Boxley pleads not guilty to aggravated murder

ZANESVILLE – Tequane A. Boxley, charged with one count of aggravated murder, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court.

Boxley, 23, could face life in prison without parole if convicted. He is being held at the county jail with bond set at $5 million.

Boxley is accused of shooting and killing 30-year-old William J. Young II on July 10 in Zanesville’s only homicide so far this year.

Larry W. Thomas is representing Boxley in court and was unavailable for comment after the arraignment.

A grand jury indicted Boxley last week on the single charge, which includes a firearm specification that could add three years to his potential sentence. Prosecutors must prove Boxley acted with prior calculation and design, Ohio's definition of premeditation, when he allegedly shot Young.

At the time of Boxley's indictment, Zanesville police said Young was shot in a car around 11:20 p.m. July 10 outside Dairy Mart on the corner of Pine and Baker streets. Young later died of his injuries at Genesis Hospital.

Police later identified Boxley as a suspect and arrested him on the 700 block of Indiana Street around 7 p.m. the Saturday following the shooting.

At Boxley’s preliminary hearing earlier this month, two witnesses identified Boxley as the shooter. Two others, both juveniles, identified the shooter as a black man wearing a mask and red-and-black shorts.

Police are marking the fatal shooting as Zanesville's first homicide of the year. The city had only one homicide in 2014.

Boxley has one prior felony conviction in Muskingum County. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony. He was sentenced to 17 months in prison.