GEORGETOWN, Ohio – A man indicted on charges related to the death of an Aberdeen man in 2012 was sentenced on Thursday, June 7 in Brown County Common Pleas Court.

Ronald Fizer was scheduled for a competency hearing on Thursday where he was found competent to stand trial, by an examination, according to court records.

After the ruling of competency, Fizer withdrew his not guilty by reason of insanity plea and entered a plea of guilty to one count of third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, according to court documents.

According to previous reports, on May, 2012, Justen Ryan Ramsey, 22, of Aberdeen had returned to the area from a job site out of state and met up with a female friend in Aberdeen.

Ramsey was found unresponsive on May 3, 2012 at Fizer’s home in Aberdeen. He was taken to Meadowview Regional Medical Center in Maysville where he was declared dead.

At the time, the Mason County Coroner determined the cause of death to be a heroin overdose.

The case was originally in the hands of the Aberdeen Police Department but was eventually transferred to the Brown County Prosecutor’s Office in 2015 due to the APD being understaffed, according to the APD police chief at the time.

The case was turned over to Buddy Coburn, an investigator with the Brown County Prosecutor’s Office, who investigated older cases.

“…we have limited resources and manpower to do the investigation,” said Brandon Swayne, APD Chief in 2015. “It is not that it is not important, it is just (Coburn) is better suited to handle this.”

Fizer was sentenced to two years of community control sanctions under the general supervision and control of the Adult Probation Department. According to the sentence, he will not be able to leave the state of Ohio without permission from the court or the Adult Probation Department.

If Fizer violates his community control, he will face 30 months in Ohio prison. He was discharged on probation on Thursday.

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Damon Huff

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