Ashford Lamar Thompson - Ohio Death Row
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Twinsburg Police Officer Joshua Miktarian
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Summary of Offense:
The man convicted of killing Twinsburg Police Officer Joshua Miktarian during a routine traffic stop in July of 2008 was sentenced to death by a Summit County judge. Though she had the option of reducing his sentence to life in prison, Judge Elinore Stormer went along with the jury's recommendation for Ashford Thompson, then 25. The official sentencing came less than two weeks after the jury, needing only three hours of deliberation, recommended Thompson get the death penalty. Two of the nine charges for which he was convicted carried with them death penalty and firearm specifications. In a tearful statement to the Miktarian family, Thompson admitted he fired the shots that killed the officer during a traffic stop in the predawn hours of July 13, 2008, because of loud music coming from Thompson's car. Within two minutes of the stop, a neighbor called 911 saying she heard popping noises outside. Officer Miktarian was shot once through the forehead and three more times through the side of his head as he lay unresponsive on the ground. Thompson was arrested at his sister's Bedford Heights home a short time later, still wearing Officer Miktarian's handcuffs on one of his wrists. The gun he used was on the top of a stove in the residence.
Thompson was sentenced to death on June 23, 2010.