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Brian Golsby talks to his defense attorney Diane Menashe during closing arguments of his trial for Reagan Tokes' rape and murder at the Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse on March 13, 2018.
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Golsby's attorney begs for his life

ADAM CAIRNS/COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Golsby's attorney begs for his life

 

COLUMBUS — The fate of Brian Lee Golsby — whether he spends the rest of his life in prison or is put to death at the hands of the state for the murder of Reagan Tokes — is now in the hands of a jury.

The jury deliberated about five hours on Tuesday before breaking for the night. It will resume Wednesday morning.

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Golsby sat quietly, leaning forward on his elbows at the defense table as his attorney begged the jury not to kill him. The Franklin County prosecutor countered that society is entitled to a verdict of death.

Toby Tokes, center, and his wife, Lisa McCrary-Tokes, stand next to a photo of their murdered daughter, Reagan.
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“Despite [his] problems, a 29-year-old man on Feb. 8 of last year made a choice, and the choice was an aggravated robbery, kidnapping ... and the rape,” Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said. “Individually, one of those aggravating circumstances is sufficient to support a death penalty.”

Golsby's attorney, Diane Menashe, urged the jury to recommend a sentence of life in prison without parole, giving up on the possibility that it might return a lesser sentence as low as 25 years to life.

“We just ask you not to kill him — life in prison without possibility of parole,” she said, arguing that Golsby wasn't born the man who chose to kidnap, rob, rape and murder Ms. Tokes a year ago.

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“There was no excuse for that. None,” she said, calling it an “incredibly, horribly, horrendous choice.”

She argued that his history of childhood abuse in a dysfunctional family that spanned generations, being raped himself by a stranger at the age of 12 or 13, mental health and addiction issues, and being let down repeatedly by juvenile, prison, and parole systems outweigh the factors supporting death.

“This person didn't ask for all of this to come his way,” she said

Ms. Tokes' parents, Toby and Lisa McCrary-Tokes, also listened as the state and defense made their final pitches to the jury.

Golsby last week was found guilty on all nine counts presented to the jury — a variety of aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and tampering with evidence charges.

Ms. Tokes was a 21-year-old former Monclova Township resident and Ohio State University senior three months shy of graduation when her path crossed with that of Golsby, now 30.

He had been released the prior November after completing a sentence for attempted rape. He was staying at a halfway house and was equipped with a GPS ankle monitor that was gathering data on his whereabouts but was not monitored in real time.

That data, however, later enabled police to place Golsby at or near Ms. Tokes at each of her known locations that night after she left work at the Bodega Cafe south of campus. The final location was where her nude body was discovered the next day on the snow-covered ground of Scioto Grove Metro Park in the Columbus suburb of Grove City.

His DNA was recovered from her body and her car, and her DNA was recovered from inside Golsby's gun, a weapon he had disposed of after shooting her twice in the head but later told police how to find.

Ms. Menashe said she told Golsby she was proud of him after he spoke personally to the jury on Friday, apologizing for the crime and to the Tokes family. The Tokes family was not present at the time. He then asked the jury to show him mercy.

“He is a human being,” she said. “He walks, he eats, he breathes. I ask you, I beg you. Do not kill him.”

Mr. O'Brien, however, challenged the sincerity of Golsby's apology, in which he admitted to fabricating a trigger man named TJ to, as Golsby admitted, “wiggle” out of a crime he committed.

“He's a bold-faced liar whenever it fits his purposes,” he said. “He has spent a lifetime of wiggling out of responsibility, ladies and gentleman.”

Contact Jim Provance at jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

First Published March 20, 2018, 4:36 p.m.

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Brian Golsby talks to his defense attorney Diane Menashe during closing arguments of his trial for Reagan Tokes' rape and murder at the Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse on March 13, 2018.  (ADAM CAIRNS/COLUMBUS DISPATCH)
Defense attorney Diane Menashe delivers closing arguments at Brian Golsby's trial for the rape and murder of Reagan Tokes.  (COLUMBUS DISPATCH/Adam Cairns)
ADAM CAIRNS/COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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