WEST UNION Ohio | Following a week of a jury trial in Adams County Court of Common Pleas, and before the jury was sent to make a decision, a Manchester, Ohio man asked to change his plea to guilty to the 2014 killing Charles “Duke” Brewer.
According to court records Roddy Shane Tolle, 43, had been in an argument with Brewer during the afternoon of June 27, 2014, at Brewer’s home on Island Creek Road, in Manchester but left Brewer’s home with Brewer alive.
In the course of testimony during the trial, the jury learned, in the few hours after he left, Tolle drove several miles and asked at least five people, including relatives of Brewer, to borrow a weapon.
Four of them refused when he told them he wanted to use it to kill Brewer.
The fifth was told by Tolle that he needed the weapon to kill stray cats, and was given the weapon which Tolle later used to kill Brewer.
Following the last of prosecution witness testimony and a meeting between the prosecution and defense attorneys, Tolle requested a change of plea on Thursday.
On Friday morning, the change of plea request was heard by Judge Brett Spencer and accepted.
On Friday afternoon, Spencer sentenced Tolle to 31 years-to-life in prison on a charge of aggravated murder with a gun specification and weapon under disability attachment.
According to Adams County Prosecutor David Kelley, work by Assistant Prosecutor Kris Blanton, the cooperation of witnesses and family members, and a thorough police investigations helped bring the case to an acceptable resolution.
“It is one of the best outcomes we could ask for after all Mr. Brewer’s family has been through,” Kelley said.
