Court news: 2 men plead guilty in unrelated homicide cases
Two men pleaded guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to involuntary manslaughter in unrelated homicide cases on Wednesday.
One man admitted he beat another man to death in Dublin in 2020. The other man admitted to his role in the 2021 death of a young mother of three who was found strangled to death and her body burned in a grassy area near Urbancrest village.
Higle Mire, 24, of Urbancrest, acknowledged his part in the June 14, 2021 death of 23-year-old Jenay Crawley. Mire pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Franklin County prosecutors dismissed murder charges.
Mire is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8. Prosecutors and Mire’s defense attorney are jointly recommending an indefinite prison sentence of 10 years to 15 years.
Court records show Crawley was last seen entering an apartment on the 400 block of Station Road, where she was assaulted and killed.
According to court records, Mire previously admitted to Franklin County sheriff’s investigators he held Crawley’s 1-year-old child in another room while Crawley was being assaulted, disposed of Crawley’s vehicle and transported Crawley’s body to the area where it was found and set it on fire.
Thus far, only one other person has been charged in connection with Crawley’s death. Tiffany Reid, 26, of North Carolina, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Reid is scheduled to appear in court on March 20.
According to court records, Reid admitted to detectives that she was involved in planning Crawley’s homicide, but said she was not in the apartment when Crawley was killed. Reid also said she and the father of Crawley’s child — who has not been charged with any crime in connection with Crawley’s death — followed Mire to the grassy area where Crawley’s body was set on fire. Reid said she watched the fire start.
Meanwhile, William Finnegan, 41, of Johnstown, pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 40-year-old Seth Hadala in the early hours of Dec. 28, 2021 inside Hadala’s home in the 6000 block of Kendall Ridge Boulevard.
Jury selection in Finnegan’s trial for murder began Tuesday afternoon but stopped after Finnegan decided to take a plea deal Wednesday morning. Franklin
County prosecutors dropped a murder charge.
Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Glenn Jones said during the hearing Wednesday that Finnegan and his girlfriend were visiting Sadala overnight. Finnegan and Sadala had been drinking and Sadala made a rude comment to Finnegan’s girlfriend that made Finnegan angry, Jones said.
Finnegan confronted Sadala and struck Sadala repeatedly in the head until he fell unconscious, Jones said.
Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Simon Huh said the most serious injury was to Hadala’s throat, which Finnegan crushed, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Finnegan is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23. Prosecutors and Finnegan’s defense attorneys are jointly recommending an eight-year prison sentence. jlaird@dispatch.com @Lairdwrites