About The Baldwin bulletin. (Milledgeville, GA) ????-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2017)
Page A8 The Baldwin Bulletin I www.BBnews.today Thursday, November 23,2017 Trial Continued from A1 The crime Ivanditti’s partially nude body was found Dec. 2 partially submerged in water in the garden tub of her Walnut Street home in Eatonton. She was found by her mother, who was checking to see why Ivanditti, 63, had not been answering phone calls from family members. Causey, then 26, was arrested Dec. 20 and charged with the murder. The sentence Before imposing the sentence, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Court Judge Alison T. Burleson heard statements from prosecutor District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley and defense attorney Keri Foster Thompson, of Milledgeville. Bradley said, “There is no way Lydia Ivanditti didn’t know she was dying,” as she was being strangled and drowned, so he requested the maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole and asked the judge to merge counts one and two (felony murder and malice murder). Thompson said Causey has responsibilities to his children, one of which was born in May while he was in jail, and noted he was working and supporting those children at the time of his arrest. Burleson had Causey stand up from his seat at the defense table. His attorney stood beside him, and law enforcement officers from Putnam County Sheriffs Office and Eatonton Police Department surrounded him. “Mr. Causey, you only have to look around the courtroom to see the suffering you have caused Ms. Ivanditti’s family, not to mention the suffering you’re going to cause your five children who will grow up without a father because of your actions,” Burleson said. The Putnam County Superior Court judge mentioned Causey’s two former girlfriends in Memphis, Tennessee, who had testified the previous Wednesday as witnesses for the prosecution. Each told that they ended their relationship with Causey when he became violent and attempted to strangle each of them - Kimberly Garrett in 2016 and Lametria Akers in 2012. “If it were not for sheer grace, there might be two other families sitting in the same position as members of Ms. Ivanditti’s family and suffering (a similar unfathomable loss),” Burleson said, noting that, with Causey’s history of violence, “we are blessed they aren’t also here.” The reaction Eleven of the 14 jurors - which includes the two alternate jurors - remained in the courtroom to hear the sentence. As they left the juror box, several of them hugged Ivanditti’s LYNN HOBBS/Staff Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills places handcuffs on Frank Causey after he received his sentence in Putnam County Court Nov. 15, while defense attorney Keri Thompson prepares papers. family members. Quite a few of them also stayed afterwards and talked with some of the family members. “We’re all flawed,” a juror was overheard saying UGA COACH Vince Dooley’s Latest Book The Legion’s Fighting Bulldog Get your signed copy by coach Dooley $39 95 ^ a ^ uG FREE with 5-year subscription to: tatiuitiui ilLssettgrr Lake Oconee News Che Unites Cnuntu Nevus I Baldwin Bulletin New or Renewal Read the exciting account of young Lieutenant Colonel William Gaston Delony, an Athens, Georgia Bulldog who served in Cobb’s Legion in Robert E. Lee’s Confedarate Army of Nothern Virginia. Delony was a graduate of the University of Georgia and the first real fighting Georgia Bulldog. □ 5 year subscription, any paper, new or renewal - FREE □ 2 year subscription, any paper, new or renewal - $ 22 00 □ 1 year subscription, any paper, new or renewal - $ 32 00 PICK UP YOUR COPY AT The Eatonton Messenger -100 North Jefferson Avenue - Eatonton Lake Oconee News - Lake Office -1106 Market Street, Next to Publix Lake Oconee News - Madison Office -195 West Jefferson Street - Near Town Park The Baldwin Bulletin -136 South Wayne Street - Downtown Milledgeville The Jones County News -102 Stewart Avenue - Gray, Georgia Smith Communications Inc. - Printz Plus Building -1030 Village Drive - Watkinsville Call for more information • 706.485.3501 □ EM □ LON □ BB □ JCN Smith Communications Inc. P.O. 4027 Eatonton, GA 31024 Expiration Date. £3 MC £3 Visa fl Disc. 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When McKelvey thanked them, one juror said, “We took our responsibility very seriously.” “I think from the bottom of our hearts, we are just thankful for (Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agents) Joe Wooten and David Peebles and the GBI team who followed the evidence and sought the truth,” McKelvey said to members of the press. “They supported us as a family, and they did what they are charged to do with the oath that they take and their roles. “I am thankful to (District Attorney) Stephen Bradley and (Assistant District Attorney) Wright Barksdale, and (D.A. Office Investigator) Mark Robinson and others within the district attorney’s office for taking everything the GBI agents gave them (and that) led to the guilty verdict today.” Bradley also thanked law enforcement and investi gators, saying they did “a tremendous job finding all the evidence available,” and thanked Barksdale and his staff for “the wonderful job of bringing all the evidence into format to be presented in court.” The D.A. also expressed appreciation to the jury, saying he appre ciated them thoroughly evaluating the evidence. When asked for comment, Matthews declined. The deliberation Members of the jury wished to remain anon ymous when giving their comments. One said, “The worst part was having to convict somebody, but the evidence was there.” Another one noted it was difficult to spend two weeks in the courtroom and not receiving a paycheck from their job, “but we took our responsi bility very seriously.” Jurors elected the foreperson before they began deliberating for the verdict. “When we listened to the evidence, it appeared to be overwhelming,” the foreperson said afterwards. When asked about the length of time - approx imately 50 minutes - it took to come back with the “guilty” verdict, the foreperson said there had been some uncertainty regarding the various charges. “It was a very long week and a half, but we are all relieved,” the foreperson said. What's next Judge Burleson told Causey he has a right to appeal his murder convic tion, and if he chooses to do so, the appeal must be filed within a certain amount of time with the Putnam County Superior Court Clerk’s office. Thompson nodded her head during the statement and said afterwards that her client maintained his innocence. Causey was trans ferred to Jackson to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison the very next day on Friday, Nov. 17, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills. He remained there at The Messenger’s press time, according to a search on the Georgia Department of Corrections’ website. Closing arguments Closing arguments began at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, with Thompson telling the jurors her client’s guilt needed to be determined beyond all reasonable doubt. “Removing the idea that she (Ivanditti) was a socialite makes the case easier to understand,” she said, adding “you have to deal with the evidence to determine if the state proved beyond a shadow of doubt if Frank Causey caused the death of Lydia Ivanditti.” Thompson refuted the testimony of the state’s witnesses and suggested some of them may have been the murderers instead, saying “it all goes to common sense.” She concluded at 11:47 a.m. After lunch, the district attorney made his closing arguments, throughout which he showed photos, charts, Ivanditti’s phone, and even a video of Causey giving his confession - all which had been submitted as evidence during the trial. “(Causey) deserves the same respect and formality as anyone else sitting in that chair because it could be anybody’s loved one who’s sitting in that chair, assuming there is sufficient evidence to get them there,” he said, pointing to Causey. “At the same time, the poor soul lying here in this stack of evidence deserves the same respect,” he added, placing his hand on a stack of photos of Ivanditti. 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