An Ohio murder suspect says he did in fact kill the people he’s charged with slaying. Brian Lee, 39, acknowledged he caused the deaths of Linda Vannatta, 57, and Brandon Petty, 38, but he claimed it was in self-defense.
“It’s not like I intended to go there and hurt anybody,” he told local CBS-affiliate WBNS in a jailhouse interview out of Delaware County. “I just wanted my truck and when they seen I was pissed off maybe out of fear they acted and I acted. I wasn’t trying to die. I just wanted my truck, and after that situation I didn’t want to take nobody’s life but I’m damn sure I’m not going to let someone like that take my life either.”
Lee said he wants to die for he did, adding that he was upset because he found out “there is no death penalty.”
“That’s why I confessed,” he told the reporter. “I just wanted to go home.”
Executions are on hold in Ohio after Gov. Mike DeWine (R) nixed lethal injections as apparently “impossible from a practical point of view.”
Lee told the outlet he swallowed a handful of meth in an attempt to die by suicide.
Lee killed both Vannatta and Petty and injured two others, said the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, which did not immediately return a Law&Crime request for comment about the defendant’s comments. He fatally shot the victims Monday at around 4:25 a.m., deputies have said. There were at least two separate shootings.
William Kuhn said Lee pulled a gun in an incident early on Monday, according to the outlet. Lee went there to meet with a friend who worked in Kuhn’s pool company, but the suspect got mad, took out the weapon, and hit the man, according to this story. Lee allegedly fired four times at the scene and fled.
Leeann N. Kinder, 27, was arrested for two counts of complicity to murder. Lee was taken into custody in the city of Columbus and sent to the Delaware County Jail. He was booked there on two counts of failure to comply with an order or signal of police officer. He is scheduled for an arraignment on June 3.
It is unclear if he or Kinder has an attorney in this case.
[Screengrab via WBNS]
