Hearings continue in Shawn Stevens murder

ELYRIA — Further hearings and legal arguments will be had over murder charges against a man accused of causing the death of a Carlisle Township woman more than 10 years after he shot, assaulted and paralyzed her. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office last year brought four aggravated murder charges and four murder charges against Matthew Plas, 42, in the 2019 death of Shawn Stevens, 55. Plas already is serving prison time for assaulting Stevens in 2008, crimes to which he pleaded guilty. The attack left Stevens paralyzed from the waist down and using a wheelchair until her death. The Lorain County Coroner's Office in 2020 ruled her death a homicide resulting from the injuries she had suffered more than a decade earlier. Murder charges, for which there is no statute of limitations, were filed four years later. Plas has pleaded not guilty. A hearing Monday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court ended with Prosecutor Tony Cillo and defense attorney Anthony Rich at odds over how to proceed. Judge Melissa Kobasher ordered both sides to make additional legal arguments ahead of another pretrial status hearing, which is scheduled for May 5. She said it was still up in the air whether either side was able to remain on the case. "This has become even more complicated," Kobasher told the parties at one point in the 30-minute hearing. Despite that, Kobasher appointed Rich to replace attorney Kenneth Lieux as Plas' attorney. It remains possible that Lieux could be called to testify as a witness in pretrial hearings, but he said Monday he could not both do that and represent Plas at the same time. Rich said he was considering seeking ethics advice on whether to mount a challenge to Cillo's office proceeding as the prosecution. The Ohio Supreme Court also could be asked to make a ruling on ethics or testimony ahead of trial, the parties said. Rich said he was not accusing the Prosecutor's Office of "doing anything wrong," just that he wanted to proceed "on solid ground." He said he has not yet received discovery, which is the obligation both sides in a criminal case have to provide their opponents with information. Cillo replied that Rich is not yet entitled to receive discovery. The murder charges were filed by then-Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson in February 2024. Lieux almost immediately filed motions to dismiss the murder charges on the grounds of double jeopardy — the legal standard that no one may be charged twice for the same crime — and for violations of Plas' due process rights including the right to a speedy trial. Assistant Prosecutor Pete Gauthier testified last year in court that his office never promised not to pursue additional charges against Plas when it agreed to a plea deal in 2008.Kobasher has yet to rule on any of those motions, with legal wrangling continuing. Plas remains in custody, serving his 33-year sentence for the initial attack. The case became a political hot button during the 2024 prosecutor's campaign, with Tomlinson, a Democrat, squaring off about it with Cillo, a Republican challenger. After more than 25 years there, Cillo left the Prosecutor's Office in mid-2022 to prosecute cases for the Ohio Attorney General's Office. Thirteen months later, he returned to Lorain County and went to work for the Lorain County Drug Task Force before running to replace his former boss as elected prosecutor. During the campaign, Tomlinson blamed Cillo for not pursuing murder charges against Plas when Cillo worked for former Prosecutor Dennis Will. Cillo, meanwhile, said Tomlinson's office had all the information it needed to bring a death penalty case against Plas but failed to do so for three years after Tomlinson took office. He pointed to an April 2022 memo he left in Prosecutor's Office files, a memo he provided to the court on Monday. Cillo defeated Tomlinson in November and has taken over the case. Background Plas attacked Stevens on May 6, 2008, as she hiked and looked for mushrooms in the Carlisle Reservation. Unprovoked, Plas shot the 43-year-old mother in the back, hit her with a tree branch, sexually assaulted her and tried to rob her. Thinking she was dead, he put her in the trunk of his car.Still alive but grievously wounded, Stevens was able to yell out for help and nearby good Samaritans called police. Plas sped off in the car and led officers on a chase. He dumped Stevens behind a closed business on Oberlin-Elyria Road where more good Samaritans found her and got her medical attention. Lorain County Metro Parks rangers quickly arrested Plas, who claimed he was too drunk to remember what happened. Only months later, Plas pleaded guilty to attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, attempted rape, gross sexual imposition, tampering with evidence and weapons charges in Common Pleas Court. Judge Edward Zaleski sentenced Plas to 33 years in prison and labeled him a Tier III sex offender, the most-serious classification available. In a 2009 interview, Stevens told The Chronicle-Telegram that the prison sentence wasn't enough for what Plas had done. Her husband Mark Stevens, who died in July 2020 just seven months after his wife, said the same in a 2019 interview. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com