Case goes to appellate court

Panel will hear arguments concerning mistaken identity murder case

An 11th District Court of Appeals panel will hear oral arguments Nov. 14 at the Lake County Courthouse in Painesville for another defendant in the 2006 Burton Township mistaken identity murder case.

Joseph Rosebrook, 61, is serving life in prison without parole at the Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima for his role in 31-year-old Daniel E. Ott’s murder.

The victim was killed at his home on May 26, 2006 by gunman Chad South.

Last year, a jury found Rosebrook guilty of being

the mastermind of the murder, which took nine years to solve.

Rosebrook previously served 10 years in prison for operating a chopshop operation in Logan County. Inmates who testified at Rosebrook’s aggravated murder trial said Rosebrook wanted revenge on “the snitch” who wore a wire and turned state’s evidence against him in the chopshop case.

Prosecutors said Rosebrook hired South to kill Daniel C. Ott, a car thief from Bath Township who was in his late 60s at the time. Instead, South shot the decades-younger Daniel E. Ott of Burton Township.

Rosebrook, who also was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder, has maintained he was not involved in the killing plot.

South, who was convicted of murder and kidnapping, is serving 28 years to life after a jury convicted him of murder.

Two people who were with South in the car on the day of the murder, Mindie Mock Stanifer and Alva Jacobs, were sentenced to 18 years in prison and 30 days in jail, respectively, for their parts in the crime.

Joseph Rosebrook’s brother, Carl “Jeff” Rosebrook, was the alleged money man. Carl Rosebrook pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of official business. He received a $1,000 fine and no jail time.

South and Stanifer previously lost their appeal fights.

Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz has called the Ott case the most complicated murder investigation in the history of the county.