Tuesday, August 28, 2018
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A difference of two years could decide if Terrence Edmonds, accused by police of shooting his girlfriend earlier this summer, ever faces a murder charge.
Edmonds, 31, was set for a trial on the charge Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, but Judge R. Scott Krichbaum granted motions from both prosecutors and defense attorneys to continue the case. A new date will be set within the next 30 days.
Edmonds is accused of shooting his girlfriend, Denise Thurston, 32 in the head early July 21. Officers found her wounded while answering a gunshot sensor call in the 400 block of Hilton Avenue on the South Side.
Thurston has not recovered from her wound, but she has not died.
Prosecutors offered Edmonds a plea agreement in which he would serve 11 years in prison, but he would not face additional charges if Thurston dies from her wound in the future. Edmonds turned down that deal.
The state then offered Edmonds nine years in prison but a chance that a murder charge could be filed in the future should Thurston die. He turned that deal down as well.
Lawyers for Edmonds and his family discussed the options for several minutes in the judge’s courtroom before Edmonds gave his final answer.
Reports said Thurston was behind the wheel of a car with its engine still running when police found her. Edmonds admitted shooting her, reports said.
Edmonds faces charges of felonious assault, domestic violence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. If convicted and given the maximum sentence on each charge, plus an additional three years for using a firearm, he would receive a 21-year prison sentence.