Columbus teen who argued self-defense acquitted of murder in shooting of another teen girl
A Franklin County Common Pleas Court jury has acquitted a teenage girl of murder in the 2021 shooting death of another teenage girl after a fight, the latest instance in the county of a defendant asserting they acted in self-defense and winning.
Marizah Thomas, now 19, admitted while testifying last week during her trial that when she was 16 years old, she fatally shot 17-year-old Jayce O'Neal in the neck and leg after they fought July 12, 2021, outside Thomas' home on Columbus' Far West Side.
O'Neal, who had a running dispute with Thomas after her boyfriend left her for Thomas, had come to Thomas' home and initiated the confrontation, according to trial testimony and statements. A neighbor witness had testified there was a brief fight that included hair pulling outside between the two teenage girls that had ended before Thomas went inside her home, came out with a gun and shot O'Neal.
The jury deliberated for more than seven hours across Monday and Tuesday before returning its verdict finding Thomas not guilty of aggravated murder or murder. The jury found Thomas guilty of tampering with evidence, the sentencing for which will be handled in juvenile court.
Sam Shamansky, one of Thomas' defense attorneys, had argued that Thomas had no duty to retreat under Ohio's "stand your ground" law.
"I believe as (The Dispatch) has correctly reported on in the past, the state of the law regarding self-defense, coupled with stand your ground and no duty to retreat places an enormous burden on the government (prosecutors) and they were mercifully unable to meet it in this case," Shamansky told The Dispatch after the verdict.
Thomas alleged that O'Neal threatened her multiple times before the day of the shooting.
Shamansky told The Dispatch that O’Neal was the aggressor, but this was a “senseless and tragic loss of life.”
“We emphasized in closing that there was no question that this aggressor had been stalking (Thomas) for a month, had threatened to kill her, came armed with a butcher knife, wouldn’t take no for an answer and continued to fight her way toward our client’s front door,” Shamansky said.
Franklin County prosecuting attorneys emphasized during the trial that "the fight was over" when Thomas went and retrieved a gun and then shot O'Neal.
Defendants are asserting they killed in self-defense much more often in Franklin County than before state laws changed in recent years, including a law making Ohio a "stand your ground" state, according to county prosecutors and police.
Even under the previous law, Thomas would have had no duty to retreat since she was at her home, according to Shamansky.
Last year in Franklin County, a Dispatch analysis found 14 defendants, representing nearly half of all 32 murder trial defendants in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, argued they killed to protect themselves or another.
More than half the time in trials where the defendant asserted self-defense last year, the defendant won acquittal, The Dispatch found.
It's a trend that area attorneys and legal experts predict will persist in Ohio courts.
Jurors on Thomas' case declined to speak with The Dispatch about their decision.
Franklin County First Assistant Prosecutor Janet Grubb also declined to comment to The Dispatch on the verdict.
David Zeyen, deputy chief counsel in the criminal division of the prosecutor's office, previously told The Dispatch that the law changes are impeding convictions when self-defense is claimed.
Thomas' tampering with evidence charge will be sent back to Franklin County Juvenile Court, where she was first charged, for sentencing, Shamansky said.
He said he believes Thomas deserves probation, noting she has already spent months in jail for this case, followed by more than a year on house arrest.
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jury finds Columbus teen not guilty of murder in self-defense case
