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Madison vs. Waynesville
Jurors convict woman in ice pick murder
Video: See the defendant on the witness stand
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
XENIA — Jurors found Sandra Matthews-Johnson guilty of aggravated murder in the death of her roommate, Ottie Marie Tomlinson, who was stabbed in the head with an ice pick.
Jurors returned the verdict Wednesday, April 23. and the judge set sentencing for May 9. She faces 15 years to life in prison.
Extras
Deliberations began Tuesday afternoon, and the decision was announced about 4 p.m. Relatives of the victim and the defendant reacted emotionally to the verdict.
Jurors did not accept the argument made by Matthews-Johnson's defense attorney, Bradley Baldwin, who tried to instill doubt in jurors' minds about evidence presented by prosecutors that the defendant murdered Tomlinson on Aug. 6, 2007.
Baldwin pointed to inconsistencies in the statements of one of the state's key witnesses, Frank Moss, who lived with the women on Market Street at the time of the assault.
"Frank Moss is lying. He lied to police and then he came into court and he lied to you," Baldwin told the jury. "There is a reason why he is lying. He was their star witness, and he can't be trusted."
Baldwin suggested Moss could have murdered Tomlinson. Or the 67-year-old may have fallen accidently driving the ice pick through her own skull.
Greene County Prosecutor Stephen Haller dismissed the defense's claims, saying only Matthews-Johnson had reason to kill Tomlinson.
The two women spent that hot August afternoon drinking beer and then began to argue, according to Haller.
Tomlinson was going to kick Matthews-Johnson out because she had no job and wasn't keeping up with the housework.
"Let's make no mistake about this," Haller said. "Ottie Marie Tomlinson was murdered. She was killed. It wasn't a fall. It wasn't an accident."
The state's "star witness" was Tomlinson herself, Haller said. After the attack she told police and medics repeatedly that "Sandy stabbed me."
"She told her story to anyone who would listen so it could be told to you," he said. "People don't die with lies on their lips."
>Contact the reporter at (937) 225-2342 or cmagan@DaytonDailyNews.com
