Sept. 13, 2016. I was 25 and only about a year into my full-time job as a reporter when the news about Shawn Grate broke out of Ashland. At the time, the story was about a Jane Doe who had been allegedly kidnapped and tortured physically and sexually in an abandoned house. But we all […]
Shawn Grate
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Ashland serial killer Shawn Grate appeals murder convictions in federal court
CLEVELAND — An Ashland serial killer sentenced to death for murdering women across three Ohio counties appealed his 2018 death penalty in federal court, blaming a sleepy judge, inadequate defense counsel and faulty prosecutors. Court-appointed attorneys representing Shawn Grate listed 18 separate “grounds for relief” that U.S. Northern District of Ohio Court Judge Bridget Brennan […]
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Dad to stepson’s killer: ‘I hope you die a long, slow & painful death in prison’
ASHLAND — Earl Donley faced the man who killed his stepson Tuesday morning. “I hope you die a long, slow and painful death in prison,” Donley said to Howard Walters in Ashland County Common Pleas Court. “I am not a very strong believer in the afterlife, but you make me hopeful there is a hell,” […]
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Ashland County death penalty case held up on questions of indigent status
ASHLAND — A capital case at Ashland County Court of Common Pleas is being held up because of an argument on whether or not the defendant is indigent. Howard Walters, 59, has been accused in the early 2023 slaying of his son-in-law, Kurtis Harstine, 41. He faces a number of charges related to Harstine’s death, […]
