NEWS

Burglary suspect backs out of plea deal, opts for trial

Jon Stinchcomb
Reporter

PORT CLINTON - In a surprise turn of events, a man accused of breaking into and stealing from multiple local businesses last summer opted to stand trial moments after signing an agreement to plead guilty during a hearing Thursday.

Adrian Hall, 54, of Euclid, was indicted by an Ottawa County grand jury in October 2015 on two counts of breaking and entering, one count of safe-cracking and one count of theft, all of which are felony charges, and one additional count of misdemeanor theft.

According to reports of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, the Port Clinton Police Department and the Ottawa County Drug Task Force, Hall and an unidentified woman entered businesses in Port Clinton and Portage Township in early July 2015, stealing cash, checks and other valuable property, including a laptop and iPad.

Security cameras at several of the victimized businesses, including Salon 53 and Kokomo Bay, appear to show the woman and the man, whom authorities believe to be Hall, inside the establishments taking and bagging items.

Police said the same suspects broke into Karma Salon in Sandusky the next month and once again were caught on security camera.

It was not until around early October that Hall, who at the time was being held in the Cuyahoga County Detention Facility on unrelated theft charges, was identified by investigators as the male suspect in the Ottawa County incidents and was subsequently indicted by a grand jury. The woman remained unidentified.

After numerous delays due to his incarceration outside of the county, Hall was arraigned on the charges in January. A trial in the case was also delayed twice, once at the request of Hall and his defense attorney, Chris Marcinko, and again after reaching a potential plea agreement with the prosecution.

Hall had been scheduled for both a plea change and sentencing hearing Thursday in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court, and was transported there from the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield.

He was initially hesitant to enter a guilty plea after Marcinko reiterated to him that the agreement would not make any guarantees with regards to sentencing.

Hall told Judge Bruce Winters that he was under the impression his sentence for the charges out of Ottawa County would run concurrently with the current prison sentence he is serving in Cuyahoga County for theft.

Marcinko explained that he would request that the court impose the sentence concurrently, and that the prosecution agreed not to take a position on the matter, but that did not guarantee what the court would do, nor has he ever made such a guarantee in his 11-year career.

After taking more time to discuss the matter with his attorney, Hall eventually signed the plea agreement in open court and stated his intention to plead guilty.

However, as Judge Winters went over Hall's right to a fair trial, which is standard at all plea change hearings in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court, Hall paused to reconsider his decision.

Finally, when Hall was asked by Winters if he intended to waive his right to a trial, Hall paused again and responded: “I would prefer a trial, your honor.”

Winters then ordered the matter be set for trial at a date to be determined.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

419-680-4897

Twitter: @JonDBN