News

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Friday, December 19, 2025

Zanesville Man Pleads Guilty to Perjury

The last trial of 2025 was scheduled to begin Thursday morning in front of Judge Kelly Cottrill of the Muskingum County Common Pleas Court, when Ron W. “Hallboy” Hall pled guilty to the indictments filed against him.

The trial would have marked the 40th jury trial in Common Pleas Court in 2025.

The members of the “venire,” a group of persons from which a jury is selected, waited patiently while Hall pled guilty in an adjacent courtroom.

Hall admitted guilt for offenses in two separate cases reflecting the following:

• Perjury, with forfeiture specification

• Permitting drug abuse, with forfeiture specification

• Aggravated possession of methamphetamine

• Tampering with evidence

Hall faces up to eight years when sentenced next year.



Facts of the Cases:

Hall’s first case came from a Zanesville / Muskingum County Drug Unit investigation dating back to 2023. In that case, detectives were building a case against now-convicted drug dealers Michael “Trigg” McClain (serving 15 years) and Colton “Chase” Vinyard (serving 8 years) when they conducted a traffic stop in which Ron Hall was the driver.

Hall tore open a baggie of methamphetamine and shoved it underneath his body during the stop.

In the second case, Hall was operating his home on Wheeling Avenue as a drug-distribution house, commonly referred to as a “trap house.” Hall permitted Chaison “Yak” Suber to occupy an upstairs bedroom and to sell drugs from the home.

On the morning of January 24, 2025, Suber and Hall got into an argument about a drug debt. During the argument, Suber produced a handgun and shot Hall in the leg.

Suber had been concerned about drug addicts in the house stealing his product and therefore set-up video cameras in his room. The cameras captured the event, including the audio of Hall yelling that Suber had shot him.

On January 29, 2025, Hall was subpoenaed to the Muskingum County Grand Jury, where he repeatedly lied and stated he did not know who shot him. Even after being shown the video, Hall continued to deny knowledge of who shot him.

Lying about material facts under oath – even by falsely claiming to not know, or to not remember – is the offense of perjury.

As a consequence of the perjury and for permitting a drug dealer to sell drugs from his residence, Hall forfeited his property on Wheeling Avenue.

“Unfortunately, drug dealing and violence go hand-in-hand, and people involved often do not want to cooperate with law enforcement,” according to Assistant Prosecutor John Litle who handled the case. “When called before the Grand Jury, a person must testify truthfully, whether or not they want to be involved in the legal process.”

Drug dealing and violence affect everyone in the community, and in Muskingum County a person’s desire to handle things “on the streets” while avoiding the civic obligation to cooperate in criminal investigations is not a choice.

The policy choice of refusing to provide that option creates a large amount of extra work for detectives, prosecutors, Grand Jurors, and the courts, but that extra work keeps citizens in Muskingum County safe.

The fact that cooperation with the Grand Jury is taken seriously, and that the rules for honesty are enforced in Muskingum County, helps give confidence to crime victims and witnesses who cannot be pressured to remain silent. Those people can deflect the pressure put on them from outside the legal system by pointing to the fact that it is the Grand Jury’s subpoena, and not their choice, which requires them to testify.

Suber was convicted of the shooting and is serving nine years for the offense.

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