Attorneys representing one of the men accused of killing a Warren mail carrier last year filed a motion earlier this week asking a federal judge to declare the death penalty unconstitutional.

Thomas Sledge, 44, is charged alongside Kaprise Sledge, 24, in the March 2024 shooting death of U.S. Postal Service carrier Jonte Davis in Warren. Federal prosecutors have not decided whether they will seek capital punishment, but the defense team argued in a court filing that the option should be taken off the table before the trial begins.

In the motion filed in U.S. District Court, defense attorneys for Thomas Sledge argue the death penalty violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, as well as the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. They cite concerns about racial discrimination, the risk of wrongful convictions, and studies suggesting capital punishment does not deter crime.

To seek the death penalty, the government must prove at least one “statutory aggravating factor”– a specific circumstance that makes the crime heinous enough to warrant execution. The motion states that federal law lists the murder of judges, law enforcement officers, and corrections employees as aggravating factors, but it does not explicitly list postal workers.

“The government cannot rely on a nonstatutory aggravator alone to turn a non-capital murder case into a capital case,” the motion states.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent has set the trial date for Feb. 17, 2026. The next pretrial conference for the case is scheduled Dec. 18.

WATKINS COMMENTS

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said Wednesday his office will never comment on a pending criminal case in another jurisdiction, such as federal court.

“However, regarding the constitutionality of the death penalty, the law is the clearest it has been in years. Yes Virginia, there is a death penalty in the United States. The people of Ohio only need to look to the state of Florida and its Gov. Ron DeSantis, who carried out its 18th execution yesterday. In fact, there have been 45 executions this year in the U.S., a 15-year record,” Watkins said.

Watkins notes, “the death penalty law is Constitutional, and it is being enforced across this great country, and second, Ohio counties, and Trumbull County itself, have many victims having never-ending appeals and twisting in the wind waiting for the state of Ohio to enforce its death penalty law. Miriam Fife and her family have been going through appeals for nearly 40 years. Even with no appeals pending, serial killer and child rapist Stanley Adams has seen justice delayed for more than 25 years.”