Columbus woman who shot sheriff's deputies sentenced to at least 40 years in prison

Jordan Laird, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
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Monica Greer Justice, 56, seen here March 13 representing herself in Franklin County Common Pleas Court during her trial on felonious assault charges for shooting at four Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies and wounding two of them. The incident occurred in 2020 when the deputies attempted to serve her a probate order at her North Linden home.
Monica Greer Justice, 56, seen here March 13 representing herself in Franklin County Common Pleas Court during her trial on felonious assault charges for shooting at four Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies and wounding two of them. The incident occurred in 2020 when the deputies attempted to serve her a probate order at her North Linden home.

A Columbus woman who shot at four Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies in 2020, wounding two and ending the career of one of them, will now serve at least 40 years behind bars.

Deputies were trying to serve Monica G. Justice an order from the Franklin County Probate Court to take her for a mental health evaluation when she opened fire.

After less than two hours of deliberation on Friday, a jury in Franklin County Common Pleas Court found Justice guilty of four counts of felonious assault and two counts of having a weapon under disability (having a gun as a convicted felon).

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young sentenced the 56-year-old Justice on Tuesday to a minimum prison term of 40 years. If Justice misbehaves in prison, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections can extend Justice’s prison term up to five more years.

Past reporting:Woman accused of shooting deputies arrested after 7-hour standoff

Past reporting:Columbus woman found guilty of shooting at four, wounding two sheriff's deputies in 2020

The shooting on the morning of July 21, 2020, and the subsequent six-plus-hour standoff came after a weekslong effort to evict Justice from a home on Beulah Road. The property owner secured the probate order.

Justice represented herself in court and claimed during the two-week trial that she was defending herself since she did not know the men who breached her door were Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies.

While cross-examining deputies on the stand at whom she shot, Justice asked why they assumed she was a sovereign citizen, which she says she is not, and why they didn’t use non-lethal sponge bullets after she shot at them. Deputies shot back at Justice, hitting her in the wrist.

A jury previously convicted Justice of assault in 2014 after prosecutors said she attacked a Columbus police officer as he tried to arrest her on a warrant for a traffic offense.

According to testimony during last week’s trial, Monica Justice told the judge in 2014 her name was Lotus Justice and that she did not recognize the court’s authority over her — an idea frequently espoused by a sovereign citizen.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus woman sentenced to minimum 40 years for shooting deputies