Victims: Timothy “T.J.” Maust, 26, murder victim, and Elizabeth Bunnell, 28, attempted murder victim
Murderers: Tyler Morris, 17, Michael Watson, 17, Samuel Castle, 17, & Gregory Kuzawa II, 18
Crime date: June 10, 2019
Crime location: Ashland, Ohio
Murder method: Gunshots
Weapon: .22 caliber Ruger handgun
Murder motivation: Drug debt
Crimes: Aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder, & drug trafficking
Sentences: Watson–38 years to life; Morris–38 years to life; Castle–17 years; Kuzawa–19 years (SB 256 may result in sentence reductions for the juvenile offenders)
Incarceration status: Watson–incarcerated at the Noble Correctional Institution; Morris–incarcerated at the Madison Correctional Institution; Castle–incarcerated at the Ross Correctional Institution; Kuzawa–incarcerated at the Richland Correctional Institution
Summary of the crime
Watson, Kuzawa, and Castle invaded Elizabeth and T.J.’s home with the intent to rob them. Watson shot both victims, killing T.J. and injuring Elizabeth. Though Morris was not present during the murder, he was responsible for planning it.
Details
State v. Watson
STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE
{¶2} On June 12, 2019, Appellant and three other men went to the Almond Tree Inn in Ashland, where Timothy Maust and Elizabeth Bunnell lived, to obtain money from a drug transaction. Appellant was seventeen years old at the time. When they arrived, other people were in the area of the Almond Tree Inn, and they left. They discussed a plan to return later and do whatever they had to in order to obtain the money, including shooting someone if necessary.
{¶3} The men later returned to the Maust/Bunnell residence. Appellant carried a .22 caliber Ruger handgun. One of the men kicked in the door. After a short conversation with Bunnell, Appellant shot both Maust and Bunnell, killing Maust.
{¶4} A complaint was filed in the Ashland County Juvenile Court alleging Appellant was delinquent based on complicity to aggravated murder with a firearm specification, complicity to aggravated burglary with a firearm specification, and complicity to attempted aggravated murder. Appellant was bound over to the Ashland County Common Pleas Court for trial as an adult.
{¶5} Appellant was indicted by the Ashland County Grand Jury with two counts of aggravated murder, four counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, and aggravated robbery, all with accompanying firearm specifications.
{¶6} On January 24, 2020, Appellant entered a plea agreement with the State in which Appellant agreed to provide testimony against his co-defendants and plead guilty to all charges. The parties agreed merger would apply to specific counts and the State elected to have Appellant sentenced for one count of aggravated murder, one count of conspiracy to aggravated murder, and aggravated robbery. The parties further agreed the specifications merged and the State elected to have Appellant sentenced on the specification accompanying aggravated murder. The parties jointly agreed to a sentencing recommendation of life in prison with parole eligibility after 30 years for aggravated murder, with a three year term of incarceration for the accompanying firearm specification; five to seven and one-half years in prison for conspiracy to aggravated murder; and five to seven and one-half years in prison for aggravated robbery, to be served consecutively for an aggregate prison term of thirty-eight years to life in prison.
{¶7} The trial court convicted Appellant upon his pleas of guilty and sentenced him in accordance with the agreed upon sentence. It is from the March 13, 2020 judgment of the Ashland County Common Pleas Court Appellant prosecutes his appeal, assigning as error:
Appeals court: Michael Watson’s youth means resentencing in Ashland murder case
Cassandra NistThe Repository
ASHLAND – Michael S. Watson, 19, must be resentenced after winning a legal appeal that cites a Stephen King movie reference made in a Ohio Supreme Court ruling illustrating a youth’s capacity for change.
Watson was 17 when he fatally shot a man and injured a woman over drug money owed.
More on Timothy Maust’s shooting death:Murderer sentencing to life in prison
Last week, 5th District Court of Appeals Judge William Hoffman wrote Watson’s sentencing was “unconstitutional,” ruling Ashland County Common Pleas Court failed to take Watson’s youth into consideration prior to sentencing.
Hoffman cited an Ohio Supreme Court case, State vs Patrick, where Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor cited a scene from the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption,” making a connection between the juvenile offender and Red, a prison character played by Morgan Freeman.
How did ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ help Watson?
