Jason Dean was sentenced to death and 125 years in prison for the killing of a youth counselor.
By Tiffany Y. Latta
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — Jason Dean on Friday turned to the parents of a youth counselor who was killed and robbed of $6 and told them he had nothing to do with their son’s death.
“I didn’t kill Titus Arnold. I don’t have any bitterness toward the Titus family. I can’t wrap my mind around what they’re going through, but I played no part in Titus Arnold’s death,” Dean, 37, said.
Minutes after Dean’s statement, visiting Judge Sumner Walters sentenced him to death and 125 years in prison for his role in the 2005 death of Arnold and the attempted murder of others.
“It may sound ridiculous to you to be sentenced to death and 125 years in prison ... But it is my fervent hope that you never walk the streets as a free man,” Walters said. Walters, a retired jurist from the 3rd District Court of Appeals, followed the recommendation of a jury that earlier this month convicted Dean of multiple charges that included aggravated murder, attempted murder and aggravated robbery.
Dean and his 16-year-old friend, Joshua Wade, committed the crimes during a 13-day stretch after Dean was released from prison after serving five years on a theft charge.
Prosecutors said Dean was the ring leader of a “crime team” and manipulated Wade into firing the shot that killed Arnold after Dean’s gun jammed.
They also told jurors Dean coerced Wade into participating in a drive-by shooting on Dibert Avenue in which several people, including a pregnant woman and a 1-year-old girl, were nearly killed.
Wade was sentenced to life in 2006.
Dean was sentenced to death that same year, but the Ohio Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2010, determining Clark County Judge Douglas Rastatter made rulings and statements during the trial that prevented Dean from receiving a fair trial.
Dean told Walters before he was sentenced Friday that he was “fair and just” and thanked his attorneys for doing a good job.
But Gregory W. Meyers, one of his defense attorneys, said Dean should not have been sentenced to death and attorneys will appeal Walters’ ruling.
“It is extremely rare for the nonshooter to be sentenced to death. I have hope for Mr. Dean that this sentence will be reversed on appeal,” Meyers said.
Prosecutor Andy Wilson disagreed, saying precedent has been set in other cases and remained adamant that Dean was the mastermind behind the deadly crime spree.
“Evidence shows that if Dean’s gun wouldn’t have jammed he would have shot Titus Arnold. He provided the car, the gun, the ammunition. He mentored Joshua Wade and he shouldn’t get credit for having a juvenile do his dirty work for him,” Wilson said.
Wilson also called Dean a “sociopath” who is a danger to society.
Since Dean has been in prison, he has stabbed a prison guard with a razor blade from his shaving kit and bit another guard during an attempt to stab another with a sharpened toothbrush.
“He just doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about the lives of others,” Wilson said.
Dean’s friend, Cristina Gonzalez, 36, of Springfield, whom Dean called his “foundation” and loved more than “God loves his angels,” said she will continue to support him and fight for his freedom.
“I’m going to continue visiting him until his last breath and my last breath,” she said.
She also said Dean is a good man and should not have been sentenced to death because he didn’t kill Titus.
While Titus’ father, Willie, agrees with the death sentence, his mother, Vickie, has mixed emotions about it.
“Coming into it I wanted this gentlemen to be put to death ... But I can’t change who I am,” Vickie Arnold said.
Both said they were angered by Dean’s statement in court, when he denied killing their son, who is survived by three children: Tavione, 11, Tyaaron, 8, and Eyriona, 6.
But they declined to address him afterward when given the chance.
“This is beyond words. Words would not have made a difference,” Willie Arnold said. “It wasn’t going to bring Titus back. If we had our chance we would have given our lives so he could live.”