COLUMBUS — A jury on Friday will begin to consider the fate of Brian Lee Golsby — whether he should die on Ohio’s lethal injection gurney or spend the rest of his life behind bars — for the violent murder of Reagan Tokes.
Golsby, 30, was convicted Tuesday on all nine counts in the slaying of the Ohio State University senior and former Monclova Township resident on Feb. 8, 2017. Those include multiple aggravated murder counts with specifications attached that could carry the death penalty.
The Franklin County jury will hear testimony from both sides on Friday and Monday and is expected to go behind closed doors Tuesday to weigh factors favoring and opposing the recommendation of a death sentence. The final decision belongs to Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott, who is not obligated to follow the jury’s recommendations but cannot impose a death sentence absent a recommendation for one.
County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said he never entertained the idea of a plea bargain but declined to say whether the defense sought one in hopes of avoiding the death penalty.
In some respects, the defense team of Kort Gatterdam and Diane Menashe seemed to look ahead to the penalty phase as they conceded before the jury during trial that Golsby shot Ms. Tokes twice in the head.
They also conceded that Golsby lied when he claimed that a third person named TJ had been with Golsby and Ms. Tokes that night. That story had TJ forcing Golsby to rape her and had TJ pulling the trigger.
Golsby’s lawyers never presented evidence to suggest TJ existed.
“Both Mr. Gatterdam and Miss Menashe are good lawyers and handle these cases regularly,” Mr. O’Brien said after Tuesday’s verdicts. “People that handle these cases have to, in a second phase, maintain credibility with the jury.”
The defense dropped hints during the trial as to what the penalty phase may look like. A psychologist will testify about Golsby’s mental state. The defense also elicited testimony during the trial about Golsby’s troubled childhood, suggesting he’d been largely abandoned by his parents and ended up in foster care.
His lawyers urged jurors to pay particular attention to the trial testimony of a supervisor with the Ohio Parole Authority. It suggested the system’s failure to promptly respond to repeat violations of restrictions placed on Golsby after his release from prison after serving time for attempted rape may bear some responsibility in the final outcome.
They questioned their client’s intelligence, noting that these crimes occurred while he knew he was being monitored by a GPS ankle device. He gave up the murder weapon, shell casings, Ms. Tokes’ cell phone, and a partial confession to police in exchange for a cigarette.
“If you want to believe that he’s a master manipulator, I would submit this to you: He would have bargained for a whole lot more than a cigarette for giving the state of Ohio a murder weapon,” Ms. Menashe told the jury. “Cause if you think he’s a good negotiator, I would suggest to you that that’s not very good negotiation.”
She also noted Golsby put gasoline on one seat of Ms. Tokes’ car and apparently attempted to light it with a cigarette. But then he later drove the car around and gave rides to others while the car reeked of gasoline and was on TV news.
“This is not forward thinking,” Ms. Menashe said. “This is not an individual that’s capable of planning and developing a scheme.”
Ms. Tokes had just left work at Bodega Café south of Columbus that night when she encountered Golsby, according to GPS tracking data. She was kidnapped, forced to withdraw $60 from an automated teller, raped, and then shot at a park south of Columbus where her body was found the next day.
“The victim in this case, Ms. Tokes, is everybody’s sister, everybody’s female relative. … It’s every woman’s worst nightmare,” Mr. O’Brien said, echoing the closing argument of Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Rausch.
Contact Jim Provance at jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.
First Published March 15, 2018, 11:00 a.m.