ELYRIA — Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski reluctantly delayed the murder trial of a Lorain man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in 2001.

Kenneth Ortner, the attorney for Rennell Malone, pushed for the continuance so he could re-examine the evidence against his client, who was arrested in 2006, because prosecutors have changed the date they believe the murder took place.

Originally, county Coroner Paul Matus had ruled that Diane Utsey-Henderson died on June 15, 2001, but he later revised that opinion based on the accounts of two witnesses who said they had mistakenly said they saw her on June 13, not June 14, as they had originally said, according to prosecutors.

Ortner said he wants his own expert to review Matus’ autopsy report.

“There’s nothing scientific about basing (the time of death) on when somebody last saw her alive,” he said.

Ortner said he also wants more time to speak to Malone’s former cellmate, who plans to testify during the trial that Malone confessed to him. Ortner has questioned whether Malone, who is black, would have confessed to his cellmate, whom Ortner has accused of being a member of the white supremacist group known as the Aryan Brotherhood.

Assistant County Prosecutor Tony Cillo, who said the 44-year-old Utsey-Henderson died after being struck in the head three times and stabbed 21 times, argued against the delay. Police searched Utsey-Henderson’s Lorain home and found her after her sister noticed that the house appeared to have been robbed, something prosecutors say was staged to throw suspicion off Malone.

Betleski rejected another request by Ortner to drop the charges against his client. Ortner had cited lack of evidence and the amount of time that had passed since the killing.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---