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By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 08:45 a.m. EDT, Jul 25, 2008
The man accused of killing Twinsburg police officer Joshua Miktarian rolled his eyes and yawned several times during a 20-minute reading of his indictment this morning.
Ashford Thompson, 23, faces a possible death sentence for the July 13 shooting that occured during a traffic stop near his Twinsburg home.
A grand jury indicted Thompson this week on a litany of charges including aggravated murder, escape, tampering with evidence, carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and multiple gun and death penalty specifications.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh was forced to read the entire indictment in court because Thompson currently does not have a lawyer.
Attorneys usually waive a formal reading of the indictment in order to expedite the arraignment process.
Attorney Larry Zukerman, who represented Thompson immediately after his arrest, has withdrawn from the case. Zukerman, who previously told reporters that Thompson killed Miktarian in self-defense, did not return a message seeking comment.
‘‘Killing a police officer to escape your arrest is not self defense. It is aggravated murder and that's what we expect to prove,’’ Walsh told reporters after the hearing.
Thompson appeared at 7:55 a.m. on a feed video from the county jail where Common Pleas Magistrate John Shoemaker ordered him held without bond.
Thompson could be seen yawning several times as he sat alone at a table while Walsh read through the 10-count indictment non-stop for more than 20 minutes.
He rolled his eyes when Walsh told Shoemaker that Thompson was a risk to flee the area and a danger to the community and needed to be held without bond.
A court-appointed lawyer is expected to be selected for Thompson sometime today. His case was assigned to Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer. A pretrial is scheduled for Aug. 6.
‘‘I was so busy reading such a long indictment that I did not notice the defendant yawning or what he was doing,’’ Walsh said after the hearing.
Miktarian, 33 and a married father of a newborn girl, was shot four times in the head, including three times while he lay wounded on the ground, police said. He had stopped Thompson's vehicle at about 2 a.m. for suspicion of drunken driving and loud music.
After the shooting, Thompson drove to a relative's home in Bedford Heights. Police said that when he was arrested there, he was attempting to use Vaseline to remove Miktarian's handcuffs from his right wrist. His shirt was covered with blood, authorities said.
A 9 mm pistol, which police say was used in the slaying, was also recovered.
‘‘I think it's horrible what happened. This very serious case and we will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law,’’ Walsh said. ‘‘We do believe we have a very strong case.’’
The man accused of killing Twinsburg police officer Joshua Miktarian rolled his eyes and yawned several times during a 20-minute reading of his indictment this morning.
Ashford Thompson, 23, faces a possible death sentence for the July 13 shooting that occured during a traffic stop near his Twinsburg home.
A grand jury indicted Thompson this week on a litany of charges including aggravated murder, escape, tampering with evidence, carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and multiple gun and death penalty specifications.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh was forced to read the entire indictment in court because Thompson currently does not have a lawyer.
Attorneys usually waive a formal reading of the indictment in order to expedite the arraignment process.
Attorney Larry Zukerman, who represented Thompson immediately after his arrest, has withdrawn from the case. Zukerman, who previously told reporters that Thompson killed Miktarian in self-defense, did not return a message seeking comment.
‘‘Killing a police officer to escape your arrest is not self defense. It is aggravated murder and that's what we expect to prove,’’ Walsh told reporters after the hearing.
Thompson appeared at 7:55 a.m. on a feed video from the county jail where Common Pleas Magistrate John Shoemaker ordered him held without bond.
Thompson could be seen yawning several times as he sat alone at a table while Walsh read through the 10-count indictment non-stop for more than 20 minutes.
He rolled his eyes when Walsh told Shoemaker that Thompson was a risk to flee the area and a danger to the community and needed to be held without bond.
A court-appointed lawyer is expected to be selected for Thompson sometime today. His case was assigned to Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer. A pretrial is scheduled for Aug. 6.
‘‘I was so busy reading such a long indictment that I did not notice the defendant yawning or what he was doing,’’ Walsh said after the hearing.
Miktarian, 33 and a married father of a newborn girl, was shot four times in the head, including three times while he lay wounded on the ground, police said. He had stopped Thompson's vehicle at about 2 a.m. for suspicion of drunken driving and loud music.
After the shooting, Thompson drove to a relative's home in Bedford Heights. Police said that when he was arrested there, he was attempting to use Vaseline to remove Miktarian's handcuffs from his right wrist. His shirt was covered with blood, authorities said.
A 9 mm pistol, which police say was used in the slaying, was also recovered.
‘‘I think it's horrible what happened. This very serious case and we will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law,’’ Walsh said. ‘‘We do believe we have a very strong case.’’
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