Thread: Prosecutors seeking death penalty for man in Northeast Ohio crime spree

PAINESVILLE, OHIO: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 36-year-old man suspected in a crime spree that included the fatal shooting of a woman in Northeast Ohio.


Juan Razo was indicted Thursday on charges that include aggravated murder, rape and kidnaping.


Authorities say he broke into 60-year-old Margaret Koselnik’s Concord Township home and fatally shot her. Court documents indicate that Razo raped the woman before she died.


Razo is also accused of trying to rape a 14-year-old girl and shooting a 40-year-old woman in a park on the same day. Authorities say he was eventually taken into custody after a shootout with sheriff’s deputies.


Razo’s attorney declined to comment on the indictment.


Razo is a Mexican citizen in the U.S. illegally.

Prosecutors seeking death penalty for man in Northeast Ohio crime spree - Break News - Ohio


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Undocumented immigrant charged in Lake County murder takes deal to avoid death penalty

By Evan MacDonald,
on March 04, 2016 at 4:43 PM, updated March 04, 2016 at 5:13 PM

PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- An undocumented Mexican immigrant accused in a string of crimes last summer that included the death of a 60-year-old woman agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible sentence.

Juan Razo, 36, will plead guilty to 16 charges related to a violent July 27 crime spree, Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said Friday.

The sides revealed the agreement during a pretrial hearing in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

Razo is accused of killing 60-year-old Margaret Kostelnik in her Ravenna Road home. Earlier that day, he attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl and then shot a woman who was with her children in a nearby park, police said.

He is scheduled to appear at a change-of-plea hearing March 14 and a sentencing hearing on April 27, Coulson said.

The two sides reached a deal that includes a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The sentence will also include an additional 107 years in prison beyond the life sentence, he said.

Coulson declined to offer his opinion on the agreement.

The agreement also included a stipulation for a psychiatric evaluation that shows a Spanish-speaking psychiatrist interviewed Razo and determined he is competent to plead guilty.

Razo is charged with three counts of kidnapping; two counts each of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, attempted murder, aggravated burglary, attempted rape and felonious assault; and one count of rape in the crime spree that shook a small Lake County community.

He is being held without bail at the Lake County Jail.

An indictment released Thursday by Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson charging Juan Razo with aggravated murder includes six death penalty specifications.

The crime spree began when a 14-year-old girl reported that Razo tried to rape her at Helen Wyman Park in Concord Township. Lake Metroparks rangers did not find Razo when they raided his house on Lusard Street in Painesville.

Lake County Sheriff's Deputies then received a report that Razo shot a woman in the arm on the bike path at the Metroparks Greenway Corridor. The shooting was less than a mile from Helen Wyman Park.

Kostelnik's husband reported a short time later that he found his wife shot to death in their house on Ravenna Road. The house sits directly behind the site of the other shooting.

Minutes later, a Concord Township resident reported that a man — later identified as Razo — was standing in his backyard with a rifle.

Three officers arrived and found Razo, who pointed a gun at them and appeared to fire a shot. The officers returned fire, missing Razo as he hid behind a boulder, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said at the time.

He eventually surrendered.

Razo's arrest sparked a debate about illegal immigration when it was revealed that Painesville police encountered Razo more than three weeks before the crime spree, but border control agents declined to detain him.

It led city and police officials to issue a statement denying the fact that Painesville -- home to one of Northeast Ohio's largest Hispanic communities -- is a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...t_charged.html