Prosecutors allowed to introduce evidence of prior bad acts as proof of motive
This story has been updated to include information about plea deals prosecutors offered Rosebrook and the expected testimony at trial of Daniel C. Ott.
Jury selection is underway in the trial of Joseph Rosebrook, the Florida man accused of masterminding a botched murder-for-hire plot in 2006 that left a Burton Township man dead.
Prosecutors claim Rosebrook, while serving a 10-year prison sentence at London Correctional Institution after being convicted in 2005 in another murder-for-hire scheme in Logan County, Ohio, hired Chad South to kill a Daniel C. Ott, who had turned state’s evidence against him in the case.
South was an inmate at the same state prison until March 2006 and had also spent time with Rosebrook in the Logan County jail.
But instead of killing Daniel C. Ott, who would have been nearly 70 years old in 2006, South invaded the Claridon Troy Road home that 31-year-old Daniel E. Ott shared with his then-girlfriend, Maryann Ricker, and murdered him.
In June, South was sentenced to a minimum of 28 years in prison for the kidnapping and killing of Daniel E. Ott and the kidnapping of Ricker. After 28 years in prison, South will have a chance for parole.
Prior to beginning jury selection, Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge David Fuhry ruled prosecutors would be allowed to introduce at trial evidence of Rosebrook’s prior bad acts as proof of motive.
Prosecutors also informed the court that Daniel C. Ott may be called to testify at trial.
In addition, prosecutors informed Fuhry in open court that a number of plea deals had been offered Rosebrook, who was indicted on five counts: conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, aggravated murder with prior calculation and design, aggravated murder during the commission of aggravated burglary, kidnapping of Ott and kidnapping of Ricker.
Rosebrook rejected each deal, including entering a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, with a single gun specification. He would have faced a potential 23-year prison term. All other counts would have been dismissed at sentencing.
Seated outside the courtroom were Rosebrook’s former wife, current girlfriend, who lives in Florida, and his daughter, according to court personnel.
Prosecutors believe Rosebrook, a man named Curt Frazier and Daniel C. Ott were involved a chop-shop operation in southern Ohio and were under investigation by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.
Frazier cut a deal with Logan County to save himself and agreed to testify against Rosebrook, who hired Daniel C. Ott to take care of Frazier. But Daniel C. Ott agreed to turn state’s evidence against Rosebrook, who was convicted in 2005 in Logan County in the attempted murder-for-hire plot to kill Frazier.
Rosebrook’s brother, Carl Jeffrey Rosebrook, was the alleged moneyman in the scheme was responsible for paying South the money. His case is set for trial Oct. 11 in Fuhry’s courtroom.
Mindie Mock Stanifer, the woman who drove with South to Burton Township to murder Daniel C. Ott, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for her role in the crime. Prosecutors had argued Stanifer helped aid in the murder for drugs and money. She had pleaded guilty in May to one count of involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping, and two counts of obstruction of justice.
The third person in the car, Alva Jacobs, 35, of Huntsville, Ala., was sentenced to 30 days in the Geauga County Safety Center after pleading guilty to first-degree misdemeanor obstruction of justice.
Rosebrook’s jury trial is expected to last one week.
