15 November 2019 :

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy J. McCormick has imposed the death penalty on Matthew Nicholson. The juge handed down the sentence after a jury last month recommended that Nicholson be executed for the Sept. 5, 2018 slayings of Giselle Lopez, 19, and Manuel Lopez, 17. Nicholson attacked his girlfriend that night after finding text messages on her cellphone that made him think she was cheating on him, prosecutors said at trial. Nicholson, a private security officer contracted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, grabbed his gun and fired 13 shots, killing the two teens as they tried to run into their home and away from Nicholson. He testified during the trial that he shot the two because they grabbed his gun from the trunk of his car and he feared they were going to shoot him. Prosecutors at trial said Nicholson was verbally and physically abusive against the family for years and threatened the mother if she ever came forward. Nicholson’s attorneys argued at trial that he was exposed to domestic violence as a child and suffered a traumatic brain injury.