The I-270 Sniper Case: Views from the Bench

Charles A. Schneider
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge

I was asked to write a short article about my role in the case captioned State of Ohio v. Charles McCoy or what the central Ohio community came to know as the “Highway Shooter” case. Mr. McCoy was charged in a multiple count indictment including, among other crimes, aggravated murder for which the State was asking for the death penalty. The case was assigned to me during my first week at the Court of Common Pleas. Although I had been practicing law for over twenty-five years and a judge for eight of those years, I had just transferred from the Municipal Court (traffic and misdemeanor cases) to the Court of Common Pleas (the land of rapes, robberies and murders). The local newspaper commented something to the effect that “the rookie draws the “Highway Shooter”.

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