Ishemer Ramsey

A Butler judge denied a request to reverse the sentence of a man serving life in prison for the murder of Melissa Barto.

Ishemer Ramsey, 24, of Lyndora is serving a life sentence in a state prison but, through his lawyer, he recently asked Judge William Shaffer to reconsider the sentence. Shaffer sentenced Ramsey Dec. 2 to life in prison for homicide in the first degree and other charges after finding him guilty of killing Barto in 2017 and dumping her body in Lawrence County. The sentence was imposed after a four-day, non-jury trial.

But Ramsey, through his first lawyer, Christopher Capozzi, and then again through his second lawyer, Rebecca Black, argued several things, including that there wasn't enough evidence to find Ramsey guilty of first-degree murder. Capozzi conducted the defense during the trial. But Shaffer denied all of Ramsey's motions in an August decision, laying out his reasoning for the decision.

In Ramsey's motion, his lawyers argue that the evidence of the case at most supported voluntary manslaughter, a less severe charge than first-degree murder. And Black argued during a hearing in July that the burden was met.

“Plus, they were all conflicting each other's testimony,” Black said during the hearing. “I don't believe the burden was met for that degree of homicide. I didn't see anything that was even an effort to prove malice or planning. The effort wasn't there.”

First-degree murder requires proving that the killing was planned in some way, and Shaffer reasoned in his opinion that this level of evidence was presented when James Howard-George, a former friend of Ramsey's and an accomplice in the disposal of Barto's body, testified that Ramsey said he wanted Barto “out of his life.” Coupled with other details, Shaffer found this evidence supported premeditation and, therefore, denied Ramsey's request to drop the first-degree murder conviction.

Ramsey's lawyers also accused prosecutors of manipulating a witness to testify in the prosecution's favor and reasoned that the “prosecutor's misconduct was so pervasive and prejudicial” that it denied Ramsey's right to a fair trial.

Black argued during the July hearing that the prosecutor's behavior during the trial crossed over into prosecutorial misconduct. Black noted that during the trial several witnesses called by the prosecutor mentioned police procedures that violated Ramsey's rights.

At the time of the trial, Capozzi made several requests that Shaffer declare a mistrial, but Shaffer denied the requests.

Shaffer returned to this request in his opinion. Since Ramsey's trial was a non-jury trial, Shaffer acted as both the jury and the judge. Citing a state Supreme Court case, Shaffer concedes that “even though there could have been prosecutorial misconduct,” he as the decider of the case is more trained, educated and experienced than a typical jury and, therefore, he could choose to ignore alleged misconduct and not let it sway him in any way. Because of Shaffer's ability, any alleged misconduct “is harmless error concerning all of these allegations.”

Shaffer addressed other arguments from Ramsey's defense, but ultimately rejected their requests.

Ramsey now has the right to appeal the decision to the state's Superior Court. His attorney couldn't be reached for comment.