BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- Franklin Saunders could face the death penalty if convicted of the June 9 murder and kidnapping of his ex-girlfriend.
A Butler County grand jury Wednesday indicted Mr. Saunders on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and having a weapon while under disability.
The prosecution will seek the death penalty for Mr. Saunders, said John M. Holcomb, assistant prosecuting attorney.
The aggravated murder charge carries a death penalty specification. The death penalty can be handed down for an aggravated murder committed in the course of a kidnapping, Mr. Holcomb said.
"The evidence is that he abducted the victim and took her into the woods and committed the murder," he said.
Mounting charges
June 9, the body of 38-year-old Lisa Weber of Fairfield was found in a wooded area near Muhlhauser Road in Butler County's Union Township. She had been shot to death.
Hours earlier, Mr. Saunders had dragged Ms. Weber into his car after pulling a shotgun from his car trunk, police and members of Ms. Weber's family have said.
The next day, Mr. Saunders surrendered to police, who had conducted a manhunt in an effort to find him.
He is being held in the Butler County Jail on $500,000 bond. He will enter a plea at an arraignment Friday before Butler County Common Pleas Judge John Moser.
Mr. Saunders was charged with having a weapon while under a disability because a 1986 kidnapping conviction barred him from possessing any firearms, Mr. Holcomb said.
That case involved the kidnapping of his ex-wife in Adams County, Mr. Holcomb said. After serving three years in prison, he was released in 1990, he said.
Originally, Mr. Saunders was to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon in Butler County Area II Court. At this hearing, a judge would have determined whether to send the case to the grand jury.
But prosecutors decided to cancel the hearing and take the case directly to the grand jury.
With the grand jury in session this week, the prosecution wanted to speed up proceedings and obtain an indictment now instead of waiting for the next grand jury session to start, Mr. Holcomb said. Tuesday, the family of Ms. Weber filed a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit against Mr. Saunders in Butler County Common Pleas Court.
