USA - Ohio. Jury recommends death penalty for Shawn Grate

Ashland County Jury recommends death penalty for Shawn Grate, 41, White. A jury has recommended that an Ohio man convicted of killing 2 women (43-year-old Stacey Stanley and 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith) be sentenced to death. Grate was convicted of aggravated murder and kidnapping in the 2016 strangulation deaths of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith. Their bodies were found in a vacant Ashland home after a 3rd woman escaped. Judge Ronald Forsthoefel is scheduled to announce June 1 whether he’ll sentence Grate to death or to life in prison. Ashland County Judge Ronald Forsthoefel will have the final decision on the sentence. In a press interview Grate confessed to five murders. Grate's attorneys later filed a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.