PORTSMOUTH- A local man who appealed his aggravated murder conviction to the Supreme Court of Ohio and whose retrial ended in a hung jury has pleaded to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. He is expected to be released soon.

Nathan Stiltner, of Portsmouth, was originally convicted by a jury of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, and a firearm specification in the August 2018 shooting death of 37-year-old Douglas Thackston. The shooting occurred at the Kendall Heights apartment complex.

“They were friends,” said Stiltner’s attorney Richard Nash. “They knew each other from years ago.”

Stiltner was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and appealed the conviction. The retrial was granted based on Stiltner’s claim he had acted in self-defense and changes to state law regarding self-defense claims. His first trial was in May 2019. His retrial ended Feb. 23 with a hung jury.

“That was our second time taking this case to trial,” Nash said. “He was offered a plea to involuntary manslaughter. The agreed sentence was eight years and he would be given credit on the five years he had already served.”

Nash said he didn’t yet know exactly when his client would be released, but it would be soon and he would be released on probation. He has already served more than five years in prison from the original conviction. Stiltner could have served the rest of life in prison. He is currently incarcerated at the Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell.

Stiltner’s first parole hearing prior to the appeal was not scheduled to take place until 2046. Upon this writing, it’s still listed as such on Ohio’s Offender Search database.

Stiltner won his appeal after the self-defense law changed at the state level, according to Scioto County Prosecutor Shane Tieman. The Ohio General Assembly’s change to the law happened after the incident that led to charges but before the trial occured. The new law shifts the burden of proof in a claim of self defense to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the reason for an act was not self-defense.

“Although it did not appear to be a retroactive application of the law, the Ohio Supreme Court decided otherwise and reversed our conviction, thus requiring a new trial,” Tieman said. “In the first trial we had applied the law that was in effect at the time of the incident, where the defendant had the affirmative duty to prove that he was acting in self-defense by a preponderance of the evidence.”

As for the retrial, Tieman says the members of the jury did their job. It still ended in a hung jury, however. That would mean yet another trial, a third in the case, if a plea agreement couldn’t be reached.

It was.

“After discussing the matter with the family of the victim, and considering how far apart the jurors were, after conscientiously attempting to resolve the matter, the state entered a plea negotiation with Mr. Stiltner through his attorney Rick Nash,” Tieman said. “Mr. Stiltner entered a plea to manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years. He will be judicially released to keep the remaining years over his head and placed on community control probation and residential treatment.”

Still, nothing can bring back Douglas Thackston.

Asked if he had any last words on the case, Nash said: “Anytime there’s a loss of life, that’s always a tragedy under any circumstance.”

Reach Lori McNelly at [email protected] or at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1928. © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved