MANSFIELD – The Richland County trial for alleged serial killer Shawn Grate has been scheduled for March 4, just under three months after it was initially set to begin on Dec. 10.
The new trial date was set on Dec. 26. The case involves the alleged murders of two women in Richland County. It was postponed in early December after Richland County Common Pleas Court Judge Brent Robinson approved defense council’s request to push back the start date.
The Dec. 3 motion, submitted by defense attorney Terry Hitchman, explained the defense council is “still awaiting discovery information from the Ashland County case,” and states the continuance is not meant to “delay, but to fully explore any possible defenses on behalf of the defendant.”
In Richland County, Grate has been indicted on 14 felony offenses, relating to the deaths of Rebekah Leicy and Candace Cunningham. In September, he pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Included in the charges are counts of aggravated murder, murder, two counts of kidnapping, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse, all stemming from Grate’s alleged murder of Leicy, whose body was found on Ashland County Road 1908 in March 2015 — about a month after she was reported missing in Richland County. Leicy’s death was initially ruled a drug overdose, but officials reopened the case after Grate confessed to crimes in Ashland, Richland and Marion counties.
Related to the alleged murder of Cunningham, charges include two counts of aggravated murder, arson, aggravated arson, kidnapping, two counts of tampering with evidence, and gross abuse of a corpse. Cunningham’s body was found behind a burned down house on Park Avenue East in Madison Township on Sept. 13, 2016, the same day Grate was arrested in Ashland County.
Grate’s first appearance in Richland County Common Pleas Court was held via video conference Sept. 13, exactly two years after he was arrested in Ashland. It was also the same day Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ron Forsthoefel had symbolically chosen as Grate’s execution date for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
An automatic, direct appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court has been filed in that case, stalling the death penalty.
When Grate stood trial in Ashland County earlier this year, a jury found him guilty of four counts of aggravated murder, three counts of kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery, relating to the death of 43-year-old Stanley, of Greenwich, and 29-year old Griffith, of Ashland.
He also pleaded guilty to 15 other counts in the 23-count indictment, including four counts of rape, two counts of gross abuse of a corpse, four counts of burglary, tampering with evidence, unauthorized use of a vehicle, one of the kidnapping counts, robbery and breaking and entering.
Through those guilty pleas, Grate also admitted to kidnapping and raping an Ashland woman who was able to escape the house where Grate was holding her and call 911, leading to his arrest.
In addition to the two Ashland County murders for which he has already been convicted, and the two alleged murders for which he will be tried in Richland County, Grate is accused of a fifth murder in Marion County. The victim there has not been identified.
Previously, Richland County Prosecutor Gary Bishop said he sought justice for the Richland County victims, but agreed to wait until the Ashland County case concluded before pursuing charges in Richland County. The reason, he said, was because he believed pretrial publicity would have be too great if both cases proceeded at once, possibly necessitating a resource-intensive change-of-venue.
The death penalty is not being sought in the Richland County trial.
