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CHAD SOUTH |
CHARDON — A majority of the second day of the Daniel E. Ott murder trial was spent on the testimony of Richard Carter, a man who met Ott’s accused killer while serving time in the London Correctional Institution.
Chad South, 46, of Moraine, has a bench trial in front of Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge Forrest W. Burt in the May 26, 2006, murder case of Ott, who was killed in his Burton Township home.
Authorities believe South was part of a murder-for-hire plot organized by a man named Joe Rosebrook whom he met while serving in the London Correctional Institution. Authorities believe South was hired to kill a man named Daniel C. Ott, who had testified against Rosebrook in a Logan County case, but South ended up at the home of the wrong Daniel Ott. Daniel E. Ott was bound with duct tape, but broke free and a struggle ensued and Ott was shot in the chest with a shotgun.
Carter testified met South in 2009 through another inmate named Terry Current. Carter, 59, has spent more than 20 years of his life off and on behind bars for various offenses. A majority of those were receiving stolen property and forgery incidents, but also has a felonious assault charge on his record.
When South met him, Carter was working in the law library at the London Correctional Institution. South was inquiring about an incident unrelated to the Ott murder. The pair began talking daily and eventually talked about the Ott murder about three times per week, Carter testified. Over time, South shared more and more information about the case.
Carter said Tuesday the only information he got about the Ott murder came from South.
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