MANSFIELD — Accused murderer Jordan Skoog, is out on bond with an ankle monitor.
Prosecutor Gary Bishop said he doesn’t know the last time an alleged killer was able to be out on bond. The bond was first deposited on April 30.
According to Bishop, Skoog, 28, of Bellville, paid a $1 million personal recognizance bond and is able to wait for his trial at home.
“When the court sets a bond and we are notified it will be paid, we’re not allowed to raise it,” Bishop said. “It’s constitutional law. Do we wish we had made bail $2 million? Well, that’s hindsight for you.”
Skoog is charged in the March 20 kiling of Austin Smiley, 19, of 671 U.S. Highway 250 South in New London. He was found dead at 1665 Frontier Trail in Mifflin Township from a single gunshot wound to the head.
A preliminary hearing on a murder charge in Mansfield Municipal Court was scheduled, delayed and then cancelled after Skoog was indicted by a grand jury.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department released a 9-1-1 call from the incident, during which the caller indicated the victim was shot in the head with a handgun and that those at the house had been drinking.
The woman who called 9-1-1 said she didn’t know who pulled the trigger on the gun.
Deputies responded to the location, which is east of Ford Road South and south of Ohio 430, at approximately 10:44 p.m. Smiley was dead when they arrived, according to the incident report.
