Bio 

Stuart S. Kennedy was born on December 20, 1960. Before the murder, Kennedy and Jackson were linked to a plan that involved kidnapping Seagraves and using her vehicle during a bank robbery. The case record does not show that Seagraves had any prior relationship with Kennedy. She was a 22-year-old woman who was abducted while getting into her car at an apartment complex parking lot in Columbus, Ohio.

Kennedy’s case later became notable because of the dispute over Indiana’s death penalty procedure. A jury recommended against death, but the trial judge sentenced Kennedy to death anyway. The Indiana Supreme Court later ruled that the jury’s recommendation against death had to be given strong weight and that the judge’s override was not properly supported. His death sentence was ultimately removed, and he was resentenced to a long prison term.

Murder Story

On October 9, 1986, Michelle Seagraves was kidnapped from the parking lot of her apartment complex in Columbus, Ohio. Witnesses later identified Stuart Kennedy as the man driving Seagraves’ Ford Grenada while holding a woman down in the seat. Other witnesses saw a Corvette following the Ford Grenada from Columbus toward Indiana. The Corvette’s license plate was traced to Donald Lee Jackson.

That same day, the Peoples National Bank in Moores Hill, Indiana, was robbed by two men matching the descriptions of Kennedy and Jackson. Seagraves’ Ford Grenada was identified as the getaway car. The evidence showed that Seagraves had been kidnapped, transported from Ohio into Indiana, and killed before or during the criminal episode.

Jackson was later arrested at his home in Columbus, Ohio, while getting into the Corvette. Officers recovered cash, a .45 handgun, and a submachine gun from the vehicle. Jackson gave a confession and directed officers to Seagraves’ body. He also led police to bloody clothing worn by Kennedy and Jackson that had been discarded in a dumpster.

An autopsy showed that Seagraves had been strangled with a strap that remained around her neck. She had also been shot once in the back of the neck, with the bullet passing through her head. A .41 handgun was identified in the case record as the firearm connected to the shooting.

Kennedy was convicted of murder, felony murder, kidnapping as a Class A felony, and robbery as a Class C felony. On March 21, 1988, the trial judge sentenced him to death, along with prison terms of 50 years for kidnapping and 8 years for robbery. The jury had recommended against the death penalty, but the judge overrode that recommendation.

On September 19, 1991, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed Kennedy’s convictions but reversed the death sentence. The court held that the trial court had not properly handled the jury’s recommendation against death. On remand, the same trial judge again sentenced Kennedy to death on April 28, 1992.

On September 16, 1993, the Indiana Supreme Court again set aside Kennedy’s death sentence. The court ruled that the evidence did not point so clearly toward death that the jury’s recommendation against death should be overridden. Kennedy was finally resentenced on April 20, 1995, to 60 years for murder, consecutive to 50 years for kidnapping and 8 years for robbery, for a total sentence of 118 years imprisonment.