CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Chad Kuntz’s appeal against his conviction for the murder of Gloria Speakman in 2021 has been dismissed by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth District of Ohio due to jurisdictional issues. The trial court failed to formally dismiss two counts of involuntary manslaughter contained in Kuntz’s original indictment.
On April 14, 2021, Chillicothe police were called to the BP gas station on East Main Street for a single-vehicle accident. Speakman was found at the scene with a knife wound to the head. Speakman and Kuntz were involved in an altercation in the parking lot of America’s Best Value Inn on East Main Street, where Kuntz threw a knife through an open car window, striking Speakman.
Kuntz claimed that the state moved to dismiss the two counts of involuntary manslaughter contained in the first indictment, but the trial court failed to formally dismiss them. The Fourth District Appellate Court found that counts one and two contained in the May 7, 2021 indictment remained pending (involuntary manslaughter), and thus, the trial court’s judgment entry did not constitute a final appealable order.
The dismissal of Kuntz’s appeal means that his conviction and sentence remain in place, and the case will not be reviewed by the appeals court at this time.
