Man gets 15 years to life in killing of mom
Authorities say an Ohio man who confessed to killing his mother with a machete has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.
A judge in northeast Ohio’s Summit County sentenced 22-year-old Jason Reeves, of Stow, to 15 years to life immediately after taking his pleas Friday.
Prosecutors say he attacked 57-year-old Susan Reeves last October while she slept and that he asked a neighbor to take him to a hospital for a severe cut on his hand afterward.
Prosecutors say Reeves returned to his mother’s apartment and called 911 saying he’d discovered her body. Reeves told detectives the next day he had killed her.
A spokeswoman for Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh says Reeves has never said why he killed his mother.
A Lorain Municipal Court judge said Friday that at least half of the 21 large dogs rescued from a hot, unventilated apartment last month can be placed into foster care.
The Plain (Cleveland) Dealer reports the dogs have been kept at the Friendship APL in Elyria since their rescue July 17.
Lorain Municipal Judge Mark Mihok issued the order at a pre-trial hearing after Lorain Patrolman Rich Broz testified that the dogs “filled up half the cages in the shelter” and severely strapped the shelter staff.
Cornelius Charlton and Lauren Souris, both of Amherst, and operators of Kevlar Kennels are charged with 21 counts of cruelty to a companion animal. Twenty of the dogs are Cane Corsos, a breed that could weigh up to 125 pounds. The last was a Brazilian mastiff dog, also a large breed.
Jack Bradley, lawyer for the couple, had no objection to the arrangement, provided the dogs remain in Ohio.
Prosecutor Mallory Santiago said additional dogs could be moved to foster homes as soon as arrangements could be made with the approval of the judge and Bradley.
About two dozen people from as far away as Columbus demonstrated outside the courthouse before the hearing with signs that demand “Justice for 21 abandoned dogs,” and “An eye for an eye.”
“We want justice for these dogs,” said Pat Fogo, of Sheffield Lake. “We also want to make sure those people never get their dogs back.”
The next hearing in the case will be Sept. 9. 51, of Ashtabula, and Frank W. Hall 49, of Geneva, are each facing one second-degree felony count of felonious assault.
An Ashtabula County Sheriff ’s Department report said Jones and Hall assaulted the man with an aluminum baseball bat and a metal chain July 20 at his home, after an argument about Jones’ truck.
The accuser told deputies Jones had loaned the truck to another man staying at the accuser’s home, and expected to have the truck returned not long after. The man who borrowed the truck, however, did not return it until the following day. Jones began to “get physical” with the other man, so the accuser made Jones leave.
Jones returned soon after and attempted to push his way into the home, the man told deputies. At some point, Jones reportedly struck the accuser in the head with a chain.
Hall, who lives in the other half of the accuser’s duplex, reportedly heard the men struggling outside the residence and told the man to let go of Jones’ arm. When he didn’t, Hall reportedly struck him in the head, then in the leg, with an aluminum bat.
The deputy met with the man at Ashtabula County Medical Center, where he was treated for a “large deep gash” on his head, before being flown to the Cleveland Clinic for further treatment.
Hall later denied attacking the man with a bat — or even having a bat — though the man’s daughter reportedly chimed in: “you have one daddy,” the deputy wrote. The girl led the deputy to the bat, but found it wasn’t where she thought it would be.
The deputy did, however, locate the chain in the residence’s driveway.
Jones was arrested and jailed on unrelated outstanding warrants for possession of drug abuse instruments and possession of narcotics equipment, the deputy wrote.
Arraignment for both Hall and Jones is set for Tuesday.