News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Muskingum County Murder Statistics

The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office has started several new initiatives in hopes of providing citizens with more information, more transparency and a better understanding of the criminal justice system. Included in these initiatives are detailed media releases for more in depth information about our most significant cases, social media accounts for up to date information and a soon-to-be launched data dashboard. The data dashboard will keep up to date statistics regarding the types of crimes prosecuted, the outcomes and the sentences.

Another component of the dashboard will be explanations of what occurs at different stages of a criminal case. Grand jury, arraignment, plea negotiations, trial and sentencing will all be topics that are covered. Our office strongly believes that a thorough understanding of the criminal justice process is necessary to promote faith and trust in the outcome.

In addition to the initiatives discussed above, our office will provide a historical review of the outcomes of major cases over the last 10 years. This period allows people to review long-term results to determine if the outcome of a specific case is a trend or an exception.

The first type of cases brought up for review are those where an individual was charged with aggravated murder or murder. Since 2012, there have been 20 individuals (14 men and 6 women) charged with a purposeful killing. Out of the 20 people charged, 18 were convicted of either aggravated murder or murder.

In Ohio, aggravated murder has four possible sentences: life with a possibility of parole after 20 years, life with a possibility of parole after 25 years, life with a possibility of parole after 30 years and life without parole. A murder charge carries only one sentence, life with a possibility of parole after 15 years.

All 18 defendants convicted of murder received a life sentence. Five of the individuals (2 men and 3 women) are serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The remaining 13 individuals (10 men and 3 women) are serving life sentences but may be considered for parole after serving a set number of years. As mentioned, under no circumstances in a murder case can an offender serve less than 15 full years. Out of the 20 charged with murder, two individuals entered pleas to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, with one female being sentenced to 10 years and one male being sentenced to 11 to 16 ½ years. Both cases involved specific legal defenses which subjected the case to an unacceptable risk of acquittal for the crime of murder.

The defendants and sentences of each murder case for the last 10 years are included below.

Case Date Defendant Sex and race of defendant Sentence Sex and race of victim

2012 Lafonse Dixon Jr. M/B Life without parole, plus 11 years F/W

2012 Katrina Culbertson F/W Life without parole, plus 11 years F/W

2012 Monica Washington F/B Life with eligibility for parole after 25 years F/W

2013 Timothy Daniel M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 18 years M/W

2014 Anthony Wilson M/B Life with eligibility for parole after 18 years M/B

2015 Tequane Boxley M/B Life with eligibility for parole after 28 years M/B

2015 Emile Weaver F/W Life without parole F/W

2016 Sirius Underwood M/B Life with eligibility for parole after 38 years F/W

2016 Josh Daniels M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 28 years F/W

2016 Dale Dudas M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 20 years M/W

2018 Ryan Adams M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 33 years F/W

2018 Dannie Devoll Jr. M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 15 years M/W

2018 Samantha Donohoe F/W 10 years M/W

2019 Derek Bush M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 15 years F/W

2019 John Jenkins Jr. M/B Life without parole F/W

2019 Dustin Cox M/B Life with eligibility for parole after 22 years F/Biracial

2020 David Sowers M/B Life with eligibility for parole after 35 years F/W

2021 Tristaney Baker F/W Life without parole, plus six years F/W

2021 Devin McKnelly M/W Life with eligibility for parole after 25 years F/W

2021 Donavan Norman M/B 11 – 16.5 years F/W

“As an office our goal is to achieve the maximum amount of justice possible for a victim and their loved ones. No sentence will ever bring a murder victim back to life so justice can never fully be achieved in that sense,” Prosecutor Welch said. Addressing the different sentences, he explained “There are no two cases where the facts are the same so the outcomes will differ, but what will not differ is the effort that our office puts forth in these cases.”

He further added “The prosecutors and staff in this office put countless hours, not to mention their hearts and souls, into making certain that the guilty are held accountable to the greatest extent possible given the facts of each case. The success of this office in prosecuting these cases is a credit to everyone working here and to the relentless job done by law enforcement investigating these extremely difficult and emotional cases.”

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