Murder of Rachael Anderson

In March 1979, Pardon, then fourteen, was temporarily committed to the Ohio Youth Commission after he raped an eight-year-old girl. In July of that year, he was made a ward of the Court and temporarily committed to Franklin County Children Services. And in December of that year, Pardon was found guilty of menacing and permanently committed to the Ohio Youth Commission as well as being placed in foster care.[22]

In 1980 Pardon was charged with raping a nine-month-old child.[27] The victim of this rape was the son of Pardon's foster parents.[22][28] Pardon, who was fifteen when he committed the crime,[16][17] was babysitting while his foster mother went out grocery shopping. He told Columbus police that he committed the crime because he was upset after having a fight with his girlfriend.[22] Pardon was convicted of the crime as a juvenile.[29]

On November 13, 1981,[27] Pardon, then sixteen, was allowed into the home of his girlfriend’s thirty-nine-year-old mother to use her phone.[22][28] He pulled a butcher knife on her,[22] raped her at knife point[30] and stole one hundred dollars from her purse. He bound her hands and feet together, gagged her, and put her in the trunk of a car.[22] He proceeded to drive her to Valley Dale,[30] where he untied her feet and threw her into Alum Creek[22] behind the Valley Dale Ballroom.[31] When Pardon saw that the victim, who was partially clothed, was able to keep afloat, he went into the creek and held her head under the water.[22] The woman survived after a good Samaritan intervened.[30] Pardon left before police arrived and used the money he stole from the victim to buy tennis shoes and a jogging outfit.[22]

Pardon was tried as an adult,[28] and in May 1982, at age seventeen, he was convicted of aggravated robbery, rape, and attempted murder[22] in Franklin County, Ohio.[7] Pardon was sentenced to five to twenty-five years in prison.[32] He was originally sent to the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield but was transferred to the Lebanon Correctional Institution and later to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.[33] While in prison he acquired several disciplinary infractions, including possessing weapons, setting fire to a mattress, and fighting.[33] He ultimately spent more than twenty-four years in prison for the crime and was released in November 2006.[22]

Pardon was declared a sexual predator in 1999.[30]

Pardon moved to Georgia in 2006 or 2007 and applied for a maintenance job under a false name.[34] In 2007 he was charged with forgery and failure to register as a sex offender in Georgia.[16][30] He was convicted of these offenses in Floyd County, Georgia[31] and spent nine years in prison for them.[23] He was also given twenty years of probation[27] and was required to wear a GPS ankle monitor and pay for all expenses.[31]

In 2017 Pardon was released from prison,[35] returning to Ohio in June of that year through an interstate compact agreement between Ohio and Georgia.[36] He was monitored by the Adult Parole Authority and required to check in with the Sheriff's Department every ninety days.[27] Ohio’s Adult Parole Authority did not give him a monitor, as a judge had requested, because of the length of time spent monitoring and “the expense issue.”[37] On August 21, 2017, Pardon was caught with a prostitute in his car. Though he told police he was giving her a ride, the woman confirmed to local news that he was interested in sexual activity.[27] At 4:00 AM on January 27, 2018, he was caught driving without a license.[38] During that stop, he was found to have a pocket knife, a kitchen knife, and a pellet gun. He was not arrested.[27]

The trial began on Monday, February 4, 2020. Four witnesses testified on the first day[43] including Johnathan Kennedy, who discovered Anderson's body.[56] Anderson's co-worker, and the manager of her apartment complex also testified.[56] Jurors also heard from Officer Frank Sclafani, who was in his car outside the apartment when Kennedy discovered Anderson’s body and saw his body camera footage.[57]

On February 5, Anderson’s brother John and crime scene special agent Joshua Durst testified[2] and on February 6, lead detective Art Hughes testified.[72] Also on February 6, Pardon complained to the judge about his defense attorneys saying "I'm not happy with this here at all" and asked for new lawyers.[73]

On Monday, February 10, prosecutors brought in a latent print examiner,[74] and other expert witnesses who explained how technology was used to place Pardon where Anderson’s debit card was used and at the scene of the murder.[75] Pardon’s sister also testified that Pardon gave her Anderson’s debit card.[76]

The last day of testimony was Tuesday, February 11. A forensic scientist testified that Pardon’s DNA was found at the crime scene while a forensic pathologist and deputy coroner from the Franklin County Coroner's Office testified about Anderson’s injuries.[77] The defense did not call any witnesses.[63]