“In the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ the character Red, portrayed by Morgan Freeman, faces the parole board after having served 40 years of a life sentence and having been previously denied parole twice after serving 20 and 30 years of his sentence. In response to a member of the parole board’s question about whether he has been rehabilitated, he responds:
“Rehabilitated? Well, now, let me see. … What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?” Then, he explains: “There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then, a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are, but I can’t. That kid’s long gone, and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.”
O’Connor specified in State vs. Patrick that courts need to make individualized sentencing determinations that articulate consideration of the offender’s youth, and all that comes with it…”before an old man is all that’s left.”
New sentencing law for offenders under 18 at the time of offense
Resentencing Watson will be “complicated,” Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell said.
Ohio is under new statutory law as of April 12, 2021. “If a person is convicted of rape, terrorism, aggravated murder or murder, or any other felony committed when under 18, or if a person is sentenced under the sexually violent predator sentencing law for an offense committed when under 18, the court may not sentence the person to life imprisonment without parole,” according to the final analysis of S.B. 256
Tunnell said the new bill caps life sentences with eligibility for parole at 25 years for juvenile homicide offenders.
“The resentencing was not unexpected, we anticipated this would happen after the Ohio Supreme Court ruling on the State vs Patrick case….I’ll be meeting with the victims’ family Thursday to update them on the status of our case and where we go from here,” Tunnell said.
Watson’s attorney, Timothy Hackett, said ‘”The Ohio Supreme Court decided that the Eighth Amendment requires sentencing judges to consider youth. The decision here correctly adheres to that ruling, which was based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent.”
Prosecutor: Teen planned murder — Jury trial begins for alleged co-conspirator of deadly Almond Tree shooting
The jury trial of a teenage meth dealer who prosecutors say planned the deadly shooting at the Almond Tree Inn in June began Monday.
Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell said in his opening statement in Ashland County Common Pleas Court that Tyler Morris, then 17, of Ashland, had his “flunkies” kill Timothy Maust and attempt to kill Elizabeth Bunnell. Tunnell said Morris planned the shooting to make a statement after Maust and Bunnell refused to pay Morris for $50 worth of methamphetamine he sold them. Morris wasn’t present at the Almond Tree Inn the night of the shooting, but he promised his friends drugs in return for carrying out the murder, said Tunnell.
Morris’ defense attorney, Matthew Malone, said Morris could not have expected Michael Watson to go through with pulling the trigger.
“Michael Watson alone is responsible for the murder of Timothy Maust and the attempted murder of Elizabeth Bunnell,” Malone said.
Morris is charged with two counts of complicity in an aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. The other three boys involved all have pleaded guilty and will testify in Morris’ trial.
The shooter, Watson, then 17, of Ashland, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of aggravated murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, first-degree felonies.
Gregg Kuzawa, 19, pleaded guilty in August and Samuel Castle, 18, pleaded guilty in September each to two first-degree felonies — conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, the charge associated with Maust, and conspiracy to attempt to commit aggravated murder, the charge associated with Bunnell.
Morris admitted he gave Watson the handgun used in the shooting and that Watson returned it to him afterward, said Tunnell. Morris also admitted he sold methamphetamine to Maust and Bunnell for $50 but they refused to pay him, said Tunnell.
“This crime was committed with the defendant’s instrument of destruction over the defendant’s $50 worth of drugs and after the defendant actively planned with these boys to rob and ultimately kill T.J. and (shoot) Liz,” Tunnell said. “The evidence will show that nothing that transpired … would have happened without this defendant.”
Malone said Morris and his friends talked a big talk but Morris didn’t believe Watson was capable of this shooting.
“Tyler Morris, Sam Castle, Gregg Kuzawa, they all lived this lifestyle that idolized guns, gangbanging, drugs, acting tough … but the reality was they weren’t any of that,” Malone said. “They weren’t gangsters. They just pretended … Tyler Morris didn’t leave his house that night because his mom said he wasn’t allowed. This group of kids rode to this drug deal on pedal bikes and if you don’t know that type I think it will become clear over the course of this trial.”
Kuzawa and Watson are scheduled to be sentenced on March 9 and Castle is scheduled to be sentenced on March 16.
Kuzawa and Castle’s crimes carry a maximum sentence of 24 1/2 years. Watson agreed to testify in Morris’ trial in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with opportunity for parole in 38 years, said Tunnell.
