PUTNAM COUNTY, OH (Toledo News Now) - A major development in court Tuesday, as a Putnam County teen accused of killing two brothers admits to the crime.
Michael Fay, 18, was accused of shooting and killing Blake Romes, 17, and Blaine Romes, 14, back in May following an Amber Alert. In Putnam County Common Pleas Court Tuesday, Fay changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on two counts of aggravated murder.
Four other counts Fay was originally charged with will be dropped, including two counts of abusing a corpse, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of grand theft auto.
Once sentenced, the prosecutor will recommend Fay receive consecutive sentences of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
If Fay had not entered the guilty plea Tuesday, the case would have gone to trial in November.
"You cannot believe how glad I'm sure they are, that they don't have to go through all that," said Ottawa resident Theresa Kleman. "I am happy for the family so they get some closure finally."
According to Fay's attorney, they wanted to avoid a trial because there were outside factors that contributed to the murders.
"It may be incongruous to say this, but I can tell you that Mike Fay is really a nice, young man. He's got a lot of personal demons, and those are not enough to get us through an insanity plea, but they are a big factor in what happened here," explained Attorney Bill Kluge. "I know he feels great remorse for what happened. We talked about it. It's difficult for him to even talk about it without breaking down."
Fay is due back in court for his sentencing Nov. 18.
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