It was a brutal murder last summer of three people in Franklin County and Wednesday the justice system continued to move forward in the case.
Kevin Cleeves was in court and faced his formal arraignment. The state has filed for a possible death sentence for Cleeves.
A summer night, alcohol, anger, a child custody struggle, a gun and the result was three murdered and many other lives permanently scarred. The defendant reportedly said after he was captured, 'I messed up'.
The murders took place on July 27 in Quincy, but Wednesday was the first time that Kevin Cleeves was physically before a judge for his formal arraignment. It was also the first time for the victims’ families to see Cleeves since the crime happened four months ago
Cleeves was only in the courtroom for about 10 minutes, where he entered not guilty pleas to all of the crimes he is accused. He also acknowledged that he was aware that the Commonwealth will seek the death penalty as the punishment for the killing of Cleeves’ estranged wife Brandi Cleeves, her boyfriend Vincent Santucci and his mother Rosemary Holma.
Rosemary's husband Kevin told us he will be in the courthouse to see the process through until Cleeves gets the death penalty. We asked if he thought he could ever forgive him and he and the rest of the family members all shook their heads no.
They sat in the back of the small courtroom while the alleged killer's mother, Linda Cleeves, sat in the front row.
She told us she had nothing but compassion for the victims’ family, but her son was not the monster that they make him out to be. She added that he was a good father and that killing her granddaughter's father would not help the child.
Allegedly after killing the three, Cleeves took off with his four-year-old daughter, Leia, with the intent to leave her with relatives in Michigan. He never made it and was captured in Eastern Ohio near Youngstown.
At the end of the hearing, we asked Cleeves’ mother how she though her son looked? She said ‘he still looks my son and there were mitigating circumstances.’
That is something that a judge and jury will have to determine as this case plays out in the months to come.
District Attorney Matthew Fogal had no comment as to what his plans were for where the case goes from here.
Kevin Cleeves was in court and faced his formal arraignment. The state has filed for a possible death sentence for Cleeves.
A summer night, alcohol, anger, a child custody struggle, a gun and the result was three murdered and many other lives permanently scarred. The defendant reportedly said after he was captured, 'I messed up'.
The murders took place on July 27 in Quincy, but Wednesday was the first time that Kevin Cleeves was physically before a judge for his formal arraignment. It was also the first time for the victims’ families to see Cleeves since the crime happened four months ago
Cleeves was only in the courtroom for about 10 minutes, where he entered not guilty pleas to all of the crimes he is accused. He also acknowledged that he was aware that the Commonwealth will seek the death penalty as the punishment for the killing of Cleeves’ estranged wife Brandi Cleeves, her boyfriend Vincent Santucci and his mother Rosemary Holma.
Rosemary's husband Kevin told us he will be in the courthouse to see the process through until Cleeves gets the death penalty. We asked if he thought he could ever forgive him and he and the rest of the family members all shook their heads no.
They sat in the back of the small courtroom while the alleged killer's mother, Linda Cleeves, sat in the front row.
She told us she had nothing but compassion for the victims’ family, but her son was not the monster that they make him out to be. She added that he was a good father and that killing her granddaughter's father would not help the child.
Allegedly after killing the three, Cleeves took off with his four-year-old daughter, Leia, with the intent to leave her with relatives in Michigan. He never made it and was captured in Eastern Ohio near Youngstown.
At the end of the hearing, we asked Cleeves’ mother how she though her son looked? She said ‘he still looks my son and there were mitigating circumstances.’
That is something that a judge and jury will have to determine as this case plays out in the months to come.
District Attorney Matthew Fogal had no comment as to what his plans were for where the case goes from here.