Death-penalty effort renewed against killer
June 1, 2006
by Danielle Braff
Post-Tribune staff writer
He killed an elderly Gary man in 1972 during a home
invasion and murdered a Gary police officer in 1981,
but with good behavior, Zolo Azania will be eligible
for parole in five years if the latest appeal is
unsuccessful.
Azania, formerly known as Rufus Averhart, was
sentenced to the death penalty twice only to have it
overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court because of
legal technicalities.
While Allen County Superior Court Judge Steve David
barred further death penalty motions because the
court
decided too much time had passed since the crimes
were
committed, the state is making another attempt to
give
Azania a lethal injection.
Tim Yaros, son of slain Gary police Lt. George
Yaros,
said the June 27 appeal will be critical because if
it's rejected, Azania could be back on the streets.
"With good behavior, he could get out in 2011,"
Yaros
said. "Everything has gone his way. It's going to be
25 years since he killed my dad, and he's still
living. He killed him in cold blood."
Azania was convicted of killing George Yaros, 57,
during a bank robbery at the Gary National Bank.
Yaros
responded to a bank alarm on 3680 Broadway, and was
wounded in a hail of bullets fired at him. Azania
stood over the Yaros' body and fired a final shot,
killing him. Yaros had been an officer for 30 years
and was six months short of retiring.
Nine years before the bank killing, Azania murdered
Leonard Wick, 69, during a burglary at Wick's home
on
2131 W. 9th Ave. in Gary. Azania was sentenced to
prison for Wick's murder but he was released July 8,
1980. He killed Yaros Aug. 11, 1981.
Azania was sentenced to 60 years in prison following
Yaros’ death, which was the equivalent of life in
prison at that time, Tim Yaros said. But he will be
eligible for parol in five years if the death
penalty
appeal is not granted, Yaros said.
"I won't give up because my dad was my best friend,"
Yaros said. "He would do anything for everyone."
Contact Danielle Braff:
(219) 648-3079
dbraff@post-trib.com
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Gary Post-Tribune
1433 E. 83rd Ave.
Merrillville, IN 46410-6307
1-800-753-5533
Dear Editor,
The article on Zolo Azania that appeared in your
paper
on June 1 was inaccurate and one sided.
Far from "legal technicalities," or the mere passage
of time, Indiana courts have reversed Zolo Agona
Azania's death sentence because, in his case, the
constitutional rights designed to protect all of us
from being falsely convicted and sentenced were
violated.
As Indiana Circuit Court Judge Steve David wrote in
May, 2005, "fundamental principles of fairness, due
process, and speedy justice" were violated in
Azania's
case. Judge David also pointed out that "the State
bears most of the responsibility for the delay
between
the defendant's 1982 conviction and the currently
pending penalty proceeding." In 1993, the Indiana
Supreme Court overturned Azania's original death
sentence because the prosecution had failed to
turned
over a gunshot residue test. In 2002, the Indiana
Supreme Court overturned Azania's second death
sentence because "the jury pool selection process
was
fundamentally flawed," including the
unconstitutional
exclusion of Blacks.
The State of Indiana should not continue to seek the
death penalty against a defendant after decades of
obstruction and obfuscation by police, prosecutors
and
court officials. Both the Indiana Constitution and
the
U.S. Constitution guarantee all of us a right to a
fair trial. This is not a "legal technicality," as
Danielle Braff described it in the Post Tribune, but
the basis of our justice system.
Sincerely,
H. L. Jackson
Gary, IN
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