Death-penalty indictment filed in slayings of Westerville officers
By John Futty
The Columbus Dispatch
A Franklin County grand jury has returned a death-penalty indictment against Quentin L. Smith in the Feb. 10 shooting deaths of two Westerville police officers.
The indictment was announced by county Prosecutor Ron O’Brien at a news conference this morning.
Smith, 31, is accused of killing Officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli in an exchange of gunfire after they entered his townhouse in the 300 block of Cross Wind Drive to investigate a 911 hang-up call. Investigators said Smith’s wife told the officers that he had assaulted her and had a gun.
Joering died at the scene; Morelli died of his injuries at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. Smith was hospitalized with gunshot wounds for a week before being transported to the Franklin County jail, where he is being held without bail.
The charges against Smith include two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, one count of domestic violence, one count of possessing a gun despite a previous felony conviction, nine gun specifications and four repeat-violent-offender specifications.
In Ohio, the purposeful killing of an on-duty police officer and the purposeful killing of two or more people are among the crimes that qualify for the death penalty.
http://www.the-review.com/news/20180...ville-officers
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