An Ohio prison shooting instructor made his first appearance in Pickaway County court Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a prison lieutenant during a training session in April.
David Pearson, 44, of West Chester Township in Butler County, entered a not guilty plea through his attorney during his brief arraignment on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court. A Pickaway County grand jury indicted Pearson, a special operations commander, last month in the April 9 death of 43-year-old Lt. Rodney Osborne of Sciotodale.
Judge P. Randall Knece read the charges and released Pearson on bail. If convicted, Pearson faces up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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Knece set Pearson’s next court date, a pretrial hearing, for September 13.
Osborne’s wife Bobbie had previously told The Dispatch that she was outraged by the grand jury’s decision not to indict Pearson on a serious crime.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated the shooting as a vehicular manslaughter, according to records previously reported by The Dispatch. Vehicular manslaughter, a third-degree felony, is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Pearson and his attorney, Kevin Lennen, declined to speak to reporters after the hearing.
Osborne suffered a gunshot wound to the upper chest in April while undergoing training at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, according to autopsy photos obtained by The Dispatch.
Colleagues performed CPR on Osborne and, instead of waiting for an ambulance, they took him in the back of a pickup truck to Mount Carmel Grove City Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction placed Pearson on administrative leave immediately after the shooting.
