Ohio Supreme Court won't review Zanesville murder case

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Supreme Court will not review the decision of a lower appeals court to reduce the conviction and sentence of a man who shot and killed a patron at a local restaurant in 2013.

The Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office had filed an appeal of the Fifth District Court's ruling to reduce Timothy Daniels' conviction from aggravated murder to murder. The district court's decision also reduced his life sentence from 18 years to life.

The prosecutor's office field an appeal last November of the district court's decision. The Ohio Supreme Court notified the office that it will not review the case.

Daniel was convicted by a Muskingum County Jury for the October 2013 execution of Charles Hooper, a Zanesville resident who was eating at Burger King at the time on Maysville Avenue. At trial, Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox argued that Hooper intervened in Daniel's heated argument with his then girlfriend. When Hooper attempted to intervene a second time, Daniel shot him with the .40 caliber handgun he carried with him for his drug-trafficking profession.

The jury determined that Daniel murdered Hooper with prior calculation and design, beating his victim with the firearm before executing him in cold blood. Muskingum County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Fleegle imposed the maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals disagreed with the jury and reduced Daniel's conviction.