Randall Ross murder trial delayed to 2016

PORT CLINTON - The lengthy legal process in the death penalty murder trial of Randall Ross has been extended yet again.

Ross had been scheduled to stand trial this week, but the date has been moved to early next year. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 11 and is expected to last up to 12 days in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court.

Ross is charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Amy Ross, 43, at a Carroll Township home in March 2013. He faces two counts each of murder, aggravated murder and aggravated burglary and one count of kidnapping.

He is accused of storming into a farmhouse where Amy Ross was staying and fatally shooting her while her sister and niece were in the home. After shooting his estranged wife, Ross then shot himself twice in the head in two separate botched suicide attempts, authorities allege.

The criminal trial will come nearly two years after Amy Ross’ family won a $1.5 million wrongful death judgment against him in a March 2014 court ruling. They alleged Ross was abusive to his wife and that she was staying with her sister because she had left him.

According to court documents, the defense motioned to move back the start of the trial due to one of Ross' attorneys recovering from a non-elective medical procedure. The motion was sustained without objection.

In early September, Ross was present in court for a deposition hearing of a key witness for the prosecution.

Jody Hatfield, Carroll Township chief of police, testified in a special deposition as he is undergoing medical treatment for cancer. Hatfield was the first officer to respond to the 2013 shooting and, in his testimony, placed Ross at the bloody scene.

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