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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2012 > January > 27 > Entry
Moraine man convicted of killing neighbor
DAYTON — A Moraine man accused of beating his neighbor and friend to death was convicted Friday of murder and carrying a firearm while a fugitive from justice.
The jury acquitted Shawn Kortz of the third count, tampering with evidence. Kortz will be sentenced Feb. 8 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara P. Gorman.
The jury got the case Thursday night, but elected to go home after choosing a foreperson. Jurors started deliberating about 9 a.m. Friday and reached their verdicts about 2 p.m.
Kortz testified Thursday he remembered showing his “man cave” to his neighbor and friend, Michael Hollon. The next thing he remembered, Kortz said, was staring at himself in the bathroom mirror, shirtless and wondering why he was covered with blood.
He took a shower to wash the blood off him, an act the prosecutors said was tampering with evidence, but that defense attorney James Staton said was that of a confused man who did not know what was happening.
Kortz, 40, of 2269 Wienberg Drive, was accused of killing Hollon, 48, on Sept. 19, 2010, then fleeing to Kentucky, where he led authorities on a chase until he was captured near Georgetown.
Kortz, the sole defense witness, took the stand Thursday afternoon. He told defense attorney James Staton that he had been awake for more than 30 hours at the time of Hollon’s death, because he had been making deliveries in New England before driving back to Springfield, Ohio, then to his home. Unable to sleep, he was drinking heavily. Those factors combined to cause memory loss and blackouts, Kortz said.
Assistant county prosecutor Robert Deschler accused Kortz of having “selective memory.”
During her closing argument Thursday, assistant county prosecutor Jill Sink noted that Hollon suffered 15 broken ribs, a broken nose, an inch-and-a-half long laceration on the brow above his right eye, and deep bruising on the sides of the head and neck. He also had cartilage injuries consistent with an attempt to strangle him, she said.
Sink also pointed to Kortz’s actions after Hollon’s death: showering, not calling police, fleeing the state. She said those were indications of guilt.
Staton told the jury that it was a terrible case, but Kortz did not know what he was doing. Staton said that, after his shower, Kortz put on the same pair of shorts, even though they had blood on them.
He said that Hollon’s injuries could have happened during a fight between the two men, particularly if they fell down on the furniture. He pointed to pictures of a table with a glass top and a recliner that had been flipped over.
Staton said Hollon’s autopsy revealed that he had cirrhosis of the liver and extensive heart disease, including two arteries that were 90 percent blocked and one that was 50 percent blocked. Hollon’s health made it less likely he could survive a fight, Staton said.
But Deschler called that blaming the victim. He said the ribs and nose fractures would have hindered Hollon’s respiration. Kortz had swelling and cuts on his hands, but Hollon did not, Deschler said.
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