Jury finds Austin Myers guilty of aggravated murder

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UPDATE @ 7:02 p.m.: A 19-year-old Clayton man could face the death penalty after being found guilty Wednesday of capital murder charges in Warren County.

A jury deliberated about five hours before returning a guilty verdict against Austin Myers. He was found guilty of aggravated murder in the Jan. 28 slaying of Justin Back, 18, at his home outside Waynesville.

Myers and Timothy Mosley, also 19 of Clayton, were charged with the same capital offenses in connection with Back's slaying during a burglary at the home and dumping his body in Preble County. Prosecutors dropped the death penalty specifications against Mosley in exchange for his testimony against Myers.

On Wednesday, prosecutors urged the jury to find Myers guilty of the capital offenses in his role in planning the crime, including his purchase of materials used in cleaning up after the slaying and disposing of Back's body, including septic chemicals.

"If the intention is to commit burglary, why do you need septic enzymes? They poured it on his body to try to decompose the body. Why do you buy something to decompose a body if all you're going to do is knock him unconscious?" Warrren County Prosecutor David Fornshell asked during his closing statement.

But Myers' lawyers urged the jury to hold Mosley, not Myers, responsible.

"Austin Myers didn't kill, Timothy Mosley killed," defense lawyer John Kaspar said.

Myers was convicted of all nine counts, including murder, burglary, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse.

On Monday, the jury is expected to begin hearing the next phase of the trial in which they decide whether Myers should be sentenced to death or life in prison.

Mosely still faces life in prison without parole.

UPDATE @ 6:37 p.m.: A Warren County jury has convicted Austin Myers of aggravated murder.

Myers showed no emotion tonight as the jury read guilty verdicts for all nine charges against him.

Myers and Timothy Mosley, also 19, of Clayton, are accused of strangling and stabbing Justin Back, 18, in January during a burglary at his home, east of Waynesville.

They are then accused of dumping Back's body in woods in Preble County after shooting it and dousing it with septic system enzymes designed to hasten decomposition. Back was about to enter the U.S. Navy.

UPDATE @ 6:30 p.m.: A Warren County jury has reached a verdict in the Austin Myers murder trial.

UPDATE @11:35 a.m. 10/1/2014: Closing arguments are taking place today.

Prosecutor John Arnold said Austin Myers "chose to kill" and had opportunities to stop. He said plans may have evolved, but the goal was to kill Justin Back.

Defense attorney John Kaspar said Myers didn't kill Justin, and that co-defendant Timothy Mosley choked and stabbed Back.

FIRST REPORT 9/29/2014

A Northmont High school teacher said she "freaked out a bit" after reading a letter to her from Austin Myers, the 19-year-old Clayton man facing the death penalty in a trial in Warren County.

Teacher Erin Snowden also told the jury Monday that she taught both Myers and his co-defendant Timothy Mosley at Northmont.

Snowden said she opened the letter before realizing it was from Myers, who has been in the Warren County Jail since late January, held in connection with the murder of Justin Back, 18, in his home outside Waynesville.

After reading the letter, Snowden said she turned it over to a school resource officer.

"I freaked out a bit about it," Snowden during testimony in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

Prosecutor David Fornshell said Myers sent Snowden the letter after Back was killed.

"It specifically discussed the charges against him. It specifically discusses the places he went," Fornshell said Monday after the jury was sent home.

Fornshell also said the letter contradicts statements Myers made to detectives.

Judge Donald Oda II ruled the letter would not be admitted as evidence during this phase of the trial.

Also Monday, prosecutors called employees from stores in the Dayton area where Myers and Mosley are alleged to have purchased items used in a Jan. 28 burglary during which Back was stabbed to death.

Back's body was found in Woods in Preble County.

Jury selection began Sept. 22 for the trial expected to last two weeks.