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Judge sentences Anthony Kirkland to death for a second time for murders of two teens

2,724 views · Published 5 September 2018 · 3:09 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2018 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Serial killer Anthony Kirkland was sentenced to death a second time Tuesday for the rapes and murders of two teenagers, Sharee Crawford and Esme Kenney.

Judge Patrick Dinkelacker could have gone against the jury’s verdict and sentenced Kirkland to life in prison without parole, but he said Kirkland should die for “viciously killing other human beings.”

"We as a people, believers in the rule of law and justice, are going to have the death penalty imposed on the worst of the worst. Then if not you, Anthony Kirkland, whom?” Judge Dinkelacker said.

Kirkland murdered Crawford, Kenney, Kimya Rolison and Mary Jo Newton over a three-year span in 2006 and 2009. He was caught shortly after Kenney’s murder near her home in Winton Hills in 2009 and confessed to all four killings.

Crawford’s mother, Tanika Crawford, cried at times during the brief hearing.

"He took a lot of light from us. She was a joy. She honestly was. She was a joy,” she said.

Kirkland’s attorneys argued he should receive a sentence of life in prison because he was abused as a child and suffered head injuries.

"Judge, you heard testimony that his brain structures were actually different. He evolved differently. His brain became, for a lack of a better term, just not normal anymore,” Kirkland’s attorney Rich Wendel said.

Kirkland appeared resigned to his fate and only asked about the court costs he would have to pay when his attorneys asked him whether he had anything to say.

Kirkland’s attorneys asked that the court costs be waived because he is indigent. Kirkland said he’d been writing to the clerk of courts and offering to pay $3 per month. Kirkland said he receives $16 per month in prison and the clerk of courts told him he would have to pay $25 per month.

"Or if you could make arrangements for the court to allow me to pay the $3 as a monthly consistent to pay down the debt,” Kirkland said to Judge Dinkelacker.

Judge Dinkelacker told Kirkland it made him sick to his stomach to listen to him talk about his prison money when he killed a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old girl.

Kirkland said he wanted to comment on what Dinkelacker said. But Dinkelacker told him he didn’t want to hear it and told deputies to get Kirkland out of the courtroom. Kirkland said “Have a nice life” and Dinkelacker responded “You too.”

Prosecutor Joe Deters didn’t hold back after the hearing, calling Kirkland a psychopath who would kill again.

"Kirkland, he needs to go. He ought to be on Fountain Square gone. Executed. And everybody can see what happens to people like that and that's the end of the story,” Deters said.

In the middle of the resentencing hearing, Pope Francis said the death penalty should never be used. Deters and Judge Dinkelacker are both practicing Catholics and said they took an oath to follow the law.

"It's the kind of the heart of all of the church scandals. They think you can forgive everybody and they're just certain predators, certain killers. You have to defend yourself from this stuff,” Deters said.

Deters had also received a letter from Fr. Mueller, an astronomer at the Vatican who graduated from St. Xavier High School. Deters had said his friends who are priests did not understand the evil in the world.

Fr. Mueller told Local 12 News in an email that he was upset that his “private letter” to Deters had become public.

Judge Dinkelacker set a March 9, 2019 execution date for Kirkland. That will mark the 10-year-anniversary of Kenney’s murder. Kirkland will appeal so the execution will likely be delayed. For Crawford's grandmother, the execution can't come soon enough.

"He got exactly what he deserved, you know. And I don't care, you come again. It's death for you, buddy,” Patricia Crawford said.

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