ASHLAND – Attorneys for accused serial killer Shawn Grate say their experts need more time to examine their client and have asked for a delay in his trial.
Attorneys Rolf and Robert Whitney filed a motion Monday, Aug. 21, seeking a continuance. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, before Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ronald P. Forsthoefel.
Grate, 41, is charged with 23 felony counts, including four counts of aggravated murder, in the 2016 deaths of two women found in a house at 363 Covert Court. Grate could face the death penalty if convicted on the aggravated murder charges.
His trial was slated to start on Nov. 7.
In the motion, the attorneys said they needed “more time to prepare for trial” after mitigation specialist James Crates and forensic psychologist Dr. John Fabian both said they needed more time to evaluate Grate. The motion also states Grate’s sister is in the process of moving and her testimony and assistance is “vital to the preparation of mitigation.”
Crates sent a letter to the Whitneys on Aug. 1 in which he wrote that he had been working to obtain records from Grate’s past, including juvenile court records, academic records, employment records, medical and mental health files, and Social Service Agency files. In addition, Crates wrote it is “unrealistic to think that everything that needs to be done can be done by that October date, especially given the necessary and very important clinical work that needs to be completed.”
Grate was arrested Sept. 13, 2016, after a woman called 911 and said she was being held against her will in a home near East Fourth Street in Ashland. Upon their arrival, police found the woman and Grate. The woman is not being identified because she is a sexual assault victim and the Ashland County Prosecutor does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Grate was taken into custody and police and BCI investigators searched the two homes on Covert Court, near the Fourth Street Laundromat. Two bodies were discovered in one of the homes. The victims were identified as 43-year-old Stanley of Greenwich and 29-year old Griffith of Ashland.
Grate, 41, has been indicted on 23 felony counts and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
Grate pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts but also admitted to the killings in several interviews with Cleveland news stations before a gag order was imposed on all parties involved in the case.
Grate has also been tied to three other victims. After his arrest, Grate led investigators to a body in a wooded area near a burned-out home on Park Avenue East in Madison Township. Authorities identified the body in November as 29-year-old Candace Cunningham of Canton, who reportedly was in a relationship with Grate.
Mansfield Police also have re-opened the investigation into the death of Mansfield resident Rebekah Leicy. Leicy was reported missing in February of 2015 and her body was found in rural Ashland County in March 2015. Her death was ruled as a probable drug overdose by the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office as there were no signs of physical trauma.
Grate has also been tied to a 2005 murder in Marion County. He reportedly admitted to authorities that he killed a woman there in 2005. On March 10, 2007, Marion County authorities discovered the remains of a woman who has never been identified. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released a new sketch of the woman in October in a renewed effort to identify her.
