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ASHLAND — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for Shawn Grate, convicted for killing two women in Ashland County and three others elsewhere.
In an unanimous decision Thursday, the court affirmed the conviction and death sentence related to the murders of the two Ashland women.
“It’s not surprising. The results are what I expected. We worked rather hard to try a very clean case in the trial court,” said Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell.
“The evidence was there. It supports the results. The trick was presenting that evidence in a way that wouldn’t cause some sort of error down the line that some appellate court would uncover years after the fact,” Tunnell said.
In his appeal, Grate argued there were errors in his trial and that his defense counsel was ineffective. He argued his defense counsel was ineffective for failing to request a change of venue, for withdrawing his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity outside of his presence, and more.
Tunnell anticipates a “long appellate journey” ahead, but believes the conviction and death sentence will continue to stand.
“You get a conviction, a death sentencing pose, and then you have to tell the family to brace themselves for 15-20 years of appeals and motions. They’ll forget about the case and then nine months later someone will file something that could impact or destabilize that conviction,” Tunnell said.
“But today, it’s a good day. It goes a long way towards finalizing things.”
