MOUNT VERNON — A Knox County grand jury returned a 10-county indictment Monday that included death-penalty specifications in last month’s assassination-style shooting of Danville Police Officer Thomas Cottrell.
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Half the charges in the indictment relate to the slaying of Cottrell, 34, whose body was found behind the village’s municipal building late Jan. 17, shortly after Jones’ ex-girlfriend warned police that Jones was armed and “looking to kill a cop.”
The death penalty case against Herschel R. Jones III, 32, would be the first in Knox County since 2006.
Jones is charged with aggravated murder, grand theft and tampering with evidence.
The death-penalty specifications accuse Jones of targeting a known police officer and committing the offense while he was on post-release control for a previous felony, said Knox County Prosecutor Mitch McConville.
“That is one crime that rises to the top,” said McConville.
Agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation released some new details about the case, including that Cottrell likely did not have a chance to react to the attack and was shot at twice.
Two bullets were recovered. One was found in the vehicle, the other was removed from Cottrell, said Eric T. Lehnhart, a BCI special agent. An autopsy revealed that Cottrell, a father of three teenagers, was shot in the head at close range.