Court rejects killer's appeal

Convicted killer Oba Chandler on Thursday lost his latest round of appeals, which asked that his 1994 convictions and death sentences for the murder of an Ohio woman and her two daughters be thrown out.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge's decision to deny Chandler's motion for post-conviction relief. Chandler's motion made several arguments, including claims that his lawyer was ineffective at trial.

The bodies of Joan Rogers, 36, and her daughters, Michelle, 17, and Christe, 14, were found floating 2 miles from the Pier in St. Petersburg in June 1989. They had been stripped from the waist down, bound and gagged. They had been on vacation from their Ohio dairy farm. Chandler, now 56, got them out on his boat, tied and gagged them, raped them, tied weights to their necks and tossed them into the bay.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright