Former Prosecutor, Judge Ernest "Ernie" Jasmin Dies
The Kentucky Wizard
(LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 1st, 2004) -- Ernest Jasmin, who was
elected Kentucky's first black commonwealth's attorney in 1988
and prosecuted some of Louisville's most celebrated murder
cases, died Friday. Jasmin, who had lung cancer, was 69.
Jasmin won convictions of Victor Taylor and George Wade for the
1984 slayings of two Trinity High School students, and of Kevin
Stanford and David Buchanan for the 1981 murder of gas-station
attendant Baerbel Poore.
But he lost what was arguably his biggest case in 1991, when Mel
Ignatow was acquitted of murdering his girlfriend, Brenda Sue
Schaefer. Ignatow later confessed to the crime after film
showing him torturing her was found in his former home.
"That man got away with murder," Jasmin said in February when he
was honored by the Louisville Bar Association, The
Courier-Journal reported in a story to be published Saturday.
"That still bothers me."
Jasmin later served as a circuit judge from 1992 until he
retired in 1999.
"He felt confined as a judge because his heart was that of an
advocate," said Charles Ricketts Jr., who defended Ignatow, yet
became close friends with Jasmin in the years following the
trial.
He was admitted to the bar in 1967, and after a few years of
private practice, he was appointed judge on the old Police
Court, where he met Dave Stengel. Stengel was elected
commonwealth's attorney in 1976 and hired Jasmin as one of his
first full-time assistants.
Jasmin was dubbed the "preacher for the prosecution" for his
fire-and-brimstone courtroom oratory. He said that as a teen he
memorized the Bible verses he later used in the courtroom.
Jasmin won a string of murder convictions in such cases as that
of George Nugent, a sand-company executive who was convicted of
killing an acquaintance and sentenced to 40 years.
He also won the death penalty in the retrial of Parramore "Pat"
Sanborn, who was convicted of the murder of Barbara Heilman in
1983. Sanborn had gone to her Henry County home and asked for
help for a broken-down vehicle before killing her.
After Ignatow's acquittal, Jasmin was criticized for failing to
properly prepare his chief witness, Ignatow's accomplice, Mary
Ann Shore-Inlow.
But he never blamed himself for the verdict, said Ricketts, who
occasionally went out to lunch with Jasmin in the years after
that trial.
On the bench, Jasmin earned low ratings in bar polls from
lawyers who appeared before him. He dismissed the ratings as a
"popularity contest."
"I've never tried to do the popular thing," he said in 1999. "I
tried to do the right thing."
Jasmin's survivors include three daughters, Camille Sanderson,
Iris Jasmin and Tamara Robinson, and a son, Ernest A. Jasmin Jr.
A.D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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© The Wiz ®
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Dave B
<Kentuck...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>(LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 1st, 2004) -- Ernest Jasmin, who was
>elected Kentucky's first black commonwealth's attorney in 1988
>and prosecuted some of Louisville's most celebrated murder
>cases, died Friday. Jasmin, who had lung cancer, was 69.
>
>Jasmin won convictions of Victor Taylor and George Wade for the
>1984 slayings of two Trinity High School students, and of Kevin
>Stanford and David Buchanan for the 1981 murder of gas-station
>attendant Baerbel Poore.
>
>But he lost what was arguably his biggest case in 1991, when Mel
>Ignatow was acquitted of murdering his girlfriend, Brenda Sue
>Schaefer. Ignatow later confessed to the crime after film
>showing him torturing her was found in his former home.
>
>"That man got away with murder," Jasmin said in February when he
>was honored by the Louisville Bar Association, The
>Courier-Journal reported in a story to be published Saturday.
>"That still bothers me."
>
I always thought it would be fun, if I ever was aquited for a crime,
to afterward hold a press conference and say "I did it, ha ha".:)
Dave B
-----
You know the girl is too young when she "pinky swears" not to tell.