Ex-airman testifies in ax killing of retiree

[unhappycamper]

Ex-airman testifies in ax killing of retiree
By James Merriweather - Gannett News Service
Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 11:49:11 EST

DOVER, Del. — After declining for better than a decade to talk with authorities, former airman John Schmitz testified Tuesday that he watched in horror as Bruce Banther used a paramedic’s ax to kill Air Force retiree Dennis Ravers in February 1997.

All told, Banther struck Ravers in the head four times, Schmitz said, ending an international blue jeans smuggling operation that had come undone. As Banther’s co-defendant, Schmitz pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in 1999 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but, until approaching prosecutors last year, he had refused to testify against Banther at two previous trials or to give a statement to authorities.

Schmitz ended his silence Tuesday by testifying that Banther, using Schmitz’s name, had ordered the murder weapon by mail from an Arkansas company, then used it to kill Ravers in an isolated area near Williamsville, Del.

Opening Banther’s third trial, his attorneys acknowledged that Banther was present when Ravers was killed, participated in a cover-up of the crime and helped dispose of the body. They said, though — as they had in the two previous trials — that their client did not participate in the murder.

Schmitz, 39, of Dallas, an active-duty member of the Air Force at the time of Ravers’ slaying, agreed to testify in exchange for a promise from prosecutors that they would not oppose the scheduling of a hearing at which he would request a sentence reduction. Banther’s two previous convictions were thrown out by the Delaware Supreme Court.


Article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/01/gns_murdertrial_bantherschmitz_080129w/