Judges reject Arnoff appeal in 2019 murder-for-hire case

AKRON — An appeals court has rejected the appeal of a Solon man convicted of hiring two other men to assault a fourth man who was shot and killed in Elyria two years ago. Bruce Arnoff was convicted in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in December 2018 of hiring John Sullivan and Patrick Gall to assault 46-year-old Willie Fisher. Fisher was then shot and killed behind the Convenient Food Mart on East Avenue in Elyria in January 2019. Arnoff filed a motion with the Ninth District Court of Appeals in Akron for a writ of certiorari, asking the court to review the Common Pleas Court's decision. A "writ of certiorari" is a way to get a higher court to reconsider a lower court's decision. Arnoff filed his seeking to "correct the Manifest Injustice and Abuse of Discretion imposed by the Lorain County Courts" in his case, according to appeals court documents. However, appeals Judges Lynne Callahan, Jennifer Hensal and Thomas Teodosio rejected Arnoff's request in a decision issued Monday, saying they lacked jurisdiction to consider his request. "The Ohio Constitution has not granted jurisdiction to the Ohio courts of appeals to consider Writs of Certiorari," Callahan wrote. "Mr. Arnoff did not comply with any requirements to invoke this Court's appellate jurisdiction and, therefore, this Court cannot consider his arguments related to the validity of his guilty plea." Following an Elyria police investigation, Arnoff pleaded guilty to charges including complicity to aggravated murder, complicity to murder, complicity to felonious assault and tampering with evidence in December 2018, and Lorain County Common Pleas Judge John Miraldi sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 33 years. Arnoff then tried to withdraw his guilty plea, which was not successful, and has since filed multiple pro se appeals, all of which have so far been denied. Now 59, Arnoff's earliest parole hearing will be in May 2051, when he will be 89 years old, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Gall will be eligible for parole after serving 28 years following his conviction on aggravated murder and tampering with evidence charges. Sullivan is serving a term of life in prison with parole eligibility after 39 years following his conviction on charges of aggravated murder, tampering with evidence and having weapons under disability, according to the ODRC's website.