Cop killer avoids death penalty

The parents of Lincoln S. Rutledge cried tears of relief for their son and grief for the family of his victim, a Columbus police officer, after a Franklin County jury spared him from the death penalty Thursday.

The jury deliberated for about eight hours over two days before recommending that Rutledge, 45, be sentenced to life in prison without parole for purposely

killing Officer Steven Smith during a standoff with SWAT officers last year. Smith, 54, was a 27-year veteran of the police force.

“Nothing will bring Steve back, and we’re so sorry,” Keith Rutledge said, his voice trembling as he stood outside the courtroom where the decision was announced. “His family has suffered severely, and we have, too.”

He said jurors apparently were sympathetic to testimony about his son’s mental illness. “We’re grateful for that, and we want help for him.”

“It’s a heartbreaking thing on both sides,” said Monica Rutledge, the defendant’s mother. She said she prays daily for the Smith family, and for those who received organs donated after the officer’s death “so something could be redeemed through this.”

The officer’s family did not attend the announcement of the jury’s decision. Smith’s widow and his son, a Columbus police recruit, were in court last week when the jury convicted Rutledge of killing the officer and knowing that he was shooting at a lawenforcement officer.

Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott said he will sentence Rutledge on July 18.

The jury’s sentencing recommendation had to be unanimous. The jurors deadlocked on a death-penalty vote before agreeing on life without parole. They also could have recommended life with a chance of parole after 25 years or life with a chance of parole after 30 years.

“We showed some mercy,” said a male juror who spoke to The Dispatch on condition that he not be identified.

He declined to say how many jurors favored death. He said the jury’s sentencing decision was influenced by the defense’s presentation of mitigating factors this week, including information about Rutledge’s mental illness and lack of a criminal record.

“He definitely had mental problems,” the juror said. “But there was no doubt he did it. He was fully aware of what he did, and he deserved to be punished for it.”

A Franklin County jury hasn’t recommended a death sentence since 2003.

Rutledge didn’t react to the sentencing decision, remaining motionless and staring straight ahead, just as he has for nearly a month through jury selection, the trial and the mitigation phase. He did not testify during the trial or the mitigation phase.

Assistant Prosecutors Daniel Hogan and Warren Edwards suggested that Rutledge’s courtroom demeanor was an act. As a rebuttal to defense claims about the role that mental illness played in Rutledge’s crimes, Hogan showed jurors a video this week of the defendant’s calm, lucid interview with a Columbus fire investigator one day after his arrest.

Defense attorneys Jefferson Liston and Mitch Williams called 21 witnesses this week to present mitigating factors that they argued made the death penalty inappropriate. The mitigation presentation focused heavily on testimony by family members, friends and former co-workers about how the once-laid-back cybersecurity worker rapidly descended into a delusional, paranoid individual in the months before doing battle with SWAT officers trying to serve him with an arrest warrant.

Smith was in the turret of an armored vehicle, providing cover for officers who were outside a rear window of Rutledge’s apartment on West California Avenue near North High Street, when he was struck in the head by a shot fired by Rutledge on April 10, 2016. He died two days later.

In addition to aggravated murder, the jury convicted Rutledge of two counts of attempted murder and four counts of felonious assault for firing on other officers; eight gun specifications; and one count of aggravated arson for setting fire to his estranged wife’s house.

Although the life sentence offers no chance for Rutledge to get out of prison, the judge is likely to impose additional years for the other offenses.