7 days ago
Life sentence for slaying of doctor
Former Akron Police Capt. Douglas E. Prade -- who spent part of his career working to keep other officers honest -- is going to prison for the murder of his ex-wife.
But Prade, an officer with the Police Department's Internal Affairs Division from 1993 to 1995, didn't accept his conviction easily or silently.
"I didn't do this," Prade said, turning to the spectators in the courtroom rather than to Common Pleas Judge Mary Spicer. "You convicted the wrong man."
Prade could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced to serve at least 26 years for the Nov. 26 murder of his ex-wife, Dr. Margo Prade.
Defense attorney Kerry O'Brien said the sentence handed down by Spicer "for a man of 52 years of age might as well be a death sentence."
Douglas Prade was found guilty yesterday of aggravated murder, six counts of wiretapping and one of possession of criminal tools.
He was sentenced to life for murder, three more years for using a gun, three more on one of the wiretapping convictions and one year for the criminal tools conviction.
Those sentences are to run consecutively.
He also received 1 1/2 years on each of the remaining five wiretapping convictions, which will be served concurrently with the other terms.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, saying in February when Prade was arrested that the facts of the case did not support the criteria that state law requires for capital cases. Aggravated murder carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
Margo Prade, 41, was found shot six times the morning of Nov. 26 inside her van in the parking lot of her Wooster Avenue medical office.
Loss of control
Prosecutors argued that Douglas Prade wiretapped his wife's phone in the last 26 months of their marriage, became obsessed with his loss of control over her, and, after their divorce, became enraged over financial problems he faced because of the divorce.
Prade's defense was that he was miles away working out in the gym at his Copley Township condominium complex at the time Margo Prade was murdered.
He also contended that their April 1997 divorce was amicable and he did not have financial problems as a result of the divorce.
After 12 days of trial testimony that included 52 witnesses and 243 pieces of evidence, the four-man, eight-woman jury deliberated for a total of four hours Tuesday and yesterday to reach its verdicts.
After the verdicts were read, Judge Spicer said there was no need for a presentence investigation because she had heard in testimony about Douglas Prade's personal history and the impact of Margo Prade's death on her family and friends.
"The word that keeps crossing my mind, in this particular case throughout, the word is 'tragic,' " Spicer said. "This is a tragic loss for so many."
Spicer said to Douglas Prade, "The jury has found that you destroyed the life of Margo Prade, and in so doing, you have essentially destroyed your life.
"The lives of Kenya and Sahara (Douglas and Margo Prade's 13- and 10-year-old daughters) have been severely damaged.
"However, it appears to me and it has been my impression that those two young ladies are exceptionally bright . . . and with the guidance and nourishment of their grandmother (Lillie Hendricks) and their family, I am sure these young ladies will overcome and succeed," Spicer said.
Before pronouncing sentence, Spicer asked Douglas Prade if he had anything to say. Prade said yes and turned his back on Spicer to address spectators in the courtroom.
"I want to tell the family that I am grieving as much as you are. I didn't do this," he said.
Prade called his conviction "the most egregious miscarriage of justice" he had ever heard of.
"I am an innocent convicted person," he said. "God, myself, Margo and the person who killed Margo all know I'm innocent.
"I absolutely did not kill Margo. I'm not remorseful. I'm grieving," he said.
Addressing former fellow police officers who were in the courtroom, Prade said, "You made a very good circumstantial case, and I commend you for it, but I'm telling you, you convicted the wrong man."
Defense plans appeal
Defense attorney O'Brien told Spicer after the sentencing that he planned to appeal.
The jurors declined to comment on their decision. Clutching their personal possessions, they left the courtroom under the glare of television lights and were escorted to their vehicles by sheriff's deputies.
In the hallway outside Spicer's third-floor courtroom, O'Brien said that the problem the defense had in the trial was the number of witnesses -- 44 -- called by the prosecution and a case that was completely circumstantial but effective.
"You can get a conviction on circumstantial evidence alone if you've got enough of it," O'Brien said.
Asked about Prade's statement, O'Brien said it "came from his heart." He had no idea that Prade would make such a statement, he said.
Asked if an innocent man had been convicted, O'Brien said, "I believe so." Alison McCarty, assistant Summit County prosecutor, told reporters that she was surprised by how quickly the jury returned its verdicts.
McCarty said she had tried in her summation Tuesday to make the jury understand what Margo Prade's murder meant to her family. "It was important for the jury to feel the family's loss," she said.
"The jury heard the evidence and made its decision," McCarty said, adding that she was convinced that the right man had been convicted.
In a prepared statement, Summit County Prosecutor Maureen O'Connor praised the police department and its investigators and the prosecution team.
"Justice was served. I cannot thank the Akron Police Department enough from the chief on down for the truly outstanding work they did on this case. . . . (McCarty and colleague Michael Carroll made) a flawless presentation of the evidence," O'Connor said.
"I would like to tell the citizens of this community to focus on the superb police department that we have and not focus on the fact that this defendant (Douglas Prade) was a police officer," she said.
Akron Police Capt. Craig Gilbride, who led the investigation, said, "Obviously, we are ecstatic about the outcome of the case. It's been a long 10 months, almost 10 months to the day (of Margo Prade's murder on Nov. 26).
"I've never seen a more thorough investigation. It made me proud of each and every one of the investigators who worked this case," said Akron Police Capt. Craig Gilbride.
He added: "And I think our guys can be proud to wear that badge again," referring to the tarnish that he said had accrued from a general sentiment that Douglas Prade might get off because he was a police captain.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Life sentence for slaying of doctor
