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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2009 > April > 28 > Entry
Re-trial in aircraft safety inspector’s death continues
DAYTON — Testimony started Tuesday, April 28, in the re-trial of James A. Russell, as Montgomery County prosecutors called the prostitute who lured a 57-year-old federal aircraft safety inspector into the robbery attempt that led to his death.
Russell, 33, faced the possibility of life in prison until the Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals reversed his 2006 murder conviction.
He is accused of killing Phillip Troutwine, of Arcanum, on Sept. 1, 2004, at the Auburn Avenue apartment he shared with Candace Hargrove. Troutwine’s decomposed body was found 24 days later in the trunk of his car, which was parked in West Carrollton. Authorities had been looking for the Arcanum man since Sept. 3, when his wife notified them of his failure to return home.
Troutwine came to the apartment expecting sex, but Hargrove, who did not feel like having sex, planned with Russell to rob him, she testified Tuesday.
Hargrove said that she had started a prostitution business using a telephone dating service, when Troutwine contacted her about a week before they were to meet at her apartment on the morning of Sept. 1.
Troutwine wanted to look around the apartment. “He looked nervous, like he was uncomfortable,” she said.
She was walking Troutwine through the apartment when Russell, hiding in a bedroom, surprised Troutwine and put a gun to his head and demanded money. The two were moved into the kitchen, Hargrove said.
“I heard tussling, and then I heard a gunshot,” Hargrove said. Then Russell told her “I didn’t mean to shoot him,” she said.
Hargrove also testified she helped Russell clean up the blood and move the body into the trunk of Troutwine’s car. The two then drove the car to a West Carrollton apartment complex, then they took a bus back to Dayton. They fled to Kentucky, then Detroit, then were arrested in Los Angeles on Oct. 25, 2004.
Hargrove, 24, who cooperated with authorities, pleaded guilty before the trial to charges of aggravated robbery, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. She is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Earlier Tuesday, assistant Ohio public defender Theresa Haire told the jury that Russell was in Columbus at the time Troutwine was shot.
Haire was to cross examine Hargrove later Tuesday afternoon.
After Russell’s previous trial, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael T. Hall said at sentencing that he imposed maximum consecutive sentences for the six felonies because Russell’s juvenile record showed he posed “the greatest likelihood of committing future crimes.”
As a juvenile, Russell served about five years in the Ohio Department of Youth Services system for his role in the 1991 fatal shooting of Connie Sue Trimble, 25.
The appeals court found that Hall erred when it overruled a motion for mistrial after it was discovered that a verdict form was mistakenly published to the jury. The potential impact of the improper inclusion of the verdict form could not be measured, and the probable speculation by the jury was prejudicial, tainting the case, according to the ruling.
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Comments
By Dave
April 28, 2009 3:39 PM | Link to this
Sounds like James Russell should be charged with a hate crime. He only kills white people.By kevin
April 28, 2009 7:43 PM | Link to this
Drug dealers from Cincinnati drive to Mont. Co. to do big deals because they know if it goes bad, they have a much better chance of getting with the 2nd District Appeals Court and Matt Heck’s office on the case.By ladyk
April 28, 2009 10:23 PM | Link to this
dave,learn the facts before passing judgement. One day you may find yourself in the same seat.By Jaywizzy
April 29, 2009 5:12 PM | Link to this
Dave, how is this a hate crime? and i dont see anyhting about him actualy killing anyone else or that it was a white person?By 94z28stroker
April 30, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this
discharging a firearm in the comission of a felony is 25 years Minimum Mandatory in many states. So why the plea 8 years for the prostitute? ShameBy cindy
April 30, 2009 8:59 PM | Link to this
Boy she looks like a man! Same crime = same time… not fair you can commit a crime with someone and whoever talks first gets the deal and the other gets screwed… sad but happens alall too oftenBy a concerned citizen
April 30, 2009 9:08 PM | Link to this
What does the juvenile record have to do with this case ? I stole a pack of gum as a child does that mean I’m going to be a Klepto?By MEEEE
April 30, 2009 9:12 PM | Link to this
WHOOOO! Cindy you are right if there were no names on the pics … I’d be so confused about who was who.By I'm not dieting
April 30, 2009 10:13 PM | Link to this
Shouldn’t there be a different judge ? At the minimum so the same mistake doesn’t happen again? or in case this judge has some sort of vendetta against Russell because it was his careless mistake that led to his retrial?, so to save face the judge will judge fairly this time around.