Deputies' actions defended in Springfield Twp. slaying

2/3/2011

Lucas County Sheriff's Maj. Ron Keel Wednesday defended the deputies who responded to a Springfield Township home but did not force their way inside where Lisa Straub, 20, and Johnny S. Clarke, 21, had been brutally murdered.

"They responded appropriately," Major Keel said. "We just can't run up and kick in doors."

The mother of Mr. Clarke, who first called 911 early Monday saying she feared her son and his girlfriend were in danger, said she begged deputies to force open the door of the Straub family's Longacre Lane home. Still, Maytee Vasquez-Clarke said it was her husband who eventually kicked in the door after a relative whom he had boosted up to peer in a window spotted the bodies.

Major Keel said law enforcement officers had seen nothing amiss when they looked in windows, and they need more than a hunch to force entry.

"It's different if you can see some activity or anything at the home -- any sign of anything," he said. "There was no sign of nothing. The house was secure."

Major Keel said the sheriff's office took the call seriously, sending numerous crews to the scene.

Sheriff's records show at least four crews were dispatched to the scene after Mrs. Vasquez-Clarke first called 911 at 1:21 a.m. The deputies were at the scene by 1:28 a.m. and stayed approximately 11 minutes. After her second call to 911 at 2:06 a.m., two crews were dispatched and remained on scene for 36 minutes.

Mrs. Vasquez-Clarke had told the dispatcher that a friend of her son's and Miss Straub had said she was talking to him on a cell phone around 11 p.m. Sunday when she heard him drop the phone and say things like, "Who are you? What do you want? What are you doing here?" Neither his friends nor his mother could reach Mr. Clarke or Miss Straub by phone after that, and Mrs. Vasquez-Clarke feared the worst.

Autopsies showed that both Miss Straub and Mr. Clarke died from asphyxiation. Their hands had been bound with tape and plastic bags placed over their heads and secured with tape.

Miss Straub's parents, Jeff and Mary Beth Straub, had been away on a Caribbean cruise but returned home late Tuesday. Major Keel said they met with detectives Wednesday. No arrests have been made.

"We're doing everything we possibly can," Major Keel said.

Family spokesman Jim Verbosky, an uncle of Miss Straub, said he doesn't question how the deputies responded to the 911 calls Monday morning.

"I understand how the system works and I understand what their probable cause is and I understand that if they don't have it, they don't have it, and they're liable for whatever damage they would cause," he said. "If they went to every 'check the safety' call and they start breaking doors down for everybody, it gets pretty expensive."

Daniel Steinbock, interim dean of the University of Toledo college of law, said the U.S. Supreme Court has held that law enforcement officers must have an "objectively reasonable basis" for entering private property without a search warrant. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens' privacy by prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure by law enforcement and requires police to prove to a judge that probable cause exists before they can obtain a search warrant.

"In general, they need probable cause to believe either a crime is going on or somebody is in danger or distress inside," Mr. Steinbock said.

That is far clearer, he said, in cases where officers can hear screams or they look inside and see that someone is in a potentially dangerous situation.

Funeral arrangements for Mr. Clarke are pending at Blanchard Strabler Funeral Home, where donations are being accepted to help defray the family's expenses.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-724-6129.