ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Andrew Issac Griffin was back in court on Wednesday afternoon.

Griffin was arrested in February for the double homicide of Angela and Thomas Strussion. He was Thomas Strussion’s former business partner in the Elm Grove location of the Salsa Joe’s restaurant, which opened in May 2021, just five months before the Strussions’ deaths. Strussion also owned and operated a Salsa Joe’s location along National Road east of Morristown, not far from the home on Trails End Drive where their bodies and their pets’ bodies were found.

On Wednesday, Griffin was represented by Ohio Public Defender Kirk McVay and Belmont County Public Defender Aaron Miller and was in front of Belmont County Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Berhalter.

Griffin is charged with 12 counts of aggravated murder, one count of aggravated arson, and one count of aggravated burglary.

According to Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan, six of the 12 aggravated murder charges are for the murder of Thomas Strussion, while the other six are for the murder of Angela Strussion.

“Now, at this point, we’ve already completed your arraignment, and at that arraignment, I read to you the entire indictment,” Berhalter said. “I also provided to you the possible penalties if you were convicted of each of those charges. You were advised of all your criminal rights, and acknowledged the indictment and entered pleas of not guilty. Additionally, prior to your arraignment, the state of Ohio made an overall motion to amend that indictment due to a clerical error. Now your attorneys did not object to that, and I granted that request.

“Now I want to make sure that you understand all of your rights, as well as how this case will proceed forward,” he continued. “Now you understand, you understand, as you sit there today, you are presumed innocent. You have no burden at all in this case, the burden is entirely on the state of Ohio, and to convict you, they have to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that you’ve committed these crimes.”

He added that the state will provide witnesses who will testify, and will provide additional evidence, and that Griffin’s attorneys will have the ability to cross examine any witness the state introduces. Berhalter also informed Griffin that he has a right of confrontation as well as the ability to subpoena witnesses on his behalf.

“In this case, you have a right to a jury trial. That is a trial in front of 12 jurors, they would hear and decide all the evidence. In this case, all 12 jurors must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of your guilt in order for you to be convicted. In this case, if the jury finds you guilty of the crime and the specification, they can recommend the imposition of the death penalty,” Berhalter told Griffin. “They can also recommend one of the life sentence options you have as an alternative, though, in this case, to a jury trial, you have the right to waive that jury trial and have the case tried in front of a three judge panel. That three judge panel would include myself and two other judges chosen at random, and the three of us will decide the evidence, and if necessary, determine your sentence.”

He then informed Griffin that his trial will be divided into two parts — a trial phase and a sentencing phase. At the trial phase, the jury or the three-judge panel will determine whether the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt to each count in the indictment and whether the aggravated circumstances in one or more of the specifications has been proved also beyond a reasonable doubt.

He added that If Griffin is found not guilty, he will be discharged but if found guilty of the principal offense, but not guilty of any specification, he will sentence Griffin to either life imprisonment without parole, life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after serving 25 years in prison, or life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after serving 30 years of imprisonment.

He added that he is not permitted to oppose the death penalty without the unanimous recommendation from the jury.

“All jurors must agree before they can recommend the death penalty. If the jury is deadlocked, they cannot reach a verdict, then the life sentences will be imposed. If the case is tried to a three-judge panel, a single judge can prevent the death penalty, just like a juror can,” Berhalter said. “A verdict resulting in a death penalty is automatically appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. They will engage the same process as the jury and the judges to determine if the death penalty is appropriate.”

During his hearing last month, Griffin’s representatives filed several motions — a motion for a demand of discovery, the demand for DNA discovery, to preserve all evidence, for Griffin to appear in civilian clothes during his trial, and to restrain the agents of the state of Ohio.

On Wednesday, Berhalter asked Flanagan if he had fulfilled McVay’s demand of discovery, demand for DNA discovery, and to preserve all evidence.

Flanagan said that there is still some discovery and DNA discovery that has not been sent to McVay but it will be by the end of next week.

Flanagan cites the exuberant amount of discovery his office has sent over, but said that due to officers still conducting interviews with potential witnesses, more evidence continues to be provided to his office.

Berhalter asked McVay if he was satisfied with Flanagan’s response, to which he replied yes.

Berhalter then asked Flanagan if he had an issue with Griffin wearing stress clothes instead of his jail attire, which he did not.

Berhalter then asked McVay if he was satisfied with Flanagan’s statement that his office is preserving all evidence, and McVay said that he would like Flanagan to ensure that all bodycam footage, GPS location data, and logs from law enforcement officers who were on the scene are preserved as well.

Berhalter asked Flanagan if he had a response to McVay, which he said he did not.

Berhalter then set a second pre-trial hearing for May 7 at 1:30 pm.