Is Prade the next to be defended by this same bunch?
akron, Oh
Posted 07:58 PM, 11/22/2009
OJ got off because we have the best leagel system MONEY can buy. he went bankrupt to stay free. Prade should be put to death when the DNA proves he did it.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:06 PM, 11/22/2009
@Jason, Elkins was found guilty but exonerated after spending many years in prison. He is only now to be found innocent.
@citizenk62, to what DNA evidence are you referring in regards to O.J.? Blood analysis had shown that an anti blood clotting agent was in the bloody sock left in the middle of O.J's otherwise immaculate master bedroom and on the outside gate of his home. Crime scene investigators use anti blood clotting agents when collecting blood at crime scenes. It does not take a rocket scientist to deduce that the blood found at O.J's was planted at his house. Unless, OJ brutally murdered his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, climbed into his triple white Ford Bronco without getting any blood in it, drove home, added anti-blood clotting agent to his socks and gate, and then proceeded to wait for the limousine to go to the airport.
Akron, oh
Posted 07:27 AM, 11/23/2009
Chocolatt Wizdem
get real you arfe the only person taht thought he was great.; Doug was a racist.
He was lazy and did not do his job. The worst captain the police department ever had.
Through his whole police career he collected a pay check and did not protect the citizens of Akron and only seeked personal reward interest for him
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:24 AM, 11/23/2009
It is a ridiculous situation in which the Summit County Prosecutors office constantly opposes DNA testing. It is like they are more afraid of an error being exposed then to potentionally free an innocent man. All of the money wasted in thgis country and they won't spend some to verify a verdict.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:13 AM, 11/23/2009
None of us were there. The DNA will tell the truth. There is no other way for justice to be served. Doug Prade is not stupid. He may be arrogant and cruel...but not stupid. He knows that DNA can seal his fate. Let's not forget the video of the person beside the van. There are some unanswered questions.
akron, oh
Posted 10:30 AM, 11/23/2009
Jason, you are right on the money!!!!!
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 10:46 AM, 11/23/2009
Why has Prade not been executed?
Akron, Oh
Posted 11:06 AM, 11/23/2009
Duh! Because he was not sentenced to death.
Posted 11:32 AM, 11/23/2009
do the test.......
whether we like it or not by law he has to be proven guilty without reasonable doubt. I may not agree wit the justice system but its what it is.
Posted 11:35 AM, 11/23/2009
@ Lie Detector
The citizens of Akron are not protected now
so whats the difference between him and the current captain now?
Posted 11:39 AM, 11/23/2009
@ Chocolatt Wizdem
you made some excellent points
too many unanswered questions in this case
Mogadore, Oh
Posted 12:33 PM, 11/23/2009
Kenny, there was blood found on the inside of the drivers door of OJ's Bronco. Guess they didn't put that part in the movie of the week you saw.
Maybe with some luck, Prade will be the Chief of Police in Akron this time next year.
After all,he said he didn't do it. Why would a Police Officer from Akron ever lie?Only the best and brightest get hired by that Dept.
akron, oh
Posted 01:46 PM, 11/23/2009
DNA testing should have been done in the first place. I say, do the testing, get the results and go from there.
Green, Ohio
Posted 03:32 PM, 11/23/2009
I think this is the reason why he wants the test and the reason why they do not want to do the test.
She is a dentist. The odds of having some other male DNA on the lab coat is very highly likely. Think about that.
This would not prove his innocence or his guilt, but sure would get him out of prison.
Green, Ohio
Posted 04:18 PM, 11/23/2009
You are all missing the fact that there is a very high probability to be be some other male DNA on the lab coat, due to the work she did.
I love the way no one mentions this information. Finding other male DNA would not prove his innocence or his guilt, but it will get him out of prison.
Akron, Oh
Posted 04:24 PM, 11/23/2009
Strange, Attorneys love DNA results inorder to free someone they believe is innocent. BUT, they fight to keep prosecutors from using it to convict someone. In the later case they say it is faulty.
Posted 04:39 PM, 11/23/2009
The DNA of the bite mark would belong to whoever did the murder.If Prade knows for sure that his DNA isn't in the bite mark he has nothing to lose. If the test identifies some other individual associated with Prade, could he walk free and then claim double jeopardy when they try him for hiring someone to do it? Or could he be tried on different charges?
Green, Ohio
Posted 04:57 PM, 11/23/2009
OK, Lets us say she has a patient that gets saliva on the lab coat. The bite mark is right in the same area. Now you have DNA evidence from an innocent patient. That patient, being a patient is now at risk of being accused for murder, with DNA evidence against them. In this scenario, the DNA bite mark does not indicate it belongs to whoever did the murder.
akron, oh
Posted 05:33 PM, 11/23/2009
How'd Doug get his gut? Sitting around eating I would guess. How's that Bell's palsy working out for him? Yeah, that's right it's a nervoud tick. He developed it right after going to prison because he knew he was had. Where's Bill Ellison to help him out?
Akron, OH
Posted 11:30 PM, 11/23/2009
All I know is that "the boss" made me sit through some Lifetime/Oxygen/"male-hating network" show about this very crime a few weeks ago.
Please, GOD, let them do the DNA test! If only I do not have to watch those shows anymore!
Amen.
Posted 08:24 AM, 11/24/2009
@ skeptical ~ "She was a dentist and wearing a lab coat, which was bitten thru. Even if the test does confirm that there is other DNA present, not sure this would exonerate Mr. Prade."
Margo Prade was a family practice physician ... She was not a dentist. She was killed in the morning ... Before she went into her office.
