News 5 is asking questions after Lorain County court documents showed a violent repeat abuser, who is now accused of murdering his girlfriend in North Ridgeville, was legally allowed to obtain deadly weapons.
Randy Hamilton, 50, is charged with murder after police said he called 911 on Monday night to say he just shot his girlfriend, Michelle Ryals, 45.
Hamilton is being kept on a $1 million bond in the Lorain County Jail.
Court records showed a history of abuse, including a 2010 domestic violence case involving Hamilton’s ex-wife. She filed for a temporary protection order against him, claiming he pushed her, causing her to fall backward. She sustained injuries to her head, which required eight staples, records showed.
Judges in Ohio have discretion as to whether to allow the subjects of protection orders to continue using deadly weapons, like guns, but in the 2010 case, Elyria Municipal Court Judge Gary Bennett chose to grant Hamilton continued access to such weapons.
"There was no allegation of weapons. If there hadn't been a crime of violence or something, or if I asked if he owned any guns and he responded no he doesn’t have any guns, I might not have checked that,” Judge Bennett said Thursday.
That order has long been expired, and Ryals never sought a protection order of her own, Judge Bennett said. The judge also added that since the 2010 case, temporary protection forms in Ohio have changed, so that the box forbidding access to deadly weapons is now automatically checked.
But he noted a piece of paper can only do so much.
"The person that the order’s in favor of has to be vigilant,” Judge Bennett said.
