With a range of punishment from probation to life in prison to choose from, jurors in the Mariesha Ohlfs trial for aggravated robbery worked for nearly four hours before settling on a sentence of 18 years. Mariesha Ohlfs
Far more than a case of taking property by force, the trial was about the vicious murder of cabdriver Hooshang Vatanpour by Ohlfs' boyfriend Noah Whitehead and his friend William "Billy" Stephens.
But Ohlfs was not present during the violence. Prosecutors Rick Daniel and Michael Dickens proved to the jury that she knew the two men planned to rob a cabdriver that day. She dropped them off at a Dallas taxi stand, brought a can of gasoline they used to set Vatanpour's body on fire after stabbing him and cutting his throat, and picked them up in rural western Denton County when they were done.
All the while the crime was taking place she exchanged text messages with Whitehead that implicated her in the robbery but which did not convince the jury that she knew about the murder.
Relatives of the 56-year-old victim and the 34-year-old defendant spent an emotional six days listening to testimony in the case and testifying themselves.
Jodee Brake, Ohlfs' younger sister, smiled with relief after the trial.
"I'm happy," she said. "It could have been 99 years. She's a good person, and she'll earn good time and she'll be out before we know it."
Ohlfs must spend at least half her sentence in prison before becoming eligible for parole. The two years she has spent in Denton County Jail since the July 2, 2009, date of the crime will count against the prison term.
Defense attorney David Wacker gave notice to Judge Bruce McFarling after the sentencing that Ohlfs will appeal the verdict. He said after the trial that he respected the jury's decision.
"They showed evidence of some sort of robbery," Wacker said. "We offered a plea bargain for her to serve 20 years, which is the maximum for robbery, but they refused the plea."
In summations, Dickens reminded jurors of the text messages that showed Ohlfs' culpability in the crime. She brought the gasoline to the men, and they poured it on their victim, burning the body so badly that it required dental records to identify him.
Ohlfs was captured on store surveillance video the next day smiling and holding hands with Whitehead as they shopped with Vatanpour's credit cards, Dickens said.
"You will get back to your lives and people are going to ask you about this trial," he told the jurors. "You want to give a sentence that you'll be proud of."
Wacker told the jury that his client was extremely sorry for what had happened. She had never committed a crime before that day and was eligible for probation, he told them. The support shown by her brother, sisters and friends showed she had a support system and that she could be rehabilitated, he said.
"She did not show a lack of mercy; she showed bad judgment," he told the jury.
And now she was asking them for mercy, he said.
Daniel asked the jury to assess a sentence of life in prison. Ohlfs knew about the robbery of a cabdriver the previous week in Fort Worth, and she lied to police, he said. She could have dialed 911 anytime that evening and put a stop to the robbery and murder. But she did not.
A peaceful, hardworking man lost his life that day because of her and the two men, the prosecutor said. He asked the jurors, if they could not assess a life sentence, to think carefully about each downward measure from that.
"You'll be speaking for all the people in society who just want to be safe," Daniel said.
Vatanpour's daughter and sister left the courtroom in tears after the sentencing. The two other defendants had received life without parole for the murder. The women believed Ohlfs deserved more than 18 years for her role in the death of their father and brother.
Lida Vatanpour, his daughter, sat in the witness box after the jury left the courtroom and looked directly at Ohlfs.
"I don't think you are capable of understanding what kind of man you have taken from us," she said.
She told the defendant, who wept as she listened, that her father had been a pilot in his native Iran. He was a peaceful man who was persecuted for his Baha'i faith by Muslims in that country, she said, and he eventually left and brought his family to America to give them a better life.
He routinely worked 12 to 14 hours a day, and he was devoted to his family, she said.
Now, his family cannot get over the horror of his death and the way he was murdered. Her mother cannot sleep. Her brother has anxiety attacks.
"What has happened to me and my family should never happen to anyone," she said. "May God have mercy on you."
DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com .
