New trial date in Joseph Ward murder case is March 24

ELYRIA — A murder trial scheduled to begin Monday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in the case of an Elyria man who allegedly beat his grandfather to death last year has been continued to March. Judge Christopher Rothgery "very reluctantly" granted a continuance requested by defense attorney Chris McNeal to continue the trial of Joseph Ward, 21, in the murder of Malcolm Watters on Feb. 21, 2024. He did so over the objection of the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. The new trial date is March 24. McNeal said he was only hired just over three weeks ago to defend Ward, he still has a "voluminous" amount of evidence to go through and it was the first time Ward had asked for a continuance in the case. McNeal is the third attorney to represent Ward since his indictment in March 2024. Assistant Prosecutor Matt Kern objected to the continuance. He said McNeal took the case knowing that a trial date had been set since mid-June 2024, told Rothgery this was "Mr. Ward playing games" to delay his own trial and said McNeal hadn't viewed some of the evidence provided to him by prosecutors until Thursday after first accessing it on Dec. 18. McNeal denied he was trying to delay the proceedings. "I don't know what the state's purpose of disclosing that was," he told Rothgery in response to what Kern said. Ward is charged with two counts of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, three counts of kidnapping, three counts of felonious assault, and one count each of having weapons under disability, tampering with evidence and violating a protection order, in the death of 72-year-old Malcolm Watters, and the assault of his grandmother, Pamela Watters, on Feb. 21. Multiple charges of murder can be filed even if there is only a single victim. Such separate charges may allege a killing happened through different courses of conduct. Ward initially refused to be brought over to the county Justice Center from the Lorain County Jail on Monday morning, but apparently changed his mind and agreed to attend the brief hearing. He appeared in court in a jail uniform, disposable surgical mask and wearing a kufi cap like those often worn by Muslim men. Ward was being held in the county jail on $6.5 million bond. He was found competent to stand trial in May. McNeal on Monday said he was planning to seek another opinion from a psychologist about his client's competence. Rothgery ordered that a second competency evaluation be done within 30 days. He also asked the attorneys to set a new pretrial date one to three weeks ahead of the trial. Authorities said Ward threatened his grandparents and a home health care nurse working for the family with a handgun before assaulting them at the Augdon Drive home they shared on Feb. 21. Ward then allegedly took Malcolm Watters into the back garden, hit him eight times with a shovel and killed him. Prosecutors said part of the attack was captured on a video security system. Police arrested Ward at a nearby apartment several hours later. Ward is facing felony charges of burglary, having weapons under disability and receiving stolen property filed in two other cases in 2023 and 2024, both prior to Malcolm Watters' killing. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.