Last month, Transformation Network, which housed homeless people in the Almond Tree Inn’s rooms before the shooting, rechristened the building Transformation House and is converting the old motel into transitional housing. Transformation Network President and Founder Dan Phillip said the change was made in-part due to a number of tragedies at the Almond Tree Inn the last few years, including the fatal shooting over the summer.
Jury finds teen complicit to the murder of Maust
A jury found Tyler Morris complicit in the June murder of Timothy Maust and the attempted murder of Elizabeth Bunnell at the Almond Tree Inn over $50 worth of methamphetamine after deliberations Friday.
However, Morris was found not guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.
Morris’ sentencing is scheduled for April 20 at 2 p.m. The maximum sentence he could receive is life without parole.
Of the 13 counts against Morris, the jury found him guilty of nine of the charges, which included complicity in aggravated burglary and robbery, drug trafficking, unlawful weapons transactions and furnishing weapons to a minor.
“We’re pleased with the verdict,” said Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell. “We think it’s a good verdict. I think it’s helpful when the jury splits those verdicts like that, because on appeal, the appellate court is looking to see if the jury lost its way somehow. And overwhelmingly, the law is, that where they find them not guilty on something, that the jury can’t have lost its way. They’re clearly deliberating with purpose and clearly paying attention.”
Morris, who was 17 at the time of the murder, allegedly had his “flunkies” kill Maust, 26, and attempt to kill Bunnell, 28, on June 12, said Ashland County Assistant Prosecutor Victor Perez during closing statements in Ashland County Common Pleas Court.
″[Morris told his friends] ‘get my money or my dope,’” Perez said. ”[He told them] ‘do whatever it takes [and] shoot at least four times’ … This wheel does not turn without [Morris] at the center of it. When you do your math, you will only come to one result: guilty.”
Morris allegedly planned the shooting to make a statement after Maust and Bunnell refused to pay Morris for $50 worth of meth he sold them. Morris wasn’t present at the Almond Tree Inn the night of the shooting but he allegedly promised his friends drugs in return for carrying out the murder and getting his money back.
Perez said Morris recklessly gave a handgun to Michael Watson, then 17 and who admittedly had used drugs at the time for multiple days. Watson pleaded guilty in January to the aggravated murder of Maust and the attempted aggravated murder of Bunnell. Watson agreed to testify in Morris’ trial in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with opportunity for parole in 38 years, said Tunnell.
“The state will have you believe that Tyler is some criminal mastermind … Tyler was not a criminal mastermind,” said Morris’ defense attorney, Matthew Malone. “He was part of this fake gang culture …”
Malone, said Morris could not have expected Watson to go through with pulling the trigger.
Malone also said that neither theory proposed by the state for why Morris would have planned this shooting — he wanted the “street cred” or he needed the money — are plausible. Malone said Morris had been ripped off in a similar manner around the same time and neither he nor his associates retaliated. There was also no indication Morris needed the money, said Malone.
The other two boys who were present at the shooting have pleaded guilty. Gregg Kuzawa, 19, pleaded guilty in August and Samuel Castle, 18, pleaded guilty in September each to two first-degree felonies — conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, the charge associated with Maust, and conspiracy to attempt to commit aggravated murder, the charge associated with Bunnell.
Morris is charged with 12 felonies and one misdemeanor: two counts of complicity in an aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; four counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; two counts of complicity in an aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; two counts of complicity in an attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; one count of aggravated trafficking in drugs, a fourth-degree felony; one count of unlawful transaction in weapons, a fourth-degree misdemeanor; and one county of improperly furnishing a firearm to a minor, a fifth-degree felony.
Malone said Morris admits guilt to the last three counts.
Kuzawa and Watson are scheduled to be sentenced on March 9 and Castle is scheduled to be sentenced on March 16.
Kuzawa and Castle’s crimes carry a maximum sentence of 24 1/2 years. Watson agreed to testify in Morris’ trial in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with opportunity for parole in 38 years, said Tunnell.
“Overall, I’d like to commend my staff for putting this together, and the jury, of course, for their attention,” Tunnell said. “And commend the men and women of Ashland County law enforcement. These guys were in custody within hours. The first one was in custody in just about 50-some minutes from the shooting. That’s outstanding work. This was a team effort between the Ashland Police Department, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office that night, working together to keep everybody safe. And then we got our man in the end.”
