State-Journal.com - Killer guilty of 4th murder

Jurors deliberated six hours before delivering a guilty verdict late Wednesday to a man who murdered his Frankfort cousin and became one of "America's Most Wanted."

Ronnie Dontell Drane stared blankly, shaking his head, as Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate read the verdict " his fourth murder conviction in a string of killings in Indiana and Kentucky.

Prosecutors described how Drane, 34, killed his first cousin, Herman Buchanan, in 2003.

Buchanan, prosecutors said, was the only eyewitness to Drane's 2002 double murder of Dolores Buchanan, Drane's aunt and Herman's mother, and Larry Peaches in Gary, Ind.

Herman Buchanan was also shot during the killings, but survived and moved to Frankfort to hide from Drane, said Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Cleveland.

Cleveland, who prosecuted the case, told The State Journal Wednesday Drane and his father, Ricky, enlisted the help of Claude Fisher, 48, to help kill Buchanan at a Louisville nightclub.

Their plan never came to fruition, but Drane caught up with Buchanan at his home in the Forrest Villa Apartments off the East-West Connector and fatally shot him with a handgun, according to testimony.
Cleveland's prosecution mainly involved testimony from two witnesses " Fisher and Simeon Bradley, 32, who was in the residence when Dolores Buchanan and Larry Peaches were killed.

According to Cleveland, Drane didn't know Bradley was in the house at the time.

Drane's defense attorney, public defender Rodney Barnes, told The State Journal as jurors deliberated the jury might have trouble believing two witnesses " Fisher and Bradley " who are in jail themselves for other offenses.

But the jury returned a guilty verdict. Drane asked to be transported back to the Franklin County Regional Jail while jurors deliberated on his sentence.

Drane is set to be sentenced at 1 p.m. today.

He could get life with an additional 30 years on four charges of which he was convicted " murder, attempted murder and two counts of wanton endangerment stemming from the Louisville nightclub incident.

In all likelihood, prosecutors said, Drane will never serve time in Kentucky.

He is currently serving 180 years in Indiana for the 2002 double murder of Dolores Buchanan and Peaches, as well as an additional 85 for the unrelated 2002 rape and murder of Tamarra Taylor, 25, of Gary, Ind.

After he is sentenced, Drane will be returned to a state prison in Michigan City, Ind., where he will serve his 265-year sentences.

U.S. Marshals caught Drane in 2004 in a Nashville, Tenn., apartment complex after receiving a tip from someone who saw Drane featured on "America's Most Wanted" as part of the top 15 most wanted list.
Drane was acquitted of the 1997 murder of an Indiana man.