TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA (WKZO) — Marvin Gabrion, a west Michigan man and convicted killer who was given the death penalty for the death of a 19-year-old woman has exhausted all his appeals, but he says he still deserves a new trial or at least to have his death penalty vacated.
He was given the death penalty because the jury decided he deserved it, given the horrendous crime he committed.
Rachael Timmerman was about to testify as a victim, against Gabrion in a rape case when he kidnapped her two days before his trial, wrapped her in chains and dropped her body into Oxford Lake in Newaygo County.
The autopsy suggested she was still alive when he dropped her in the water.
Her infant daughter has never been found.
It became a federal case because Oxford Lake is in the Manistee National Forest, on federal property.
Michigan may not have the death penalty, but the Federal Courts do.
Gabrion’s Attorney, Scott Graham of Portage, claims that because the suspect punched his attorney during his original trial, that he should have gotten a mistrial. He also argues that his client has developed a severe mental illness in the 20-years he has spent on death row at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Gabrion, who is now 61 exhausted his last appeal four years ago, when a Federal Court of Appeals rejected his case and the Supreme Court refused to take up the matter.
This time Gabrion’s attorney has filed a civil suit to try and stave off execution.
U.S. Attorneys have filed a response, saying there is no such relief available under the law. They say Gabrion’s case should be dismissed like all the other appeals he has filed over the years and his sentence carried out.
