Guilty on all counts. Twenty years to life.

Terry Allen Jewell, 54, has been found guilty of murder in the February 2022 shooting death of his friend and roommate Rodney Queen, of West Portsmouth. He has been sentenced to 20 years to life in custody of the Ohio Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.

The sentencing breakdown is: 15 years to life for murder, three years on a gun specification, and two years for having a weapon under disability for a total of 20 years to life. If he gains release at the 20-year minimum sentence, Jewell will be 74 years old when he leaves prison.

Queen’s family, including his daughter and two sisters, were in the gallery watching the trial. His daughter both testified on the stand and read a victim impact statement written by herself and members of the family.

“Today is about showing the world, or at least Scioto Couty, that my dad’s life mattered,” said Queen’s daughter Brandy Markova.

Jewell chose not to testify on his own behalf, but the court heard from him just prior to sentencing by Scioto County Common Pleas Judge Mark Kuhn. He maintains he doesn’t know what happened the night of Feb. 27, 2022.

“There hasn’t been a night that went by the last year and a half I haven’t picked my brain to figure out what happened,” Jewell told the court. “It wasn’t an easy decision to go to trial because I had a chance to take a plea bargain not because I was trying to escape justice. It was because I wasn’t sure what happened.

“I was trying to find out the truth.”

The victim’s sisters were also in the courtroom when the verdict was returned and the sentencing handed down.

“I thank God above that justice was served today,” said Marlena Queen. “My brother’s life was a gift and he will live on,” said Marlena Queen.

Queen’s organs were donated. So, he does, in fact, live on.

“We are glad to have this trial completed,” Evans said. “Glad that justice will be done and we continue to wish the family of Mr. Queen the best during this difficult time.”

The jury took about two hours to return the verdict. Jewell was found guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, and two counts of having a weapon under disability. The first four charges each include gun specifications. A .38 Smith & Wesson snubnose revolver was identified as the weapon used in the incident which killed Queen and Jewell has a prior history of two drug trafficking convictions in Adams County.

Some of the charges were merged in the sentencing process.

According to Queen’s family, Jewell was living with Queen at the Straight Fork Road farm with the understanding he would help around the farm in exchange for room and board.

Evans began the third day of the trial with a closing statement aimed at putting the gun in Jewell’s hand and refuting the defense’s suggestion Queen shot himself, possibly as a result of Russian roulette.

Evans cited the testimony of Montgomery County Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. Sean Adam Swiatkowski, who performed Queen’s autopsy. Swiatkowski testified the evidence he recovered during autopsy did not follow his experiences with Russian roulette in the cases he has seen as a coroner.

Evans also pointed to testimony by multiple members of law enforcement and the dispatcher who took the original call who testified Jewell had said he had shot his friend. Though Jewell denied saying that at any time and his attorney said his client had been impaired at the time, Evans said the testimony of multiple witnesses should not so easily be set aside.

“He more than once puts the gun in his own hand,” Evans said. “I’m going to give the true final word to the defendant: ‘I shot the m——- f——-.’ Terry Jewell, February 27, 2022.”

Defense attorney Gene Meadows’ closing was geared at pointing to lack of exhibits or evidence he said would have made it easier for the jury to support the state’s cause.

Evans’ rebuttal was aimed at reminding the jurors of the difference between “beyond a reasonable doubt” and “beyond imaginary doubt.”

“Justice has been served,” said Tammy Perry, another of Rodney Queen’s sisters. “We are grateful and now we can breathe.”