Ex-akron police captain’s appeal rejected by top court

Former Akron Police Capt. Douglas Prade got another setback this week week in his quest for a new trial in his exwife’s murder.

The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear Prade’s appeal of a decision by the 9th District Court of Appeals in September. The appellate court agreed with a trial court decision that found Prade shouldn’t get a new trial.

Prade, 72, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the 1997 shooting death of his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade, inside her van at the parking lot of her Wooster Avenue medical office.

Prade sought a new trial based on DNA evidence that excluded his genetic markers from the most scrutinized evidence in the case — a bite mark impression left under two layers of a lab coat worn by Margo Prade on the morning of the slaying.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce denied Prade a second trial in March 2017, saying Prade had “failed to introduce any new evidence that the jury had not already considered” in his original 1998 trial. She said the DNA evidence that another Summit County judge said should exonerate Prade was “meaningless” and likely wouldn’t change the verdict in a new trial.

Brian Howe, one of Prade’s attorneys with the Ohio Innocence Project, said Thursday that the bite-mark evidence used to convict Prade is “now universally regarded as junk science” and prosecutors admit Prade is not the source of the DNA found on the bite mark.

“The courts have now decided that no jury should ever have a chance to hear this evidence,” Howe said. “The fact that Douglas Prade is sitting in prison right now represents a complete and total failure of the criminal legal system.”

Howe said he and Prade’s other attorneys are now exploring next steps.

“We will continue to pursue whatever options are available for Mr. Prade to present the evidence of his innocence,” he said.

Prosecutors, however, were satisfied with the high court’s decision.