DEATH PENALTY VERDICT AFFIRMED

Hammond, IN—The United States Attorney's Office announced that the conviction and sentence of Odell Corley was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on March 24, 2008.

The Court issued its opinion affirming the conviction and death penalty sentence of Odell Corley for committing the armed robbery of the First State Bank of Porter, Pines branch, on August 27, 2002. In the robbery, Corley fired shots that resulted in the deaths of tellers Kay Peckat and Chandler Simpson and paralyzed bank guard Keith Hill. A federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in Hammond, Indiana returned its guilty verdict on October 6, 2004, and, following a sentencing hearing, recommended the death penalty on October 27, 2004. U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano imposed the death sentence on December 15, 2004, and Corley appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals heard oral argument on the case on December 11, 2006, and issued its decision Monday. Among the issues raised on appeal, Corley attacked the government’s strike of a juror, challenged the admission of evidence that he had committed a previous homicide in Atlanta that was never charged, attacked portions of the cross examination of him during his trial testimony, and attacked statements made in the government’s closing argument. The Court of Appeals rejected all of Corley’s arguments and affirmed both the conviction and the sentence.

The verdict/sentence of death achieved in this prosecution was significant given it's rarity throughout the federal system and because it was the first such verdict in the history of the Northern District of Indiana.

The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney’s Randall

M. Steward and Susan L. Collins. The appeal was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel L. Bella with the assistance of Assistant United States Attorney David Hollar.