A Toledo man convicted in 2005 for the fatal shooting of his friend and employer pushed forward Tuesday with the help of the Ohio Innocence Project in his request for new testing of DNA evidence.
Eric Babos, 58, was found guilty by a Lucas County jury on Aug. 5, 2005, after the state argued that he fatally shot John Riebe, 39, seven times because the man owed him $150.
Babos, who has steadily maintained his innocence since his conviction, did not appear before Judge Gary Cook during a Zoom hearing Tuesday due to undisclosed medical issues. His defense attorneys Samantha Kovacevic and Donald Caster of the Ohio Innocence Project tuned in from Cincinnati where the exoneration effort is based.
The Ohio Innocence Project joined Babos’ pursuit for post-conviction relief in November, 2020, 11 months after he first filed a pro se request for evidence testing that Babos believes will exonerate him. The defendant’s team is specifically asking the state to test seven shell casings recovered from the crime scene for the presence of touch DNA.
“This is something that's only been possible for the last couple of years. We believe that the true perpetrator's DNA should be on the casings — from loading the gun,” Mr. Caster told The Blade.
Assistant county prosecutor Evy Jarrett said the casings are not good subjects for DNA analysis based on an affidavit provided by a forensic scientist from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“They’re really not appropriate for DNA testing because of the risk of contamination because they were already processed for finger-printing,” Ms. Jarrett said before Judge Cook Tuesday.
Babos’ initial request also asked that Mr. Riebe’s phone be tested for touch DNA evidence, but, according to court documents, the phone was never booked into evidence and has yet to be located.
According to court documents, on the day of the murder, Dec. 15, 2004, Mr. Riebe made two phone calls from his home in the 5100 block of Talmadge Road to his former wife, Lisa Richmond. During those phone calls, spaced just a minute apart, Ms. Richmond testified that her ex-husband “sounded panicked” and asked that she pick up his check from A-1 Heating Company, where he worked, because “someone was waiting for his money.”
Prior to his death, Mr. Riebe occasionally hired Babos to help with A-1 Heating Company projects. They were good friends and Babos was known to spend time at Mr. Riebe’s home. Days before he was shot, Mr. Riebe hired Babos to help him with some subcontracting work. He agreed to pay Babos $150 of the $800 he was set to collect from A-1 Heating for the job.
Four minutes after calling his ex-wife, Mr. Riebe called A-1 to ask about the $800. The manager, Daniel Boyle, informed him that his check was ready to be picked up. Three minutes later, Mr. Boyle received another call from Mr. Riebe’s home number. This time, the caller identified himself as “Eric, John’s helper.” According to trial testimony, the caller said, “I want my [expletive] money.” Two more calls were made by the same caller, continuing to demand money.
In the interim between the last call at 3:12 p.m. and when Mr. Riebe’s daughters returned from school between 3:16 and 3:20 p.m., Mr. Riebe was shot seven times with a small-caliber handgun and the murderer fled the scene. Nicole Riebe and Jamie Alessandrini, formerly Riebe, were forced to crawl through a window into the locked home and subsequently discovered their father lying on the floor. The girls, who were 12 and 13 at the time, quickly called the police.
Later, just after 4 p.m. while one of the sisters was talking to police, Babos called the house. Speaking with one of Mr. Riebe’s daughters, Babos stated that he needed to talk to the victim about getting his money.
A minute or two later, “Eric” called A-1 heating and said that Mr. Riebe was in the hospital and that he wanted the $150 he was owed. Robert Pfeifer, A-1’s owner, testified at trial that the “Eric” who called before the murder had the same voice as the “Eric” who called after, though he had never seen the man in person or heard his voice before that day.
In 2016, Mr. Pfeifer and Mr. Boyle, A-1’s manager, claimed in affidavits that “the killer sounded like a Black man.” According to the defense team’s request for post-conviction DNA testing, voice analysis experts “confirmed that the unknown speaker was likely a Black man.”
Another suspect, Valynn Rodgers, was identified by police shortly after Mr. Riebe’s murder. The defense noted in their filings that Rodgers is African American. Phone records showed that on the day of the murder, Rodgers and Mr. Riebe had chatted several times and Rodgers told police that Mr. Riebe was looking to purchase drugs from him.
In 2006, an inmate at the Lucas County jail, Vincent Williams, contacted Babos’ defense and supplied an affidavit alleging that after the murder, Rodgers hid in Williams’ girlfriend’s basement and while there, confessed to the murder. The affidavit came shortly after the Babos family posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the real murderer.
Rodgers denied he ever stayed there and police later confirmed that he was staying at a different location.
The state also noted that, on the day after the murder, a shirt worn by Babos tested positive for gunshot residue. No murder weapon was ever found by investigators.
In November 2005, Babos was sentenced by Judge Gary Cook to life in prison with the eligibility for parole after 18 years. Since his conviction, Babos has made several failed attempts to obtain a new trial or any form of post-conviction relief.
The Riebe sisters told The Blade Tuesday via a written statement that they were unaware that Babos was pursuing new DNA testing.
“I find this highly disturbing since there was so much clear-cut evidence convicting Babos of murdering our father,” Nicole said on behalf of herself and her sister. “It is also rather concerning that the Ohio Innocence Project has gotten involved with someone so blatantly guilty.”
The sisters asked the Ohio Innocence Project to consider why Babos didn’t take the stand during his trial.
“Not only did this man steal our father from us but also the opportunity for Jamie and me to have normalcy within our lives,” Nicole said. “Thanksgiving is this week and while most individuals are excited with seasonal spirit, the holiday time is a brutal reminder that we have somebody missing from our table.”
The state agreed Tuesday to prepare a detailed inventory of evidence for Babos’ defense team by Jan. 14. The defense will then provide arguments by Jan. 24 for testing requests based on this inventory and the state will have until Feb. 11 to respond to those arguments. A final filing deadline is set for Feb. 18 and an in-person hearing before Judge Cook is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 22.
First Published November 23, 2021, 8:12 p.m.
