Joseph Rosebrook is going back to prison for hiring a hitman to kill the hitman who helped put him behind bars in a different murder-for-hire scheme.
Only this time, the hitman he hired killed the wrong guy.
Logan County native Joseph Rosebrook is led out of Geauga County Common Pleas Court in handcuffs Monday after being found guilty in the murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of Daniel E. Ott in 2006. (PHOTO | GEAUGA COUNTY MAPLE LEAF)
It took a Geauga County jury of eight men and four women a little over three hours to convict the Logan County man for the 2006 mistaken-identity murder of Daniel E. Ott, the 31-year-old victim who bore the same first and last name as Rosebrook’s intended target, Daniel C. Ott.
His sentencing is set for 1:30 Oct. 6 in Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge David L. Fuhry’s courtroom.
“It was a lot of hard work and really a team effort that put this together,” Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz said. “The Ohio Attorney General’s Office was a huge help and the work and effort of the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and its detectives were exemplary. I think what people don’t realize are literally thousands of hours that are spent on something like this.”
Added Flaiz, “This is the most complex investigation that I’ve ever seen, with some of the challenges involved, because the actual victim was totally unrelated to any of these people and because the mistaken identity really presented some challenges that we don’t see in other cases. I can’t say enough about the team effort here to get this conviction.”
For Leroy and Linda Ott, the jury’s unanimous verdict was about justice, not closure.
“We’re so happy with this verdict,” said Leroy, who sat with Linda in the front row of the gallery throughout the five-day trial.
“You know, it’s been 10 and a half years and people in this community — the detectives, the courts, everybody — worked so damn hard and this family was shown a lot of love and support from this community. They went above and beyond,” he said. “What more can you say? It’s not going to bring Dan back. We won’t ever have closure; I think about him every day. But we got justice and Dan would be happy.”
See Tuesday’s Bellefontaine Examiner or the Geauga County Maple Leaf for additional coverage.