Closing arguments were held on February 12. Assistant Prosecutor Amy Van Culin gave the state's initial closing argument, constructing a timeline of the crime[42] and telling the jury that Pardon killed Anderson "after and while he trespasses in her own home, her place of safety, the place where she sleeps, the place where she eats, the place where she comes home to relax."[78][79] In the defense's closing argument, Pardon's attorney Larry Thomas conceded that Pardon used Anderson's cards[42] but argued that he was not responsible for the murder.[80] He argued that the state's case was based on speculation and that the DNA and cell phone evidence did not conclusively prove Pardon's guilt.[42] He also suggested that Kennedy was involved.[80][44] In the prosecution's rebuttal, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien[49] argued that the defense was willing to admit that geolocation evidence showed Pardon used the stolen cards, but disregarded geolocation evidence about Pardon’s whereabouts on the night of the murder.[44]

The jury, which consisted of four men and eight women, deliberated for approximately six hours over two days before finding Pardon guilty of all charges, including aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, rape, and aggravated murder.[8]

Pardon was eligible for the death penalty because he murdered Anderson during the course of aggravated burglary, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and rape and because he has a prior conviction for purposefully attempted to kill another victim.[26] Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Pardon due to his extensive criminal history, with O’Brien saying in 2018 "there are some people who can't conform their conduct to the law. And it at least is alleged that he is one of them."[31]

The sentencing phase of the trial began on February 18.[81] The defense argued that the "mitigating factors" such as Pardon’s abusive and dysfunctional upbringing outweighed the aggravating circumstances of the crime,[82] with Dixon saying “you’re going to hear that this man from an abused, (sic) dysfunctional, chaotic childhood went from that dysfunction at sixteen and spent the rest of his life in prison.”[24] Prosecutors argued that the aggravating circumstances outweighed any mitigating factors and that Pardon knew what he was doing when he attacked Anderson[32][24] with O'Brien saying "he very well understood, the evidence shows, what he was doing. He was robbing, raping and hogtying Rachael Anderson on her birthday."[24] O'Brien also told the jury that "at age fifty-three, as he (Pardon) made those choices as he raped, burgled, hog-tied Rachael Anderson, whatever happened in his childhood deserves zero mitigation."[25] Pardon's mother and sister,[24] along with a psychologist[25] and his former elementary school teacher testified for the defense.[24]

On February 19, Pardon delivered a thirteen-minute unsworn statement to jurors,[83] discussing his abusive childhood. He also spoke about his troubles after he left prison, saying "when I got out there (prison) nobody gave me nothing." He claimed that "the system" failed him, saying "the prison system failed me, social services failed me. Everybody,"[84] and told jurors that his abusive father and "the system" made him "who I am today."[83] During his statement, he did not speak directly about Anderson’s murder or apologize for it, though he did say that he "made a lot of bad choices in my life. You can blame me for that."[83][84][85]

Prosecutor Jennifer Rausch responded to Pardon's statement in closing arguments, citing Pardon's poor choices and criminal history and saying "at some point, it is not our fault, as he suggested. That is not your fault. This is not my fault. This is not the system's fault. This is his fault."[83] O'Brien also responded to Pardon's statement, arguing in the state's rebuttal that it was all about him and how others caused him not to be responsible for his crimes.[86] He also claimed that Pardon showed no remorse and criticized him for not apologizing.[83]

On February 20, after deliberating for three and a half hours[87] the jury deadlocked on whether to recommend the death penalty and recommended a life-without-parole sentence.[88]

Sentencing occurred on March 16, 2020. Both of Anderson's parents gave victim impact statements, with her father calling Pardon "an animal who stalked and preyed on our beautiful daughter."[89] Anderson's father also said in his statement: "Over the past few years I have watched him make demands and have temper tantrums as though he was owed something. During the trial, he complained how the system had failed him. If anyone should be complaining it is our family. The system definitely failed Rachael. The department of corrections system failed to keep him on a leash and let him walk free in society. The state highway patrol system failed to protect our daughter by giving him a slap on the wrist and a free ride home the day before he brutally murdered her." In Anderson's mother's impact statement, she told the court "it's frustrating to know the horrors of what was done in his early life and the families that were destroyed prior to ours" and said to Pardon "you stole my daughter's life. You will suffer for it in your new block walls and bars."[11] She also stated "my daughter is Rachael Nicoletta Anderson. She is not case number 19CR00769."[89] Additionally, Anderson's mother expressed disapproval of the fact that the money she made from working that she pays in taxes will support Pardon in prison.[11]

Judge McIntosh sentenced Pardon to one life without parole sentence for aggravated murder and another life without parole sentence for rape.[89] Pardon was also given an additional sixty-three years in prison for aggravated burglary, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery charges and repeat violent offender specifications. The sentences are to be served consecutively.[11]