Ohio man convicted of fast-food restaurant slaying

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ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Authorities in eastern Ohio say a
man representing himself in his aggravated murder trial didn’t get the
testimony he wanted from two former girlfriends.
The Zanesville Times Recorder reports (http://ohne.ws/1h1Cyts ) that Timothy Daniel had
hoped for support for a story claiming
self-defense. But after his jury conviction Friday, he faces a potential
sentence of life in prison for the slaying last Oct. 31 of Charles
Hooper in a South Zanesville Burger King restaurant. Witnesses testified
that Hooper had tried to intervene when Daniel angrily confronted his
girlfriend of the time.
The newspaper reports that Daniel, 34, had
hoped to present a tale of Hooper, 61, as the woman’s "sugar daddy" and
claim he was acting in self-defense. But the woman said she had never
seen Hooper before Daniel hit him with a pistol and then fired into his
forehead.
Then another former girlfriend surprised him when she took the stand.
"I’m not going to sit up here and lie for you, Tim. I won’t," witness Heidi McGilton said.
"That kind of really changed my whole game plan," Daniel said in court later, according to the
newspaper.
Muskingum
County Prosecutor Mike Haddox said she had made a deal after her arrest
the night before on a drug-related charge. She said Daniel had been
calling her from jail and had written to her about his plan to change
the perception of Hooper from an innocent victim into a vindictive
"sugar daddy." Haddox said he agreed to drop the drug case after she
offered to expose Daniel’s plan.
"You think you’ve seen it all. But this could be a daggone movie," said Haddox, The Columbus
Dispatch reported.
Hooper
was a third-shift security guard for a state agency who usually stopped
at the Burger King on his way home from work. Six eyewitnesses
testified against Daniel.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
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