Verdict due Monday
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CHAD SOUTH |
CHARDON — Closing arguments were heard April 28 in the bench trial for the man accused of the 2006 Burton Township murder of Daniel E. Ott.
Geauga Common Pleas Court Judge Forrest W. Burt will give a verdict at 9:30 a.m. May 2 of whether Chad South, 46, of Moraine, is guilty of committing the May 26, 2006, murder at Ott’s Claridon-Troy Road home.
Day 4 of the trial began with the continued testimony of Geauga County Sheriff’s Detective Juanita Vetter, who had worked on the case since the day of the murder.
Vetter’s testimony started Wednesday, after the testimony of Dr. Frank Miller, who in 2006 was the Cuyahoga County deputy coroner and performed Ott’s autopsy. Miller said Ott was about three or four feet from the end of a shotgun when he was fatally shot.
Also testifying on the third day of the trial was another Lake County prison inmate, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons. The man, who has a history of robbery convictions, met South in August 2015. South, despite facing charges in Geauga County, was moved to the Lake County Jail.
When they first met, the man testified that South told him he was innocent, but that changed over time. One time, the man testified, South told him he had a nightmare from the night of the murder. South was pale and sweating and told him about the crime, the man testified.
South told him that he killed the man with a shotgun with buckshot. After it happened, South told him he went somewhere to take off his clothes and was approached by a man who asked him if he was all right. South also told the inmate that “Mindy” and Al” were with him. He told the inmate that he was at “someone’s brother’s house” the night before the murder, but the man is unsure whose brother. The inmate said South told him he committed the murder in the morning.
He testified that South told him he did it for money and some of the money was buried.
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