BUCYRUS—The first scheduled pretrial for accused murderer Thomas Brown was held Monday afternoon in the Crawford County Common Pleas Court. Brown appeared in court with his attorney James Mayer of Mansfield, free on bond.
According to prosecutors, Brown killed Sean Cassaro on January 22, 2023, after Cassaro found Brown and his girlfriend Rochelle Leonhardt at her home, and a fight ensued.
According to the Coroner’s report, the cause of death was strangulation, and the manner of death a homicide.
Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall recused himself from the case in July. Ohio Attorney General’s office special prosecutors are Michah Ault and Drew Wood.
Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold set down the pretrial dates and scheduled the trial.
The next pretrial is on October 18. Leuthold said he expects any evidentiary issues to be addressed by then.
The final pretrial is on December 13, 2023.
The trial, slated to last one week, will begin on February 26, 2024.
Leuthold told the court that Jury selection will take place on Monday. Because both the victim and defendant are well known in the community, Leuthold plans to summon 100 prospective jurors to serve instead of the usual 30-40.
Crawford County Now will continue to cover the entire proceedings.