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TMCNet: Trial Opens In Inmate's Strangulation Case

[April 19, 2012]

Trial Opens In Inmate's Strangulation Case

Apr 19, 2012 (Times Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Ashley Eugene Kaufman killed Gary Van Wolf in the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center, a fact that is undisputed.

Not long after Wolf's body was discovered on Sept. 16, 2010, Kaufman happily told investigators that he strangled his fellow inmate, as ordered by God.

A Sebastian County jury watched Kaufman's statement to sheriff's investigators when his trial for first-degree murder opened Wednesday.

The nine-woman, five-man jury will determine if Kaufman is guilty or not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, as his attorney argued in opening statements.

Deputy Public Defender Tim Sharum told jurors that Kaufman, 27, suffers from bipolar disorder with psychotic features, comes from a family with a history of schizophrenia and was unable to conform his behavior to the law because of his mental illness.

In her opening argument, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Linda Ward didn't mention Kaufman's insanity defense, instead concentrating on his actions and conduct following Wolf's death. She told jurors the case was "horrible and distressing" but not complicated.

Donnie Wise, 36, was awaiting a transfer of the Arkansas Department of Correction on Sept. 16, 2010, after being sentenced to 12 years for second-degree sexual assault, when he saw Kaufman strangling Wolf, 64.

Wise said he was on the phone in a common area, when he saw Wolf go into Kaufman's cell. After he got off the phone, Wise told jurors he walked past the cell, where Kaufman had Wolf in a chokehold from behind with a plastic bag over Wolf's head.

He testified that Wolf was "gasping and flailing." Wise admitted he didn't intervene out of fear, but said he did go to a camera in the common area, where he waved his arms and said 911, but no deputies responded.

Kaufman then dragged Wolf from his cell, with the bag over his head, to Wolf's cell where he put Wolf's body in a bunk, Wise told jurors.

When a deputy "finally" came into the common area, Wise said, he told the deputy he needed to check on Wolf, and authorities discovered the body.

Maj. Kevin Nickson, sheriff's office, said as he walked into the detention center after Wolf's body was discovered, Kaufman was saying, "I did that, I did that." Shortly thereafter, Nickson and Lt. Allen Marx interviewed Kaufman. The videotaped statement was played for the jury.

Kaufman acknowledged what he was about to say "sounds crazy" before he explained to the investigators that he killed Wolf on orders from God, who told him to suffocate Wolf.

After he lured Wolf into his cell and started to strangle him, Kaufman said he wanted Wolf to see his face as he killed him, and told Wolf to tell the devil that he was "coming for him." Kaufman said he didn't kill Wolf because he was a "rapist" but maybe God told him to kill him because Wolf was a "chomo." Chomo is a term Kaufman used to describe a child molester.

Wolf had been in jail since Sept. 9, 2010, charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Sept. 15, 2010.

Kaufman was being held on charges of first-degree battery, kidnapping, a parole violation, a petition to revoke a suspended sentence and second-degree battery, in connection with an attack on a detention deputy.

When Marx started to question Kaufman about passing judgment on Wolf, Kaufman said his act wasn't judgmental, he was simply following God's direction.

"I hear an order and I carry it out," Kaufman told Marx and Nickson. "This was not an act of violence. This was a blessing to the world." Kaufman used a permanent marker to write "May God Bless" and his initials on the bag and each of Wolf's arms, to guarantee he would get credit for carrying out his orders.

Kaufman told investigators that he felt a "burst of life" when he killed Wolf, saying it was what he was meant to do and described the act as exhilarating, while insisting "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy." First-degree murder is a Class Y felony punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.

The trial is scheduled to resume today at 9 a.m.

___ (c)2012 Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.) Visit Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.) at www.swtimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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