Hough's mom begs for his life at death penalty trial

Judy Hough's words tumbled from her mouth in a tangle of sobs and whimpers, her hands quivering like birds searching for a place to land.

"Oh, God please!" she wailed from the witness stand as she begged for her son's life. "He has two kids. He'll never see them again. Please I beg of you! Oh, God please!"

The mother of Cleveland firefighter Terrance Hough Jr. implored Cuyahoga County jurors to have mercy on her son, as they began the sentencing phase of Hough's capital murder trial Tuesday.

The same jury convicted Hough last week on 3 counts of aggravated murder-- with added specifications that could subject him to the death penalty and 2 counts of attempted murder.

Now, they must recommend his punishment: death or life in prison without parole or life with the chance to apply for parole in 25 or 30 years.

Hough, a 36-year-old Cleveland firefighter, gunned down 3 people and
wounded two others when he stormed from his house clutching a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. He opened fire on his neighbor and a group of friends during a dispute over noise just after midnight July 5.

He killed Jacob Feichtner, 24, who lived next door, as well as Feichtner's friends Katherine Rosby, 26, and Bruce Anderson, 30. Donny Walsh, 24,and his 25-year-old fiancee, Katherine Nicholas, were also shot but survived the killing spree.

Before Hough is sentenced, his lawyers will call on his family, friends and co-workers to testify on Hough's character in an attempt to convince the panel of eight women and four men that he does not deserve to die for his crimes.

Hough has the right to either testify under oath on his own behalf or read an unsworn statement to the jury. His lawyer, Jack Hildebrand, said Tuesday that Hough likely will read a statement. He did not testify during the first part of the trial.

During her emotional testimony Tuesday, Judy Hough described her son as a well-mannered, responsible boy who attended Catholic school and served as an altar boy at St. Patrick West Park Catholic Church.

But he was forced to grow up too soon, she said. As the oldest of five children living with an abusive, alcoholic father, Terrance Hough Jr. helped raise his siblings, often taking on childcare duties, cleaning the house or grocery shopping for the family.

And he took the brunt of the abuse. Judy Hough told jurors that once,when her son came home late from a date, she heard what sounded like a scuffle downstairs. She awoke in the morning to learn that her husband had beaten him unmercifully. Doctors X-rayed Hough's jaw because they suspected it was broken, she said.

Still, Hough dreamed of becoming a firefighter like his father, she said.

And Hough made his parents proud when his dream came true in 1995.

Hough's family and friends said he was a devoted civil servant, husband and father, who spent most of his free time doting over his 2 children Ethan, 6, and Hannah, 4. But Hough had become irritable in recent years,working long hours at a physically taxing job and being forced to live in Cleveland under the city's residency requirements for employees.

They said they knew Hough was a gun enthusiast, but they did not know he owned the 11 guns police found in his home the night he killed Feichtner and the others. They were surprised to hear that Hough carried a handgun wherever he went, they said.

After jurors left the courtroom Tuesday, lawyers debated whether the court should allow testimony from a psychiatrist, who Hough's lawyers said have diagnosed Hough with bipolar disorder since his arrest.

Assistant County Prosecutor John Kosko argued that the jailhouse diagnosis is not necessarily a representation of Hough's psychological state on the night of the murders, and it would be unfair to ask jurors to speculate.

Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold is expected to rule on the matter Wednesday when the hearing resumes.

(source: Plain Dealer)