An Ohio jury found 35-year-old Anne Hair guilty of murder, felonious assault, animal cruelty, aggravated arson, and tampering with evidence, all felony charges. Deliberation only took two hours.
Hair was also charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and arson, for all of which the jury found her not guilty in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
The eight charges arose from two incidents, both in October 2020.
At 2:40 p.m. October 19, 2020, 60-year-old Anthony Banks was found dead in his home in the 1200 block of Norwood Avenue in central Toledo. Mr. Banks was lying face down in a pool of his own blood with a large hunting knife next to his head. His “pitbull” dog, Baby Girl, was found motionless in the kitchen. Both Mr. Banks and the dog had multiple stab wounds.
Hair was charged with stabbing Mr. Banks during a robbery earlier that day and then charged with burning down his house 12 days later. She has now been convicted for both incidents.
“These types of cases, understandably, carry a certain amount of emotional weight,” said James Popil, Hair’s defense attorney, in his closing statement. “When you see photographs of an individual lying there dead with blood, or you see an animal with a lot of blood and injuries, it’s sometimes hard to grasp.”
The dog in question was present in the courtroom as the verdict was announced, alive and well.
Over the course of two days of trial, the prosecution called 13 witnesses, including the Lucas County coroner, Toledo Fire and Rescue Department Battalion Chief Michael Posadny, multiple detectives, and two civilians. One key witness was April Lewis, who testified that Hair confessed to both the stabbing and the arson to her.
“There are no independent eyewitnesses to any of these alleged crimes, and the state’s case against my client in each of these eight charges relies primarily on the credibility of the witnesses,” Mr. Popil said. “A number of these charges rely solely on the credibility of one witness, that being April Lewis.”
Mr. Popil said Ms. Lewis gave conflicting testimony between her time on the witness stand and her interviews with police, alleging that she added new information to her story at a later date.
Mr. Popil also said that the state’s other civilian witness, Dion James, the victim’s sister-in-law, gave conflicting testimony about the timeline.
“The defense council obviously attacks the credibility of both of the civilian witnesses for the state,” said Frank Spryszak, deputy chief of the criminal division of the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, in his closing statement. “And that’s understandable because those witnesses are very helpful to the state’s case.”
“Are there some inconsistencies in Dion James’ testimony? Sure, we can see that,” he continued. “But the State of Ohio has to deal with the witnesses that we are presented with. We can’t manufacture people. If we could have pastors and priests testify in every case, that would be great, but that’s not how it works.”
Mr. Spryszak asserted that eyewitnesses weren’t necessary for the case, saying that circumstantial evidence like DNA is just as powerful as direct evidence.
The DNA, he said, placed the defendant at the scene of the crime.
“The defendant cannot deny science,” Mr. Spryszak said. “Her DNA is at the crime scene, her DNA is on the victim, Mr. Banks, and she lied about it.”
The prosecution alleged that Hair killed Mr. Banks in order to steal money from him, but Mr. Popil said there was no evidence of any items or money taken in the alleged theft.
What there was evidence of was a homicide.
Mr. Spryszak slipped a purple latex glove on one hand and removed a foot-long hunting knife from a box on the prosecution’s table. The knife was covered in dried blood.
Though Mr. Popil said that Hair’s DNA wasn’t found on the knife, Mr. Spryszak said that the coroner testified that the sheer amount of blood on the knife’s handle would’ve covered up any skin cells left behind.
Mr. Spryszak also displayed a blue plastic gas can in a bag to the jury — a gas can that was found in Hair’s car not long after the house burned down. The only person to testify that it was arson was Ms. Lewis.
Mr. Popil said that even Chief Posadny didn’t call it arson.
“Toledo Fire has never determined that the fire at 1270 Norwood was an arson,” he said.
Regardless, the jury still convicted Hair of aggravated arson, along with four other counts. Hair will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. June 10 in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Tell us your thoughts...