Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan confirmed today that Andrew Isaac Griffin is contesting extradition following his arrest last week in a joint operation with Detectives from Belmont County Sheriff’s Office and the Hawaii Police Department in Hilo, Hawaii.
Currently, Griffin remains incarcerated in Hawaii, but he has been charged with 14 counts connected to a double homicide that took place in Belmont, Ohio, on September 21, 2021. Angela and Thomas Strussion were found deceased that morning after firefighters responded to a 9-1-1 call that reported smoke coming from their home.
After an investigation that extended more than three years, Griffin was arrested while staying a family member in Hilo, Hawaii.
“There was an extradition hearing in Hawaii and the prosecutor there is working to ensure that we will be able to retrieve Mr. Griffin and bring him back to Ohio in order to face these charges,” Flanagan said. “We do believe that there is another hearing on (March) 24th, but it does look like the prosecutor from Hawaii, through her efforts, is paving the way for us to be able to retrieve him.
“Right now, we do not have a definitive time yet, but we think that that is definitely moving forward,” he explained. “It is our understanding that, yes, he is contesting extradition. We have seen this before both with the people that we are extraditing out of Belmont County, meaning that they were arrested here with an arrest warrant from somewhere else. In this case, the process just needs to take place so we can move forward once Mr. Griffin is here in Belmont County.”
Flangan said there is not a timeline in place for when the suspect in the double homicide will be transported to Belmont County.
“We are waiting awaiting word from Hawaii,” he said. “We have him charged and we’re working toward extradition. Once he is transported back to Belmont County, he’ll be lodged in the Belmont County Jail. After, the process begins.
“As soon as Mr. Griffin is here, the Court of Common Pleas will schedule immediately an arraignment hearing. That arraignment hearing will be where pleas of guilty or not guilty will be entered, and presumably in nearly 100 percent of the time, it is always going to be not guilty. At that time, the court will schedule future court proceedings. Now, in a case like this, given the length of the investigation, we anticipate that we will have a number of court proceedings prior to any trial. We anticipate that that will be, that this case would be no different.”
Flanagan does not know at this time if Griffin will hire counsel or depend on a public defender, but no matter the decision, the prosecutor believes the defense will need to digest all of the information surrounding the indictments.
“Especially in a case that has involved a very lengthy investigation, the defense attorneys will need time to go through all of the evidence and determine what are the appropriate motions that need to be filed,” he said. “I do believe we have had over 100 search warrants and subpoenas in a multitude of areas as it relates to this case, so, the attorney will need to do their due diligence in order to adequately defend this case.
“Nobody wants to be in a position where they have rushed something merely for the sake of getting it done quickly, Flanagan said. “That’s why, right now, it’s difficult to say how long from now the actual trial will take place.”
Flanagan also confirmed he and his trial team will be prosecuting the case against Griffin.
“Our trial team has been working with law enforcement on this case since these tragedies took place because it is always necessary to review things like search warrants or subpoenas, stuff like that,” he explained. “So, we’ve had a trial team in place doing that, and, especially the last year, we have met – oh gosh – more times than I can count.
“We wanted to be on the same page with our investigators,” he said. “So, yes, we do already now have a trial team in place, which would be me and two other trial attorneys out of this office.”
