Oklahoma native Andrew Griffin is scheduled to appear in front of Belmont County Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Berhalter this afternoon for a pre-trial at 2:30 p.m.
Motions are expected to be filed by Griffin’s defense attorneys and by Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan, but the nature of those filings is not known at this time. In early May, Judge Berhalter set July 15th as the start date for the trial involving the double murders of Tom and Angela Strussion on Sept. 21, 2021.
Griffin is charged with 12 counts of aggravated murder as well as aggravated burglary and aggravated arson. In the early morning of September 21st, a 911 call was placed by a neighbor after they witnessed smoke coming from a window of the Strussion home on Trails End Drive in Belmont, Ohio.
Once first responders entered the dwelling, the deceased were discovered, and former sheriff Dave Lucas announced the next day that a double homicide had taken place.
After more than three years of investigation, the Spring term of the Belmont County Grand Jury returned the 14-count indictment in early February, and the 32-year-old Griffin was arrested in Hilo, Hawaii on February 16th by Chief Det. Ryan Allar and Det.-Sergeant Jordan Blumling.
The defendant was extradited and returned to Belmont County on March 14, and he’s been lodged in the county jail ever since.
Dalton Ray, an Oklahoma man who was convicted in early June for obstruction of justice for lying to Belmont County investigators about his knowledge of the double homicide, was sentenced to 30 months. It is unknown at this time whether or not he will cooperated with prosecutors during Griffin’s trial.
