BY KRISTEN DELGUZZI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The fifth floor of the Hamilton County Courthouse will be crowded this week.
In Judge Robert Ruehlman's courtroom, Rayshawn Johnson will be tried on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary in the death of Shanon Marks. Around the corner, in Judge Ann Marie Tracey's court, Linda Khriss will be tried for aggravated murder for allegedly hiring a hit man to kill her husband.
In both cases, the defendants could be sentenced to death.
Mrs. Khriss, 37, allegedly plotted the deaths of her husband, Maher Khrais, 35, and his brother, Khreis Ziad, 49, who were shot Nov. 22.
Police say that before they had even been shot, Mrs. Khriss was trying to defer blame.
Around 11 p.m. on Nov. 21 -- two hours before her husband was gunned down -- she struck up a conversation with a Cincinnati police officer who had stopped in her store for a soda.
"She stated that her husband had gotten into an argument with an employee at another store," Officer Adrian Gibson said last month in court. "He found out one of the employees was a felon, so he fired him, and (the employee) had threatened to get him."
Days later, prosecutors say, Mrs. Khriss admitted her involvement in the crime. Her tape-recorded statement will be played for jurors.
