Cleveland Plain Dealer

OHIO: Don't execute daughter's killer, parents plead

The parents of Emily Murray will ask a judge to do what they believe their daughter would have wanted - spare the life of her killer.

"We are convinced that . . . the man who kidnapped and murdered our daughter, is a man without conscience or remorse," said Thomas and Cynthia Murray, formerly of Shaker Heights. "We are convinced that Emily would regard it as a tragedy and an abomination if another human being were put to death in her name."

 "We will be making a statement to Judge [Jeffrey] Simmons concerning the sentence for our daughter's murder," the parents said yesterday in a statement. "This is not about the murderer. This is about Emily and our undying loyalty to her memory."

 Gregory McKnight, of Ray, Ohio, was convicted Thursday by a Vinton County Common Pleas Court jury for kidnapping and shooting Murray.

 Murray was a philosophy major at Kenyon College who hoped to become an Episcopal priest. McKnight was also convicted in the slaying of Gregory Julious, of Chillicothe.

 Both victims were 20.

 On Monday, McKnight's 26th birthday, the jury recommended that he be executed for Murray's death. Within two weeks, Simmons will sentence McKnight to death or life in prison.

 Thomas Murray and his wife, now living in Cold Spring, N.Y., hold no illusions about McKnight. "We harbor no sentimentality about McKnight," they said. "He is evil, the very embodiment of evil. But it is vitally important to us, Emily's family, to bear witness to her beliefs just as we bore witness to her life during the trial."

 Thomas Murray said that under Ohio law the family was not permitted to address the jury during the penalty phase of the trial, but they can tell Simmons how they feel. The family wants to make sure McKnight is put away so he can never harm another innocent person.

 "Despite the efforts of the defense lawyers to distort our daughter's character . . . she was an extraordinarily kind and generous person with remarkable integrity and moral conviction," the parents said. "We know that Emily was opposed - we believe passionately opposed - to killing people for any reason."

 Emily, a graduate of Shaker Heights High School, disappeared Nov. 3, 2000, after she and McKnight left work at a restaurant in Gambier, Ohio, within minutes of each other.

 On Dec. 9, 2000, when police went to McKnight's trailer in Vinton County to arrest him in connection with a burglary, they saw Emily's car, which also had been missing. They searched the trailer and found her body wrapped in carpet in a bedroom.

 4 days later, while looking for more evidence, authorities found parts of Julious' body in a root cellar, a cistern and a trash bag. He was a friend of McKnight's who had been missing since May.

 The Murrays said that sitting through the trial was the hardest thing they had ever done.

 "The last 2 weeks have been a torment for us," he said. "We have listened to the details of our beloved Emily's kidnapping and murder, and to the defense's profoundly offensive efforts to make Emily a victim yet again." 

OHIO:Murder victim's family opposes death sentence for killer

 The family of a college student who was murdered by a pizzeria worker nearly 2 years ago will ask a judge to spare her killer's life.

 Tom Murray, the victim's father, said Tuesday the family believes Gregory McKnight should spend the rest of his life in prison but should not be given a death sentence for killing Emily Murray.

 "We're going to ask the judge to consider a sentence that would assure McKnight dies in prison, but not in the hands of the executioner," Tom Murray said Tuesday.

 A Vinton County Common Pleas Court jury recommended the death penalty for McKnight on Monday, 3 days after he was convicted of killing Emily Murray and Gregory Julious, both 20.

 Judge Jeffrey Simmons has set sentencing for Oct. 25 for the death of Murray, a junior at Kenyon College in Gambier. The remains of both victims were found on McKnight's property in southeast Ohio in December 2000.

 Murray and his wife, Cynthia, issued a statement Monday in which they noted their daughter's opposition to the death penalty.

 "We harbor no illusions about McKnight," the statement said. "He is evil, the very embodiment of evil. But it is vitally important to us, Emily's family, to bear witness to her beliefs just as we bore witness to her life during the trial."

 The case received national attention when Simmons ruled in August that prosecutors could not seek the death penalty because the county might not be able to afford to mount a proper prosecution and pay for McKnight's defense. He later changed his mind.