SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio — The man convicted of killing a Twinsburg police officer more than 15 years ago, has asked the court to drop his death penalty. Now the state is looking into the defendant’s claim that he was mentally ill during the time of the shooting.
In July 2008, Ashford Thompson shot and killed Twinsburg police officer Josh Miktarian during a traffic stop. Two years later a jury convicted Thompson and the court gave him the death sentence. Four years later, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld that conviction and sentence.
Fast forward to today and court records show Thompson says he suffers from a "serious mental illness" — a "persecutory type" delusional disorder that "causes him to experience persistent, severe delusions that other individuals, particularly police and other authority figures, are persecuting him."
According to Thompson's "petition for postconviction relief," he has been diagnosed and treated for delusional disorder by doctors at Warren Correctional Institution and Chillicothe Correctional Institution since 2015.
The filing further claims Thompson "had the disorder at the time of his offense" and that "without antipsychotic medication, these delusions cause Thompson to become violent—and the killing of officer Joshua Miktarian was no exception."
In response to the petition, prosecutors asked the court for a mental evaluation earlier this year. Based on Thompson's responses during the examination, the doctor "developed concerns that he is 'malingering,' which is defined as 'the intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated physical or psychological symptoms, motivated by external incentives such as "evading criminal prosecution."'"
On Monday, Thompson’s attorneys from the Office of the Ohio Public Defender met with prosecutors and Judge Alison Breaux for a status conference. The meeting focused on the new evaluation prosecutors have called for to determine whether Thompson is “malingering,” or exaggerating, his symptoms to avoid the death penalty.
His attorneys asked what the specific test will be but prosecutors were hesitant to provide too much information.
“In the past I know that the people that give the tests typically don’t give a heads up about what the test is or how it is so that they can’t try and alter the tests purposefully,” said Brian LoPrinzi, Chief Assistant Summit County prosecutor. “I’d hate for Mr. Thompson to be able to look up info about this test in an effort to alter the outcome.”
The Ohio Public Defender’s office says Thompson’s petition to drop the death penalty is “a new form of postconviction relief created by House Bill 136.” The law took effect in April 2021 and “prohibits the death penalty if the person is mentally ill at the time of the offense.”
Thompson is currently being held at Chillocothe Correctional Institution. A doctor is expected to examine him for “malingering” after the holidays. Court records show “if the court voids his death sentence because of his serious mental illness, Thompson acknowledges that he will be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.”
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