ASHLAND — Stanley Gardner, 71, of Ashland pleaded not guilty Monday to a recently-added aggravated murder charge for the early September shooting death of his son.
On Sept. 2, police responded to Gardner’s home after his daughter-in-law found him bleeding, bruised, and swollen. After police arrived, they discovered the body of his son, Jason Gardner, apparently shot to death.
Gardner was initially charged with murder in September, and pleaded not guilty. But after a police investigation, a grand jury in November indicted Gardner on a new charge of aggravated murder, which is reserved for perpetrators that allegedly planned the murder beforehand.
On Monday, Gardner, who is out on bond, pleaded not guilty to this new charge and requested he be allowed to visit an OhioHealth urgent care in Ashland “this afternoon or tomorrow morning” to seek treatment for an abscess on his right shin.
“We’ve been fighting it for a few weeks but it’s just pouring out pus quite frankly, to be upfront, and I really need to have it pretty much looked at and it’s very red so some nasty infection (is) going on in there,” Gardner said.
Assistant Prosecutor Mike Callow did not object to Gardner’s request, so Magistrate Lange approved it as long as Gardner goes straight to the appointment and then straight home.
Lange also scheduled a pretrial for Gardner on Feb. 15 at 8:30 a.m., and his first jury trial day for March 28 at 8:30 a.m.
