OTTAWA — Putnam County Common Pleas Judge Keith Schierloh has ruled that Travis Soto, charged with aggravated murder in the 2006 death of his young son, is not a candidate for the death penalty if found guilty of the charges against him.
Schierloh issued his ruling last week after Soto’s defense team filed more than a dozen motions in early August. Soto is charged with murder, aggravated murder, kidnapping, felonious assault and tampering with evidence in the case, which was returned to the Putnam County court after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on appeal.
Attorneys for Soto last week also withdrew a pair of motions seeking to limit media coverage of the Napoleon man’s upcoming trial.
Defense attorneys William Kluge and Robert Grzybowsk on Aug. 3 filed several motions in Putnam County Common Pleas Court, including two that were challenged by The Lima News, with support from the Ohio Coalition for Open Government.
One motion was to prohibit the filming, photographing or videotaping of the defendant while in the courtroom, while the other sought to close pretrial hearings to the press and public alike. Both motions were withdrawn Thursday.
The next pretrial hearing in Soto’s case was set for 2 p.m. on Nov. 12. No date has yet been scheduled for a jury trial.
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